Zero To Travel Podcast

Jeff Jenkins 0:00
You have permission to dream again, you have permission to write these big, audacious goals and dreams, and believe that they can actually happen for you. Our mission is to redefine what it looks like to travel. It just seems like the image of travel always marginalizes a group of people, which is plus sized people in a way, where all you see on advertisement stuff, as you lose some straight body fit person like, that's, that's what it is. And so we wanted to change that narrative. I'm not here to promote obesity. I'm here to promote people to live life now.

Jason Moore 0:37
That was a clip from my interview today with Jeff Jenkins, who runs chubby diaries.com, an online community for plus size travelers who are passionate about seeing the world and I'm always inspired by people that are working to change the narrative to make travel more accessible for everybody on a broad scale. And Jeff certainly inspires. In this interview, he talks about his journey, going from working as a teacher for almost a decade. What kept him in the job for so long, and how he was able to transition out to something else. He shares when and how he got hit with the travel bug, his three can't miss destinations. And some advice and education around plus size travel that goes for everybody. Whether you are plus sized traveler or not. He's got a lot of wisdom to share in this interview, and I know you're going to dig it. Plus, I'm going to share a little bit of wisdom that I gleaned from a recent article that was published in The Guardian 100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying what a compelling title. And I wanted to share my five favorites in this show. So all of that's happening and much more and it's happening right now. So buckle up strap in. Thanks for being here. And welcome to the zero to travel podcast, my friend.

ad 2:06
You're listening to the zero to travel Podcast where we explore exciting travel based work, lifestyle and business opportunities, helping you to achieve your wildest travel dreams. Now your host World wonder and travel junkie, Jason Moore.

Jason Moore 2:23
Hey, it's Jason with zero travel.com. Welcome to the show. Thanks for hanging out letting me bring a little travel into your ears today. This is the show to help you travel the world on your terms to fill your life with as much travel as you desire no matter what your situation or experience. So excited to have you here today, as you heard at the top, kind of wonderful guest, Jeff Jenkins, such an incredible guy. And I was excited to dig into the journey that led up to what he's doing right now. So if you're listening to this, and you're somebody who is making a transition to the next thing, I just think there's so much to learn from others who have made a transition from one sort of chapter in life to another. And Jeff had a whole chapter working a full time job as a teacher. And we talked about how he utilizes some of the skills that he learned there with what he's doing now. And how tough that was to kind of break free of that we might call it the golden handcuffs he had the benefits, the stability, the safety net, and the security that comes with a job like that perhaps it's the perceived security depending on how you interpret that in this moment. And there was a lot to unpack. So we get into that and much more here in this interview. And I love Jeff's motto, live life now three simple words, really meant to challenge us to meet ourselves where we're at right now, in this moment. And what can we do to live life now, some words to ponder as we go into this conversation stick around on the back end, I want to share five of my favorite ways to slightly improve your life without really trying. And we're also going to leave you with a quote. One last thing. Don't forget, if you want access to a private zero to travel podcast feed go to zero travel.com/premium. You can try it for just $1 $1. This is a way to support the show. Not just that, because I'm not holding out the hat on the street. I want to give you something amazing in return. So you get access to exclusive content bonus episodes each month and the entire zero to travel archives that's 300 Plus shows right there in the feed and ad free shows. So if you want to support the show, you're part of the community. You want to be a part of that just go to zero to travel.com/premium. You get the access to that feed with two taps, two simple taps, and you're in so we'd love to welcome you in there. And thank you to everybody who is a premium passport member helping us keep the lights on over here at the zero to travel podcast. I'll leave that link in the show notes. And check it out. Now let's slip and slide into this interview and I'll see you on the other side, my friend

My guest today is the inspiring Jeff Jenkins. He is the founder of chubby diaries.com, an online community for plus sized travelers who are passionate about seeing the world experiencing new foods and learning clever hacks. Along the way. His work has been featured by Google USA Today travel noir and Forbes. Jeff, welcome to the zero travel podcast, my friends,

Jeff Jenkins 5:44
first stage. Thank you for having me, Jason.

Jason Moore 5:46
Yeah. Good to have you here. Especially early in the morning for you and Austin, Texas. I know and I can

Jeff Jenkins 5:52
hear the the garbage truck going by right.

Jason Moore 5:55
That's when you know, it's early. Right? Yeah. And you know, I don't know if it's too early for this. But I wanted to talk about your time as a choir director, maybe maybe sing a few bars? I don't know. We'll see what happens.

Jeff Jenkins 6:07
We'll be sung I can tell you that now.

