We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robert Kenyon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

The answer to the question would necessarily be two-fold, since it was First Cabin Travel, a touring company, which I began in 1989 that led me into the magazine publication business. With First Cabin Travel, although not unique in the sense that no one else offers this method of travel, certainly the number of companies doing so at a high level are few. We offer luxury-styled itineraries with private car, private driver, and private guide on all of our tours. A client might choose from our selection of itineraries or create an itinerary that suits their fancy.

Having first visited Southeast Asia in 1963, and having developed friendships that have carried over all of these years, once we began First Cabin in ’89 in that region of the world, we have continued those friendships and actually use the very same ground operators that we began with after all of these many years. Since we deal directly with the source for ground operations we are able to offer these customized itineraries at surprisingly affordable rates. In fact, the mainstay of our business is derived from repeat clientele and their ever-so-enthusiastic referrals.

Although we seldom advertised our services full bore, back in 2014 we considered doing an ad marketing campaign that we felt would bolster our business within the San Diego community. We reached out to a few of the upscale magazines here locally that promoted luxury-styled content and we found the cost for advertising to be extraordinarily high. Given that we published tour brochures in the past, we decided to begin our own luxury-styled publication, allowing us to advertise travel and to offer advertising at a more reasonable cost, albeit with a magazine that would stand toe-to-toe with any of the others in the field. It has been an interesting process these past 8 years, and should one Google: Luxury Magazine San Diego, you would find our magazine Discover Magazines on page 1 and likely at the very top of the list.

Thus, providing travel itineraries with private car, private driver, and private guide at an uncommonly reasonable rate per itinerary and offering an opportunity for those in our community to brand their product or service in a luxury-styled magazine with a highly loyal readership, I think does set us apart and look forward to growing both businesses in the coming months and years. Certainly with travel, since Covid put all travel companies into dry dock the past 2 years or more.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

First and foremost, I began life in a small town community in Western Massachusetts, where most all of the residents in the town of about 16,000 were lower middle class, and beginning at age 12, most of the boys worked the tobacco fields during the summer months in Connecticut . We were 7 in a two bedroom duplex, no car within the family and had coal delivered into the cellar to heat the stove that produced some heat within the home. We played hockey in the frozen field nearby the house and used a bowed tree branch we had found during the summer for our stick and a crushed tin can as the puck,

The majority of our graduating high school class of 32 never considered college an option. My dream came to light from a poster framed within the local post office near the town square. It was of a Marine in dress blues. In preparation, I saved my dollars from my paper route and did parachute jumps while in senior high school and began scuba diving. My course was set and I actually enlisted, parents signature required, on my 17th birthday while still in high school. I skipped graduation ceremonies and headed to Parris Island South Carolina the Monday after school let out the Friday before.

I served 4 1/2 years in the Marine Corps, two tours of which were in Vietnam. Having worked the summers for 5 years under the tobacco nets in Connecticut where temperatures easily soared over 100 degrees most days seemed to prepare me for both that summer in South Carolina and thereafter in Vietnam. It also brought me in contact with guys who had attended some college and officers who taught me which side of the bread the butter was found. Certainly not as a lower ranked enlisted man in the Marine Corps. I loved serving in the Corps, made lifelong friendships, but also felt more confident than ever before that I had greater accomplishments to master.

Having left the Corps, I began studies at a junior college that accepted applicants based on their high school diploma, worked my way up to university level, and completed studies at the University of Arizona School of Law. Having completed my under-graduate studies on a fast track, I had 7 months open prior to beginning law school. One of my favorite sports was tennis, and I planned a trip beginning in Hawaii that took me across the Pacific visiting most countries in that time zone, out across Russia and into Europe, playing tennis upon invite at private courts in many of the cities that I visited. This opened the doors to accommodations, friendships and parties, together with a fascinating journey around the world. The Marine Corps helped plant the seed of passion within me for travel and this 7 month sojourn made it all the stronger.

Leaving Arizona behind, I moved to San Diego, where I practiced law as a prosecuting attorney with the District Attorneys office in San Diego for 7 years. Appearances in court and trial by jury seemed the heavy weight division in law and I relished the opportunity to experience all that those trials and challenges presented to me those many years. What led me away from the law, was that passion for travel, which was limited to a two-week hiatus working as an attorney. I left the practice of law and joined a travel agency in Los Angeles that offered private jet tours for up to 40 days on various itineraries to destinations worldwide. I was on the aircraft to assist should someone lose a passport, require medical assistance or in worse case, prepare to return the remains back to family. Otherwise, it was a highly congenial way to see the world, earn a salary, and sightsee along with all other passengers. The full sized jet would take only 60 passengers, which made for a great journey.

I began to write itineraries for the company and found that travelers who joined me on earlier excursions would readily book the journey. Thus after some 7 years with the same company, I began First Cabin Travel, which hopefully, in the near future, will come out of dry dock from Covid and allow those who relish travel as much as I to regain their footing and once again set out on journeys that create the memories to be rekindled over a lifetime.

Publishing the magazine has ignited a completely different passion within me and that is once again two-fold. Interviewing those who wish to brand their product or service, or doing an article on a fascinating personality within our community has led me to meet some highly interesting and fascinating individuals. The other component is being able to assist some of the non-profit organizations get their message across to our loyal readership about their mission and fundraising needs and do it either pro-bono or at an uncommonly reasonable rate in comparison to the industry standard.

Both are very fulfilling components of my life, together with family, all of whom still remain under the one roof.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One very large pivot for me was marrying late in years at age 49 and thereafter my wife giving birth to our 3 children, two girls and a boy. Living a single life for so many years, and then transitioning into becoming more than just a father, but a Dad was both a great learning experience as well as a very rewarding pleasure. It really did complete the circle in my life and although retirement is likely out of my vocabulary, it has been extremely satisfying. It has taught me a number of rewarding lessons, certainly one being patience and being attentive. Once when my youngest was only 4 years old and I out in the garden fixing a sprinkler valve, which has a spring and an O-ring that you simply must pay attention to when assembling, my daughter, then behind me called out “Daddy.” My initial thought was to say “Not just now” however, I held tight on the spring and turned to her and she said, “I love you Daddy.” Have never forgotten how good a lesson that was for me on that day.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Not certain that it is a lesson learned, however, I have over the years come to realize that not every day is going to be a great day, and it really makes all good sense to do whatever you can and how simple a task it may be to make a positive move or two, be it to clean up some clutter or just focus on some positive idea. Really is amazing how most things in life are not fatal and worrying over things you simply have no control over or delving into dismay because something went farther south than planned really does little good.

Contact Info:

• Website: firstcabin.com. discovermagazines.com
• Instagram: @firstcabin. @discovermagazines
• Linkedin: fc@firstcabin.com

Image Credits
Cover of Discover Magazine – Photo by Shadi Ameri I certify that I have the rights to use all photos