Laurel Robbins is the founder of Monkeys and Mountains Hiking Tours. Hiking has changed her life; she believes it can do the same for you. That's why her goal is to help 500,000 people this year on their hiking journey. Originally from Canada, she now lives at the base of the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria with her two cats. She loves to hike and travel. Experience: She's been an avid adventure traveller and hiker for over 20 years. She's hiked in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the U.S., the Alps, the Himalayas, Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. She's also a fan of long-distance hikes and has done the famed Tour du Mont Blanc, Alta Via 1, part of the Lycian Way in Turkey, part of the Camino, and many others. She aims to do at least one long-distance hike every year. She's a huge fan of self-guided hiking tours, so much so that she learned everything she could to start offering these to her clients. She has a goal of #104mountaindays this year, which you can follow on Instagram. Expertise: Her love of adventure travel and hiking has led to her travel writing has been featured in BBC Travel, BBC Earth, National Geographic, Forbes, and many more. She's a sought out speaker at travel events and has spoken at ITB Berlin, World Travel Market London, World Travel Market Dubai, TBEX, Arival Travel, and the Bansko Nomad Fest to name a few. Education:  Laurel holds degrees in Bachelor of Management from the University of Lethbridge, a Bachelor of Science in Primatology from the University of Calgary, and a Masters in Education in Adult Learning and Global Change from the University of British Columbia. She's also attended many outdoor courses, from avalanche training to wilderness survival to foraging to bird identification.