Jason Moore 6:12
Yeah, what was what was that experience like because you had a, you know, whole life, musical life right? For you doing what you're doing now. So

Jeff Jenkins 6:21
I grew up singing in choir and stuff like that. And I actually went to school for business. I switched from business to music, education, or I switched to music. But my director of the music school was like, Hey, you shouldn't do education, just because you have something to fall back on. So I never wanted to be a teacher. But he added that to it. And I was like, Alright, I guess I'm doing this. And so when I graduated, I was able to get a job because of job insecurity. Money sounded great. Being a broke college student. So I ended up doing that for nine years. But it was like, almost every year I was like ready to go. But it was it was it was a great experience to wear. Like I love the fact that I got to be the person that taught kids like how to read music and seeing and I mean, it was definitely over 1000s of kids or people that I've worked with, through my time of being acquired teacher because I even did it at church and stuff too. And so, but it was very challenging. Being in the public school system here in the States, is definitely a challenging thing. It wasn't a kid as much as it was like administration. And there's a lot of different politics and stuff going around. I just always felt like they were honestly in a way it was oppressive. There killer of dreams. And I feel like that's what definitely was happening. And I knew I wanted to do more, even with my students when I was kept being met by some kind of roadblock, so can't do that can't do this. And I was like, hey, well, I don't think this is the job for me anymore. And so I finally mustered up the courage to quit.

Jason Moore 8:02
Yeah, what was that process? Like for you? Did it take a while to kind of come to terms with letting that go and starting something new?

Jeff Jenkins 8:11
It took nine years.

Jason Moore 8:13
Oh, you you think you were kind of on your way out the door the first year on the

Jeff Jenkins 8:17
first day? Really? Yeah, I literally was like, the same for me. I knew it then. Like, I was like, there gotta be another way of making money. But that that security is, is so so so. So like, like, not even important. It was It felt important back then. But just having security was like everything that I wanted at that time, benefits and all that stuff. Like if I got sick, I can go straight to the hospital. Honestly, it actually started. Because I kept putting it off every year. It just kept working like that. It was like, Ah, I quit this year, in a year or two. Like, it kept being handed my students that I had like freshman year was like, You can't leave until after we graduate. So I feel the pressure of that. My wife actually said that she wanted to become an entrepreneur. And I remember how I think I don't think I responded in the most positive way towards her. And I was like, you want to be a what I like what so I'm in my head thinking like having a process her becoming an entrepreneur. And I actually did come to grips with it very quickly. I just needed to time to think about it. And I ended up resigning before she did. So once she started thinking about it, it started making me think about it. And I was like, You know what, I don't have to do this. So where did you guys meet? We met here in Austin.

Jason Moore 9:41
How did that go down?

Jeff Jenkins 9:43
I mean, we were at a conference and it was actually like a little like mixers singles conference kind of thing and, and I got to meet her there and I was like, Oh man, she's hot. I actually she met me before she seen me before I saw her because I saw him on stage and so that's what she saw me in At first, she knew who I was, but I didn't know who she was. And so we became good friends. And then from there, we became husband and wife. Yeah.

Jason Moore 10:10
Congratulations. That's awesome. How do you fix the school system? I know this isn't really a travel podcast topic. But I just curious about your thoughts about the things that you saw broke, and you talk about like, you know, the dream killer. That's that's just heartbreaking to think about. kids in school getting their dreams crushed, like what

Jeff Jenkins 10:30
they do, like there's one study where they gave kindergarteners a piece of paper. And he told him to create stuff with that piece of paper that kindergarteners can come up with average of 100 things. They give that same test to 12 graders. And those 12 words come up with an average of five things. So it just shows you how creativity through the years, as you matriculate through school continues to just kill like creativity and dream. So I don't know, I think one thing that has to happen, and I always say this, is that our government, the people that are like making the decisions about teaching, need to be teachers, or people that have been in school systems, or has been a teacher in some kind of capacity at some point in their life. Because I always feel like the decisions that are made always come down to like the politicians, people who've never been in schools. And then also the schools, the politicians who have actually, like if they are politicians, and they make the decisions about schools, a lot of times these politicians come from like higher SES. So a lot of them, even the kids where their kids go, are in more a higher income areas than the lower income areas. And so how they think their school or their school is going in for their child might not be the same way it is and like a title one school. So I feel like a lot of that just has to change, and give teachers and school schools more. Because usually like a superintendent and a lot of superintendents and stuff like that they were teachers at one point in their life, too. So

Jason Moore 12:06
all right. So day one, you're we're kind of you were done. But nine years carried you through and and it sounds like the biggest reason was you mentioned like some of the benefits and kind of that set stability. Why was that so important to you in that time, I know, it's important to everybody. But a lot of times when it comes to getting out of a job, there's always like one or two things that are really the thing that keeps you in more than anything else. And it sounds like that was that for you.

