Name: Kenny Haisfield
Occupation: Founder of Kenny Flowers, Assistant for Jetset Christina
Hometown: Boulder, CO
Residence: Currently Bali, Indonesia
College: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
College major: Economics and Global Studies
Website: kennyflowers.co
Twitter: @kennyflowers_
Facebook: Kenny Flowers
Instagram: @kennyflowers_
Pinterest: Kenny Flowers
Short bio: I’m an entrepreneur, an avid traveler and the founder of Kenny Flowers, a clothing and lifestyle brand known for putting a fresh spin on tropical shirts, swim and beachwear. Four years ago, I quit my consulting job in New York to wear a Hawaiian shirt 365 days a year and design a line of fun, stylin’ island attire made in Bali. My goal is that, by wearing Kenny Flowers, you have a bit of paradise with you at all times.
How often do you fly? Multiple times a month! In a given year, I’ll travel internationally to Bali three times, Colombia twice and multiple places off of that, and I’ll also make my way around the states to host brand events, see friends and visit family.
How many countries have you been to? 43 and rising—a goal of mine has always been to visit at least one new country a year.
How many continents have you been to? Five, somehow haven’t made it to Australia yet.
Earliest travel memory: I was born in South Florida and I remember my parents used to love cruising to the Bahamas by boat for lobster hunting season. We went multiple times when I was young—there’s one particular picture of my dad holding me as a baby in one hand, and a lobster the size of me in the other. I don’t remember that time precisely, but it’s the memory that comes to mind when I think about my first travels.
Favorite American city: Boulder (hometown), San Diego.
Favorite international city: Medellin, Colombia.
Least favorite country: Malaysia.
I have no desire to go to: Greenland.
Friendliest people in the world: The Balinese.
Country with the meanest immigration officers: Probably the U.S., but I’m on their good side.
Favorite World Heritage Site: Angkor Wat or Iguazu Falls.
Favorite airline: Southwest domestically, Cathay Pacific internationally.
Aisle or window: Aisle.
Favorite airport lounge: Centurion Lounge in Hong Kong and Eldorado Lounge in Bogota off the top of my head.
Favorite U.S. airport: Denver International Airport—every time I’m there, it’s either full of excitement to head off on a new adventure, or the comfort of coming home to the Rockies.
Favorite international airport: I love all the island airports—the open-air ones where you’re greeted to the island with warmth and you zip right through.
Favorite hotel: Song Saa Collective in Cambodia, hands down. They request you take your shoes off when you reach the island and you’re relaxed from there on out. It was my first ever, truly over-the-top luxurious experience, and my girlfriend and I both loved it. It was so nice, I had to name a shirt after it.
Favorite cruise line: I’ve only been on one ever (booze cruises not included), but I’m excited to be cruising the Greek islands with Oceana over my birthday this summer.
Favorite travel credit card: Chase Sapphire Reserve—mainly for the Priority Pass lounge access, but also for the flexibility to use points on most every airline/hotel you might need.
Favorite island: Any island in the Maldives. I was fortunate enough to hop around to a few different resorts with @jetsetchristina last fall, and all I can say is that place lived up to the hype. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Favorite beach: Thomas Beach in Uluwatu, Bali—it was once a secret, but the word’s out now.
Favorite National Park: Parque Tayrona in Colombia.
Favorite fancy restaurant: Matsuhisa Sushi in Aspen or Oci.Mde in Medellin.
Favorite hole-in-the-wall: When I lived in Boston, I used to eat at this little Italian place called Basta Pasta about 3x a week. It was across the street from my apartment and their chicken parm sandwich hit the spot every time.
Favorite airport restaurant: I usually just eat whatever is available in the lounges and don’t eat in airport restaurants much but the Priority Pass card gets you a $28/head voucher for the Timberline Grill in the Denver airport and I love their mountain bar food and microbrew selection.
Favorite bar: I love this question so I’m going to split it up into two parts—beach bars and sports bars. My favorite beach bar is this vibrant shack on Baru Island called the Wizard. Just off the coast of Colombia, this gem is off the beaten path of the island and serves up coco locos and cold Aguilla cervezas all day. My favorite sports bar is Hometeam BBQ in Charleston, or wherever the Denver Broncos are playing.
