A celebration of swim travel

Get ready to embrace the travel and adventure opportunities in swimming, says Simon Griffiths

I chose my first career for the travel opportunities and worked in Guatemala and the Gambia building water supply systems. I then did a spell in finance that sent me briefly to New York.

After that I did some consultancy that took me to Tanzania, Tunisia, Nigeria and South Africa. When I started Outdoor Swimmer magazine, I assumed travel for business was over.

I was wrong. Swimming has given me many occasions to travel, and it’s more fun than any travel I did while working for a bank.

From the outset, I wanted to create a magazine that appealed to and reached a global audience. This has always been (and remains) a challenge. Outdoor swimming is seasonal, for one thing. Who wants to read about getting ready for winter dipping in the middle of their summer racing season? Then there are cultural differences in the way other countries approach outdoor swimming. Some of the things we do in the UK seem quite baffling to others.

Thirdly, there’s the simple logistical challenge of covering swims and events at the global level. We don’t have a big enough team or enough pages in the magazine. But we do what we can and that is where the new business travel has come in. One of the perks and privileges of my job has been the invitations I’ve received to swimming events in other countries, as well as the occasional swimming holiday. The list includes Spain, France, Italy, Madeira, Dubai, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Montenegro, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Sweden, Holland and Denmark. I have to confess, these trips stretch the definition
of business travel to their limit.

I have had fantastic experiences and met amazing people. In my experience, when people swim together they connect and look after each other. Language has seldom been a barrier as someone has always made the effort to translate. The water and the scenery might be different, but the atmosphere, excitement and love of swimming is shared.

I know there are downsides to travel, such as the costs and carbon footprint. But in a world that appears to be becoming more isolationist and xenophobic, travel for swimming is a way to keep connections and build relationships. There are obvious personal benefits too: fun, adventure, challenge and the opportunity to explore the area around where your event is. Swims often take you to places you might not think of visiting otherwise and they are often lovely.

This issue is a celebration of swim travel. Twenty years ago, it barely existed. There were no swim holiday companies and very few people travelled to events. There are swimmers now who organise most of their holidays around swimming. I hope you find some inspiration in these pages or our travel supplement, either for a challenge or a holiday, join the global community of swimmers and create some amazing memories.

And if you go somewhere nice, please send us a postcard.