Jeff Jenkins 12:33
The I started building a life and a new new wife, I think we were married a year and a half after I quit. So there's that and having a house that I bought. And like I always things that I have, like, acquired through teaching that had it was Bills, Bills had to be paid. And so I think having the money to be able to consistently pay those bills, because I'm always I'm still a type A person. So making sure that I have the discipline to pay, whatever that needs to be paid. I want to make sure that that's paid out a car. So paying the car note, so is it was all of that other ones? Yeah,

Jason Moore 13:15
yeah. adulting some Yes. Sometimes? Well, yeah. Because part of your your story, as I was doing some research for the interview, you mentioned that you were homeless, at one point with your family. And I was wondering if you're comfortable sharing a bit about that, and how much I'm sure that also impacted, you know, the, the decision making process when it came to leaving a job if you came from, you know, maybe there was some not as much stability as you had in your current job. I'm not sure if those two things are related or not. But I just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Jeff Jenkins 13:52
Well, yeah, I always tell my mom like she went from zero to travel when I was he she'll ever zero to, like really doing a good job for herself. And I think having a home and having like stability, being able to go from being homeless, because by that time my mom was in an abusive relationship. And she was like running away from him and tried to kill us like when we first or like that day, we were trying to leave him or she was trying to leave him. Her going from that to having being a regional manager for a major food chain. And not us having like a really nice house and stuff like that. So I was like, I like I like this. I don't like that side. So it's like how do I continue to get that and I liked that I liked having the finer things in life in a way. So I feel like that did play a role in it. And I have this image revision of like what I wanted, marriage wise and family wise and like I just wanted to make sure that I had that like met quote unquote American dream in a way.

Jason Moore 14:55
Thanks for sharing that. I'm wondering how you ended up in travel he You know, when you quit a job and get into entrepreneurship, I mean, there are certainly, you know, a lot of directions to go. I mean, you could you could done some things in music, I'm sure. And I mean, there's millions of things to do. Right. So what? When did travel become a thing for you? Well, travel

Jeff Jenkins 15:14
began with being in college, actually, honestly, I was based in even a lot of stuff that I was doing, even when I went from doing business to music to where I wanted to travel around the world, then, if I could, and I thought music was just definitely one of those ways of doing it. And I don't think I've ever said that until now. But I definitely know that was one of the main points, but I wasn't traveling until I go on my first international trip until my, the end of my sophomore year in college. And that's when I went to Japan. And that's when I got hit with the travel bug. And I was the first time I ever got on an airplane. And like, I just I loved it. I really did. And I wanted to do more of it. I wanted to explore more, I always had this like adventurous, like side to me. And I would travel around the states all the time. But I never, and especially in Florida, I was going to almost every city in Florida, as much as I could. But yeah, I did a program in college that actually gave me the opportunity to do it, too. before I graduated, I went to almost 14 countries. I think I was at 14 countries. And me doing that. Like really, I became the travel guy like that's what people knew me for like a lot of my friends. When he first met me, he was like, Oh, where did you just come back from he came back from Japan, came back from Germany, what what's going on here. And so like, I just became that guy. And even as a teacher, that was the best part of being a teacher, I did the math. And out of 12 months of work teachers, especially here in our county, or in Texas, almost, they technically only work eight and eight and a half months out of the year. So you got you got holidays and summer break. And I took advantage of those. And I and and technically if you wanted to you had like two weeks of like PTO in a way. I took advantage of those two, I was working at once a year. And so that's why they gave me the opportunity to travel on those holidays. And those summers.

Jason Moore 17:17
You know, I know it's an American work culture having been part of it, there's this weird thing that like, I feel like a subset of people don't take all their vacation days and don't take advantage of it all because it would like I'm using air quotes look bad or something. It's like, no screw that, like, take them all.

Jeff Jenkins 17:39
Day yesterday at a conference I was at.

Jason Moore 17:43
So what is your most memorable part of the Japan trip? The thing that started it all for you when you think back to that?

Jeff Jenkins 17:52
Man. I mean, there's so many great moments for Japan, because it was I was with a great group of people. I got to go with the program we got to there was the opportunity of going to mainland Japan or to Okinawa, which is like a island right outside of the south of Japan. It's like there Hawaii, I wanted to go to both. And I was like, ah, but they picked mainland Japan first. But literally two, three weeks in, I was there and then it was like, hey, we need to go to Okinawa, so I got the best of both worlds. So that part was really cool. I think the culture and the tradition, like Japanese people, like they always tell people what's the most foreign place I've ever been to, although they're modern, is very foreign. Like you. You need to assimilate very quickly to their cultures and traditions. Because I mean, it's they're so nice and neat. Like if like the way that they present the food. You're just like, Man, this is let me let me get my life together. Let me not do the chopsticks this way. Let me not leave it to let me do my bowels and highs like Hi. I mean Jaime's Yes, but for some reason they say hi all that. But yes, yes, yes. So I love I love that I love being there. And like there was nonstop pictures, like, people were like stopping and just taking pictures or come up to me and do some charades and asked me so they asked

Jason Moore 19:22
of you. You were like a mini celebrity there. And so yeah, and when

Jeff Jenkins 19:25
they were doing it, not just with me with just the other folks that was there too, and then being able to hang out with people from because the program was nationwide. So I was hanging out with a lot of people from Iowa and in California, Oregon. And I was like, Yo, I never did this before. So that part was cool. A lot of people from Oregon and I was like, Hey, you're the black first first black person I've ever hung out with. So to even get that cultural experience with them was kind of dope too.

