Travel Influencer Says Fellow Skiers 'Couldn't Believe' What He Had in His Backpack Down the Mountain (Exclusive)

Lazar Joksimovic and his cats, Louie and Todd, travel the world together

NEED TO KNOW

• Lazar Joksimovic has traveled to 14 countries with his British Shorthair cats, Louie and Todd

• The trio’s adventures include skiing in the Austrian Alps, hiking in U.S. national parks and canoeing in Canada
• Joksimovic trained his cats to adapt to new environments using treats, backpacks and gradual exposure to activities

To Lazar Joksimovic and his cats, there's no such thing as a scaredy cat.

Joksimovic frequently travels with his now-viral cats, King Louie and Todd, two British Shorthairs whom he took home in 2023. Joksimovic now talks to PEOPLE about the trio's recent trip, noting that there is no adventure too big or too small to bring the furry friends along.

In fact, in February 2026, Joksimovic and his cats flew from their home base in Chicago to Munich, where they stayed for a few nights before heading to a ski resort in the Austrian Alps. 

"After they got acclimatized to the difference, to the altitude, I started taking them on gondolas and chairlifts at a lower elevation," he shares. "When they got used to that, we started going to higher elevations."

Not only was this Joksimovic's first time with his cats on the slopes, but it was also his first time skiing in 10 years. He notes that he spent the first three days skiing on his own before he brought the cats along for the ride.

"I first skied with them down the mountain with them inside the backpack, and they were very curiously looking around," he says.

"The first four or five rounds we did with them inside the backpack, so they got used to all the sounds of skiers and snowboarders and different gondola and chairlift sounds," he explains.

Once they got "comfortable with that," Joksimovic says he "put them on top of the backpack, which is their preferred spot anyway."

Surprisingly, he says that "both Louie and Todd had fun and were very relaxed" while making their way down the mountain, fitted with their own jackets and hats.

"Louie was curious about the sights and sounds. We would ski for three hours each day, and then have lunch, enjoy the nice views and then I'd drop them off so I can ski a few runs on my own or hand them over to my dad, and he would ski with them inside his backpack," Joksimovic shares.

He tells PEOPLE that other skiers "couldn't believe it was actual cats."

"A lot of them would just stop on the side of the slopes to take videos or pictures and make room for the cats to ski down without any other skiers coming too close to them," he shares.

Joksimovic was confident the cats would master skiing after taking them on plenty of other excursions in the past.

In November 2025, Joksimovic took Louie and Todd on a two-week trip to Utah, Arizona and Nevada, during which they visited five national parks and went hiking.

One of the best parts about this trip for the cats, however, was the "car rides."

"Louie loves making biscuits in his little booster seat and soaking in all the views," Joksimovic shares. "It was a trip of a lifetime because, in nature, I led them off the beaten path for most of the trails. They stayed close to me, and they had their GPS trackers on, and they just ran around and had lots of fun."

Joksimovic was able to get Louie and Todd to sit on the edge of the canyon for the perfect photo-op with the help of "treats." 

"Every time I need them to pose, I just hold treats above the camera, and then I give them treats," he tells PEOPLE.  

However, he admits that Louie took about 20 minutes to get acclimated to the sights and sounds of the water at Zion National Park in Utah.

"In Zion, that was his first time in a huge, open national park. We've been to several before, but it was more like narrow trails," he explains. "In Zion, it was his first time in a huge canyon. It took him a little while to get used to all the smells."

"We saw a big horn sheep and bunnies. It took him some time just to get used to the vastness of the landscape, but then he loved it and would hike for kilometers on end," Joksimovic says, estimating that the cats hiked around 8 kilometers — or nearly 5 miles — with him and his friends.

While Louie "loved Zion, especially in the Valley of Fire," Todd's favorite stop, according to Joksimovic, was "maybe Canyonlands National Park."

At the end of May 2025, he also travelled with them to Alberta, Canada, where they went kayaking on Lake Louise.

"The canoes are pet-friendly there, which I was pleasantly surprised by. It was the first time in a body of water that's not the bathtub, and it took them maybe 10 to 15 minutes to really get used to floating and moving on water," Joksimovic recalls. 

Once they got used to the water, "they loved it and were just curiously sniffing around."

"Louie tried to dip his paws in the water, but the canoe was too high for that," he says. "They just calmly sat there for one and a half hours and soaked in all the views, as my brother canoed for us." 

As with most of their adventures, Joksimovic made sure the cats were dressed appropriately, bringing them mini lifejackets. Since he trained his cats in the noise and hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago, he shares that "nature was probably very calming for them." 

"Nature felt very quiet, presumably, and peaceful to them," he shares.

In all, Joksimovic shares that he's been to 14 countries with Louie and Todd — and plans to increase that number in the coming months.

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