Michelle Franklin

Michelle grew up in the snowy state of Michigan and spent many summers camping with her extended family "up north" over the years. In 2014, she graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Science and a background in community building and social justice. During her college career, she spent her summers living at a biological stations. As a graduation present, Michelle's parents gifted her with her first backpacking backpack and the rest was history! Since then, she has spent time in Western Australia as a Research Assistant on a PhD project on bottlenose dolphins, hostel-hopped along the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and through Europe, diving from a remote island in Belize, and more! She currently lives in Berlin and is slowly learning German. Michelle finds she is the happiest when she is taking pictures of fish underwater, diving into the sand to dig a beach volleyball hit, or meeting and learning about new people. She also enjoys eating anything chocolate, making weird sound effects, and laughing uncontrollably. Michelle has lead 2 Florida Keys trips, 2 Belize trips, and is stoked for her third summer with RLT!