Jason Moore 19:54
Well, let's talk about your community.

Jeff Jenkins 19:55
thought let's do it.

Jason Moore 19:57
I mean, you could have done On a lot of things in travel, I'm not sure if you started with that right away, I'm sure there was a bit of a process trying to figure out what you were going to do as an entrepreneur. It sounds like, alright, well, you were the travel guy in college, right? So it sounds like that was a natural kind of conclusion for you, like, I'm gonna do something and travel.

Jeff Jenkins 20:16
That's not how it first started first started with me doing well, honestly, I wasn't even trying to be an entrepreneur. To be honest, it was just the thought of me leaving that job and doing something else. And that's what like, I was able to get my own like heart around. But honestly, it wasn't until I met, I went on a mission trip, first and to Africa. And while I was there, I realized me and my friends, we wanted to build water wells in the city, Kaka Jao, we came back and was able to, like build those. None of us was engineers. None of us knew how to even get water out of the ground. I didn't know how water came out of ground. I was like, How does this happen? How did you do it? Yeah, man, this organization taught us how to build wells. And for cheap, the process is not that hard. And we understood it and went back and tried to build like, we were able to build one well, but then COVID, and all that hit so we kind of stopped that later on. But I went on that trip. And then that next month, I met one of my best friends now, back in 2017. His name's Roderick Walker, he, the day I met him was the day we went to his home. Home housewarming, that's the word for is his housewarming. And he asked him what he did. And he was like, Man, I'll do it. What do you mean, you don't do it. And so he's a real estate investor and all this stuff. And so he doesn't do much. But he also like so books. And so I don't know, he that conversation on the hill, took me over the edge of like, fully committing to like wanting to do entrepreneurship. Like he told me, he was the second dumbest person in the class, his class, so like to graduate, and he was like, so I'm not like the most qualified person on paper. But he had a successful business. And so I that was the second dumbest. And that's what he was trying to get at, like, either, well, if he can do it, I guess I can do it too. And so I started doing Amazon books, where I will resell the books on Amazon. And that was like my, like, risk free way of like building like, building a business. And honestly, it was going very well. I was doing good at it. It was like month after month, I kept constantly growing money wise, it was a lot of work. But it was still like I remember being there. And I was just like, Man, this is this, this doesn't feel impactful, this doesn't feel meaningful. Like I don't get to see that people get the books, you know, because they're doing it online. And I was like, Man, I gotta do so I want to do something else. And that's when I decided, I read this book. And the book was actually talking about like, he was the keys to take keys to the secret. Like it was like decoding the secret. And I read it, I couldn't put it down. And we got to the chapter about dreams. And I was like, Man, I'm putting this book back down. And I put it down because I saw that chapter and I knew what I was going to talk about. Honestly, it was what we were talking about just now like, like you stopped dreaming. I stopped dreaming. I know that for a fact. But the chapter was really talking about like, it's okay to start dreaming again, you have permission to dream again, you have permission to write these big, audacious goals and dreams, and then hope that they actually are not hope and believe that they can actually happen for you. And so in that, it started making me thinking like, oh, man, I wanted to be an astronaut back in the day I wanted to, to do, like be a firefighter, I don't know, like this is when kids say and stuff like that. So I was like man, I I really said I settled a lot. And it made you write out 101 goals that you wanted to do before you die and they want to pay needed to be big, and get you excited. And so almost every one of those goals, I would say more than like 70% of those goals had to do with something and travel. Long story short, went to go build that first well. And while I was out there building that first Well, I was actually very excited that we were able to take a organization from zero to something like like to nothing like it was nothing to something. And that part just like blew my mind. You know, like, I was like, wow, we were able to start a little organization like what? So they can be like even more confident. And so while we were there building that first well and we want to Rwanda is consider the land of 1000 hills. And so looking out into the distance, I was like, Oh my gosh, I think I want to travel the world and get paid to do it and help people. And that was that's that's when I can Maybe then I was like, Well, that's what you're gonna do. I didn't know I was gonna do it. But coming back my friend, she was actually a travel blogger. So it was her. They actually got me into thinking about doing travel blogging and becoming like an influencer in a way. And she, she actually told me the week she was quitting her job. That's what she was gonna go do. And I was like, people do that people get paid for it. So it was on that trip. And so yeah, that's long story. But that's how I got to get into travel blogging. But after that, I knew that like, once I started researching and doing stuff, everyone, everybody kept being like, you should get a nice, you should get a nice. So I was like racking my brain on like, what my niche should be. And I thought it was gonna be like, just black travel, because I'm black guy. But the one thing that my cousin who's a PR rep, she gave me this like branding sheet to fill out, I filled it out. I was like, I don't think I got much out of it. And she was like, No, it's right there. She was like you're fat and black. Talk about that. She's like, how many people talking about that. And I said, You are right. And then I really got caught up on just like the plus size, like being chubby and fat. It doesn't matter, whatever word you want to use. Like it. It. I was like, Yo, I don't know anybody talking about this. I was like, Oh my gosh, I really don't know anybody talking about this. And I wanted to be unique in a way to like, I wanted to be on my own kind of lane. And so I knew I was on to something when we were able to figure out my niche. And then I went from there.

