Hi, I’m Laurel — a.k.a. Cow Bay Shrub — a fifty-something travel lover living on Vancouver Island. I’ve been road-tripping for most of my life, but over the last decade my adventures have stretched a little farther...from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to a very fast, slightly crazy solo trip around the world.

I’m not a luxury traveller. I like affordable hotels, street food, public transit, long walks and figuring out how to squeeze the most out of limited vacation time. I also genuinely love the planning part — researching routes, comparing hotels, finding interesting stops and building itineraries that actually work.

These days, I’m also a travel advisor, but Cow Bay Shrub is still about the kind of travel I enjoy most: real trips, realistic budgets, a bit of chaos and plenty of curiosity. And when I’m not travelling somewhere far away, I’m usually exploring somewhere closer to home on Vancouver Island.