Laurel Robbins

Laurel Robbins is the Founding Editor of Monkeys and Mountains, a popular adventure travel blog. She loves to travel, hike, and dive – pretty much explore our planet anyway she can. Her favorite travel experiences include adventure travel, animals and frequently a combination of both like diving with sharks in South Africa, or kayaking with whales in Canada.

She also loves both monkeys and mountains, hence the name of her blog. Although she is Canadian, she now lives in Germany. In addition to running a successful travel blog, she also does social media consulting and instructs blogging courses.

You can work pretty much where you want to – on the road, do you find it hard to work or do you just have fun and work when you come back home?

I work pretty much all the time - on the road and at home, but it's tougher to find a balance between fun and work when traveling. Being a travel blogger means there's always work to do. I rarely walk into a hotel room without photographing it first before putting down my luggage, or eat a meal without taking a photo of it first, then tweeting it.

Do you feel many people are envious of your lifestyle?

Of all the travel I do? Yes. Of my paycheck? Probably not.

In which countries have people recognised you, even when you thought nobody would?

I get recognised quite a bit in Germany where I'm based. The funniest was when I met up with some friends and some friends of friends. Afterwards, one of the girls I didn't know commented to my friend that she was so lucky to have a famous friend like me. I'm far from famous, but appreciated the compliment - even if it did involve endless teasing from my friend afterwards.

Which three items would you never travel without?

iPhone, Kindle HD (I love to read and it's my emergency Wifi) and at least 2 different credit cards - one of them seems to stop working for one reason or another at the least opportune times, so it's good to have at least one backup.

Are there any specific souvenirs or other things you collect from the places you go to?

I collect artwork from every place I visit. Failing that, I take photos, which I enlarge and frame once I'm home. My house is a living collection of all my travels resulting in a memorable and personal decor style. Not everyone has photos of diving with sharks in their dining room! Probably not everyone wants that either, but it is reflective of me.

Tagged as: Germany

LaurelRobbins
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