Jason Moore 26:29
Yeah, congratulations. I was. I don't know if anybody listening had the same experience. But when you were looking out over the hills of Rwanda and recounting that story I was getting I definitely got some chills coming up and down my spine. You might even see me here on the video shutter. Because what a moment, huh, kind of look out and kind of have that realization and now it's not just that you've built something and travel, that's a business but you're also making a huge impact, which sounds like it's always been a part of your life. Right? Like even with the teaching, you might not want to been there but you're impacting the students lives. And now you're you're doing it for plus sized travel.

Jeff Jenkins 27:10
Imagine I'm still a teacher, technically. Yeah, right. I'm different.

Jason Moore 27:14
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. It's you're using your skill set that you've developed, I guess over the years, you know, I was looking at one of the testimonials on your site and I think this says a lot this was from Liz and I'll read it it said I'm sure you get this all the time. But I want to say thank you for being an unapologetic chubby traveler. I love travel but really struggle and shame myself. I worry a lot about if I will fit on planes fit and seats fit in the required borrow clothes. I saw your post about the wetsuit made me cry went to Iceland and wanted so bad to do a swim, but it required these for wetsuit and and there would be non for personal my size. So I didn't do it. Hopefully you will inspire me to go back and do it one day. Thank you for being such a positive influencer. So I just wanted to share that one story to give you a little bit of insight into the type of impact hear that, that Jeff's Jeff's making? Those things mean everything. Right. No stories? I'm sure does. Yeah.

Jeff Jenkins 28:10
Wow. I'll be forgetting about these testimony sometimes. Good to hear.

Jason Moore 28:16
Yeah, absolutely. So you are a teacher, as we mentioned, and everything that you're doing. So I would love for you to give us some education around plus sized travel, like what should people know?

Jeff Jenkins 28:29
The one thing I always tell people like our our mission, and then our motto, our mission is to redefine what it looks like to travel. It just seems like the image of travel always marginalizes a group of people, which is plus sized people in a way, where all you see on advertisement stuff is usually some straight body fit person. Like, that's, that's what it is. And so, we wanted to change that narrative, we wanted to show you that majority of the people in America are considered plus either are obese, or overweight or obese. So like we're already talking about a majority here, and you can have whatever thoughts you want about it. I always tell people, and I'll tell the story real quick that my one of my family members was like, Well, why don't you just teach them how to lose weight. And you don't have to you don't have to have this like the site kind of thing, right? And I was over there like well, there's a whole bunch of other sites out there just for that, like lose weight feel great way to get to this weight. And I was like, there wasn't any, like platforms that was talking to the people where they at right now. And, and I will say our model is live life now. So my My thing is, is that I'm not here to promote obesity. I'm here to promote live people to live life now. And I truly believe that like a lot of a lot of plus sized people get caught up in their heads and they know the fear of like embarrassment or being uncomfortable, a lack of community side As restrictions, size limits, weight limits, like these are things that they think about all the time. And nobody wants to be isolated. Nobody wants to feel isolated. Nobody wants to feel embarrassed. People don't want to feel like well, I actually haven't same amount of fun doing something like even that young lady who lives who went to Iceland, and couldn't do whatever activities swim, because they didn't have a wetsuit for size. And so those are things to where, like, she might have felt one embarrassed and isolated. So it was, like I said, she went with a group, everybody else is getting in, but she can't, you know, and that that can be sad. And so I was like, man, changing that narrative change, or not even just changing the narrative, changing how tour operators and people accommodate for plus sized people, like Ali, I mean, these these tour operators, they could have just bought extra, like wetsuit because they do make wetsuits and larger sizes. How I know because I wear and, like, you know, and I will go back to the time where, like representation matters, like people being able to see other people on TV or on social media doing things will get them going. And like, I mean, it inspired them to go do whatever that is. And so for me, like people being able to see me put on a wetsuit for the first time, I actually did a whole video of me just like putting on my wetsuit, like, for the first time, like ever, I've never worn a wetsuit before, and I wanted to show people chubby stomach and all like, Hey, you can fit into a wetsuit. But I had to do my own research, I had to go, I went swimming, or did the case diving with great white sharks in South Africa. And I really, that was on that 101 bucket list thing to do. I was like, I'm gonna do this, you know. And so I automatically assumed that they would not have my size for the wetsuit, because I even looked it up online. So I got online on Amazon, and was like, Hey, let's see if I can find a plus size wetsuit. And guess what I did, I found it, I had it shipped to New York, that's where I was at the time. Because it just dawned on me like, man, he might not have a wetsuit for me. So it dawned on me, we was in New York for a couple of days, I had them shipped the, the, the wetsuit to my friend's house in New York, and, and that's where I got my suit. And I took it with me. So knowing that knowing that there is those options, and people actually seeing key in it, for the first time, people was like, Well, I didn't know they may wet suits for us. And so if tour operators and excursion people can find ways to accommodate, like, they can buy a couple of extra extended sizes, and then add in a couple of extended sizes could make them even more money, you know, because now there's a group of people that have not like even thought about going like they probably don't even know that they were even interested in going. And now they can be able to go on it. So and I feel like that's how I've been so successful in a lot of ways. Because they even with my consulting and things that I do, my a lot of businesses are always still trying to find ways to tap into a new market. And they didn't even realize that they were

