As a biologist, Laine Gonzales frequently grabs the attention of her high school students by sharing her many and varied travel tales. When school is not in session, she’s typically on the road. She’s explored most of the fifty states and all seven continents. Her journeys often involve wildlife and her experiences range from wading into frigid Antarctic waters to collect plankton to tagging nesting sea turtles on the tropical beaches of Costa Rica. While she has been regaling her students with stories for many years, she is brand new to the travel writing business. Her story “A Sixth Sense Experience” earned her a 2020 Travel and Transformation Solas Award from Traveler’s Tales and she is delighted to have published her polar research experience, Pteropods in the Balance, at Hidden Compass.