Favorite fruit: Mango, acai, raspberries.
Favorite food: Buffalo chicken wings—in my prime, I could put down 60 at a time (sorry to my vegan and vegetarian friends in Bali).
Least favorite food: Tomatoes—when I was three, I had a traumatic childhood experience thinking a “cherry tomato” was going to taste like a “cherry.” My taste buds and mentality still haven’t fully recovered from the mix-up.
Drink of choice (in the air and on the ground): I don’t drink much in the air, but when I hit the ground, it’s preferably cold local beers.
Favorite travel movie(s): Crazy Rich Asians.
Favorite travel show(s): Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and No Reservations.
Favorite travel podcast(s): It’s not technically travel, but I listen to a lot of podcasts focused on entrepreneurship—my favorite being “How I Built This.”
Favorite travel book(s): “A Little Bit One O’Clock: Living with a Balinese Family” by William Ingram.
Right now I am reading: “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight.
Top 3 favorite travel newsletters/magazines/blogs: Jetset Christina’s Friday Flyer, Mister Spoils and Travel + Leisure.
Favorite travel website(s)—besides JohnnyJet.com, of course! Just you and jetsetchristina.com.
5 things you bring on a plane: Noise-cancellation headphones, a book, eyemask, melatonin, and girlfriend’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
What do you always seem to forget? One of my girlfriend’s bags. I’m normally pretty good about this, especially when she brings me cookies, but we were headed to Aspen for New Year’s Eve, and I forgot the bag that had her camera, jewelry and shoes in it.
What do you like least about travel? It can be exhausting, usually a full day commitment (or more) and it’s hard for me to focus on work while in transit.
What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport Duty Free store? A bottle of tequila, Don Julio if they have it.
Favorite travel app(s): Uber and Airbnb go a long way. Rappi in Colombia is essential (think everything you could ever need—dinner, groceries, cash, etc—delivered right to you.
Most embarrassing travel moment: When I was studying abroad in Madrid, I hopped over to Rome for a weekend with my grandma. I booked my Ryanair flights to get in Thursday night and fly out Saturday night so I would get back to Spain in time for a friend’s birthday party. After an amazing weekend in Italy, I returned to the airport around 8pm Saturday, went to check in and the lady simply informed me that I was 12 hours late. Turns out that flights at 9 always mean 9am in Europe. Lesson learned.
I’m embarrassed I haven’t been to: Australia, I’ve been based in Bali on and off for the last few years and still haven’t made it Down Unda.
Worst travel moment: And the winner is…Frontier! I was on my way back to the U.S. from Bali and had a flight that was supposed to get me to LA around 10:30pm, enough time to make it to my 1am Frontier flight back to Denver. There were some flight delays departing Hong Kong, some baggage delays upon arrival to LA…but when all was said in done I rushed over to the Frontier terminal and got to check in at 12:17, 43 minutes before my late night flight. The lady refused to even try to check my bag in since there was less than 45 minutes until scheduled departure and her only solution was to rebook me on the “next available flight” three days later. This wouldn’t fly given my tight schedule home and I couldn’t leave the bag since it carried all my Kenny Flowers shirts in it. I had to get creative. I ended up ditching the bag and carrying 50lbs of Hawaiian shirts and other stuff in my bare hands. Security was so confused they let me fly through and I ended up making the flight as the last passenger on board.
What’s your dream destination? I’d say the Maldives but I was lucky to get to go there in 2018. I still haven’t gotten over it and haven’t replaced it as my dream destination yet.
Favorite travel charity: I think it’s really cool that one of my best friends from college, Josh Ford, started the Broughton Travel Fellowship—which is a multi-week fully-funded summer travel experience anywhere in the world for high school juniors who show financial need. Also, I believe it’s extremely important to give back and leave a positive impact on the places that you love around the world. In 2007, I started a nonprofit organization called CEO4Teens. It stands for Creating Educational Opportunities for Teenagers and it helps financially disadvantaged teenagers in Bali continue their education past high school, realize their ambitions and become leaders in their community.
Best travel tip: Try to make it to a new country every year—but also make sure you go back to a place you know you love. Everyone should have those particular spots they know they’ll enjoy.