marginalizing a whole group of people that have money. And so money talks. And so I really do feel like like, like a lot of travel companies and travel brands are definitely now getting into the plus size movement, because like there's money to be made. The fashion industry is a prime example of that. They've made billions of dollars, the moment they started extended their sizes, companies that were on their like brink of ending, like a foreclosure and closing down like not foreclosure bankruptcy, they were able to rejuvenate themselves by actually starting to do plus size clothing.

Jason Moore 33:55
You Yeah, and imagine, I mean, I love that there is many aspects to your mission, right? You're helping individuals, plus sized travelers, empowering them, but also, like you said, changing the narratives and really trying to transform the industry, right? I mean, I imagine how somebody would feel if they're, if they were in that situation, like we talked about where you're kind of like excluded from a group activity. And then on the other side, if you're able to change the narrative, like you said, or have a tour company, get on board with the awareness and they're able to accommodate, you know, that person is going to be a probably a customer for life,

Jeff Jenkins 34:32
for sure. For sure. And they're going to look to other ribs.

Jason Moore 34:36
Yeah, and tell their friends exactly. I wanted to ask you, this is maybe like a two part question. But you know, one of the more common challenges is flying, I'm sure and you know, with airline seats, they're like getting notoriously smaller and less roomier for everyone. I'm just wondering if you can share some advice on like what somebody can do to improve the seating situation. And then on the other side, I want to speak from your experience, you know, when someone's approaching and they have a seat next to you. And you can tell like they're, they're not happy and what is going through their mind, you know, how do you how would somebody sitting in that seat? How should they respond? What did they say to a traveler, who, you know, they may be making uncomfortable because that's not, that's not a fair situation to do to anybody you know. So I

Jeff Jenkins 35:23
always tell people, the person that we should not be upset with is not the plus size person or the person that's not plus size like, should be their last like, their lives is at fault here is not us. And they, they're doing their damnedest to make them as the fit as many people as they can onto a flight. First, I would say if you can sit first class, that's, I mean, that's not everybody's option, like first class is definitely larger seats is like usually the typical standard size seats that that we normally sit in and on a daily basis. So like being able to sit in that or being able to do the little upgrade, to actually get leg room, the leg room helps a lot too. But like sitting in, like Comfort Plus or something like that. I always tell people look up the policy that people have size policies on on these different airlines. So like Southwest, their policy is like, and I actually just did it for the first time last month, but you can, you can pay for a ticket in advance or go up to the ticket counter, when you're checking in and asked for the extra seat, they'll give you an extra seat for free. Or if you buy the extra seat online, you can get you'll get an automatic refund the moment you get to the gate, Hey, would

Jason Moore 36:42
you just say an airline's doing the right thing?

Jeff Jenkins 36:44
Right, right. Um, Canada does it? Well, Canada, I love Canada's policies, they definitely haven't for everything. But what I was saying was that like, like, Yeah, they'll let you on early. And so you get an extra seat to your side, like long list of flights not sold out. And if it is sold out, they'll even put you on the next flight out. So there'll be fine ways to accommodate you. And so I like that. And then other other airlines have something not similar. But they do have some like policies towards that. So I always tell people to look at that. If you get on those airlines where you're like trying to I go up to the gate agent on Tyler. Hey, is there anybody sitting next to me? And I just got to ask them, man, and they'll they'll try their hardest to like, find seats where it's like, opening to where it's like, you know, like, you get on a plane and there's the middle seat open like, man, nobody talks to you then like everybody's happy. And their point of view sitting with somebody else, but there's a seat between us. But yeah, like always tell people and this story. I like sharing is like a guy who was a CEO. He was a very successful CEO, and former CEO, and he quit started a new, like nonprofit and me him were just talking one day, he just started crying on me. And I was like, he was happening. He teared up, he was crying. But still he teared up, let's say that manly man. He started tearing up on me. And I was like, what's up? He said, You know what, buddy? He's like, man, I've been traveling for over 30 years now. And this whole time, every time I saw like a plus sized person get on the play. I always thought about myself and how uncomfortable I felt. He was saying it wasn't until I met you that I realized that, wow, these people are getting on this plane, actually might be more uncomfortable than me. Because they're even thinking about their comfort, but also my comfort. And he said that blew my mind. And he said I felt so he said I just felt so kind of some kind of way about that. He was like, man, I was almost like not even treating people as human. Because I was trying to think about my comfort in that moment. And I was like, Wow, that's crazy. And so I get stories like that, that you hear. And that's what I want to do. I want to humanize people, however you feel about whatever you feel about when it comes down to weight. We're still human, you know? And I feel like there should be some kind of decency in that. And I always tell people don't blame the play salesperson. Blame the airline.

Jason Moore 39:20
Are there any other points we'd like to discuss around that that that we may have missed? Or will always

Jeff Jenkins 39:25
say ma'am, like I mentioned it before, but like do your research like getting that research team ask them companies before time like before you even get there like Adi of this size or like learn about the weight limits before because at the end of the day, like I say the two things I don't like feeling embarrassed and I like feeling isolated. So I will go if I can't get on this I find out what the weight limit is. I gonna find another activity and research another activity that I can do. I know you probably aren't like this, but other people are definitely like I'll play much When I get there, and I like that, that definitely can set you up for failure. And a lot of ways, I recommend having somebody help, like plan the trip for you. There's travel advisors out there to do stuff like that. And, and you just tell them your recommendations as well. Or and tell them your, your needs and they'll give you recommendations.

Jason Moore 40:21
Cool. What are some books you've read that have had a big influence on you?

Jeff Jenkins 40:27
10x rule by Grant Cardone, that's at the top of the list. I'll tell anybody that me and my wife has done these little cards the other day, where it's like little conversation starters for couples. And that book was in there. And the moment she read it, like, what, what, what impacts you the most is she liked the 10x rule, like she already knew, she already knew what it was. And I love that book, because it automatically it made me get out of myself so much in a ways to where it's like, like, I wouldn't be as successful as I am now if it wasn't for that book. Because one, it teaches you how to dream. And then whatever your big dream is, like he wants you to times it by 10. And then how to think about how hard how long it'll take to actually get there. Think about how many obstacles can be in your wait, times that by 10. By after you thought about it, you'd be like, Oh, that's a lot or like, not even just that like the like, knowing that like obscurity, the biggest thing that like young brands face is obscurity, like people just don't know who you are. And a lot of times people give up. And I've seen it so many times where people that are in like the travel space and like are trying to be travel influencers or travel bloggers, they give up after going hard for like three, two to three months. And then they just stop because they don't see any results. And he tells you hey, push through that. They said on average, it takes four months. I'm just nonstop constant like posting boasting for people to just start recognizing. And so it's like in those moments, it's all like me knowing that, like that, that me prepare myself. He even talks about in the book by Hey, what if I like a global disaster happens and like, we're all shut down and can't do anything. As I He made you think about that. And I felt like I flourished during the pandemic. And I already had that in my thought like that was a that was a scenario that could happen. And I'm shocked that it actually did happen a year later.

Jason Moore 42:32
Wow. Yeah. Cool. I haven't read that book. So now it's going immediately on the on the list for me. Thanks for that. Share where everybody can find you just as a reminder, and if anybody wants to get in touch or has any questions, and then I do want to ask you about destinations because you're a traveler, so I don't want to miss that to wrap it up. Oh, for

Jeff Jenkins 42:51
sure. Um, tick tock is chubby diaries, Instagrams, chubby diaries underscore underscore, you can visit me on my website, and I do have a podcast as well called Inspire 2022. Or just look up Jeff Jenkins. You'll find it in there. So Toby doctors presents aspire, so you can definitely follow me there.

Jason Moore 43:12
How's the podcast going? How do you like podcasting?

Jeff Jenkins 43:14
I actually enjoy it. I actually love talking to people. So like even talking to you right now. Like I literally just rolled out of bed. And I knew that being able to get on the phone with somebody or getting to be able to do this, this recording. I knew it will bring my like, I want more moments like this, where it's like, I can go meet up with friends and like just have coffee in the morning. That aesthetics that stuff excites me. So being able to have like coffee dates, feels like with all these different people. It's been great. Yeah,

Jason Moore 43:48
amazing. I'm sorry, is my face yet to see first thing in the morning? Oh, no, I

Jeff Jenkins 43:52
love your Norway, bro. Like, like, how crazy is that? Right Man? I am talking to somebody from Norway as a kid, like the thought of being like, yeah, just some days I wake up and I'm talking to people from Norway. Like,

Jason Moore 44:06
I know, it's crazy. I'm trying to like, let my kids know what's going on. Because I'm like, Oh, this morning, I'm talking to an Australian who was living on a boat that's docked outside of Sicily right now. And I'm talking to this amazing guy who's inspiring people from all over the world. And he's in Austin, Texas. And after this bug and somebody new it's like what I feel like I'm doing a little traveling here right now. I love it. I love it. It's a beautiful thing. So well. Let's let me hear your three can't miss destinations. Now I know this is an impossible question because everybody has their own preferences. Always fun. Always fun to know you've been all over the world. So let me hear your three can't miss destinations for travel.

Jeff Jenkins 44:46
Yeah, well people ask me this too much so I can definitely answer for you. Japan definitely top of the list, the one that started at all? Yeah, Japan, Croatia. I owe me some Croatia now. And last but not least, New York City,

Jason Moore 45:07
New York City, a perennial Great. Come on. I was such a pleasure to chat with you. And I'm hoping we can catch up in person later. Sure. That's the goal. Of course, we'll leave the various links in the show notes that were mentioned here. I love what you're doing. I'm glad we finally got to get on the mics together. And sure, and have a chat and to be able to share it with you and keep challenging the narrative. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm so inspired by you and your work. So thanks for coming on the show.

Jeff Jenkins 45:37
Thank you, Jason. You're amazing. appreciate y'all.

Jason Moore 45:46
There you have it, Jeff Jenkins, thank you so much, what a lovely guy. And I loved having this conversation with him and getting to share it with you. So thank you very much for listening. By the way, I always love to mention this is a community powered show, if you do want to get in touch, there's a simple link in all the show notes where you can click and just leave me a voicemail, 92nd voicemail or less super easy to do, or you can drop me a line anytime Jason at zero travel.com is the email address always taking guests recommendations, and trying to communicate to make this a two way conversation. So please get in touch. Now a couple things here. Before we let you go, I am going to share a quote to wrap this up. But I do want to share five fun and favorite ways to slightly improve your life without really trying this was a recent article from The Guardian, I will link to it in the show notes. And you know some of these, there's a lot of nice small things you can do here. And funny story. When I got this, I sent it to my wife. And there was one particular one on this list that stood out to me and I thought, Oh, my wife should read this. And you know what, we talked about it last night. And she highlighted this one as well. Right back to me, because she thought I should read it. So there's a little insight into our domestic bliss here. I'll share that in a minute. So let me highlight these now. Number six on this list. Everyone has an emotional blind spot when they fight. Work out what yours is and remember it. Oh, that's a good one. That one's really stuck with me. Because if we're aware of that, then that can totally change the conversation in the moment. So that one had me thinking, Okay, number 16. Set aside 10 minutes a day to do something you really enjoy, be it reading a book, or playing a video game, whatever it is you want to do. And when I read this, I say you know what, I'm gonna sit down and play some guitar in about an hour. And I think that is important if we don't make the time for ourselves. I mean, how do we live life now, as Jeff said, how do we do that if we're not making some time for ourselves to do the things we really enjoy? Okay, number 17. This was the one that my wife and I both thought we should take to heart. And that is, Don't be weird about how to stack the dishwasher. I'll leave it at that. You can imagine what kind of dishwasher wars are going on in this house. Okay. Number 22. Laugh shamelessly at your own jokes. I think I just did that. Nothing wrong with laughing at your own jokes. You got to be your own best fan of your own comedy, right? So feel free to laugh away at your own jokes. Number 37 and 34 kind of go hand in hand. So number 34 is go for a walk without your phone. And number 37 is if you're going less than a mile walk or cycle, about half of car journeys are under two miles. Yet these create more pollution than longer journeys as the engine isn't warmed up yet. Well, that's one reason another reason why I like to walk if I'm going less than a mile is because it is a bit like a travel experience in some ways, right? Anytime you set out on foot. I know it's not always easy. It's always weird when I go to visit my mom in the suburbs in the US. And I walk to town which is less than a mile. But nobody walks there. So it feels exotic. Almost. It's like well, who's this guy crossing this major highway where you're not even supposed to cross? Why is this person walking around? They shouldn't be walking. This is this is odd. Yeah. So I don't know. There's an element of quirkiness, sometimes to walking in certain places where nobody walks, but there's an element of freedom to just walking out of your front door. Or if you're visiting a friend walking out of their front door, whatever, and just walking and going without the phone if possible. So always a nice thing. And I think I already went over my five so sorry about that. I have one more to share. And that's going to be A challenge for you today that I'll leave you with. And that is number 60. Excuse me, 56 call an old friend out of the blue. I know maybe that's the Gen X or in me, but I do this I love to call people up out of the blue. So even if you're more of the texting type, just call an old friend out of the blue today. Surprise them. Surprise, surprise an old friend. There you go. All right. I'll leave you with this quote to wrap up the show from CS Lewis who said, you can't go back and change the beginning. But you can start where you are, and change the ending.

But that ties in nicely with Jeff's motto of live life now. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have a wonderful day and I'll see you next time. Peace and love.

ad 50:55
This podcast has been brought to you by zoom two travel.com ideas and advice to make your travel dreams a reality.