--- title: "About me | Have Goggles, Will Travel" description: "Swimming my way through 1,000 pools around the world before life slows me down! With a few side-challenges along the way!" canonical_url: "https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/about" meta: "og:description": "Swimming my way through 1,000 pools around the world before life slows me down! With a few side-challenges along the way!" "og:title": "About me - Have Goggles, Will Travel!" --- ![Have Goggles, Will Travel banner](https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/cdn-cgi/image/w=1280,h=544,f=webp,q=30,fit=cover/media/have-goggles-will-travel-hero-banner.webp) # Around the World in 1,000 Swimming Pools! Swimming my way through 1,000 pools around the world before life slows me down! With a few side-challenges along the way! [Follow on Instagram →](https://www.instagram.com/havegoggleswilltravel/) ![Paul Summers on a beach in Hawaii with an inflatable unicorn](https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/cdn-cgi/image/w=1856,h=1044,f=webp,q=75/media/paul-summers-about-me-banner.webp) ## Yes, thats me with an inflateable unicorn! Swimming was a big part of my early teens. I swam for a local club called Triple-S (Now merged with once arch rivals Perry Beaches), training four nights a week and the occasional 6:30am Sunday morning session, with regular Saturday night swimming galas. Being part of a swimming club was great fun; hard work but very rewarding; I made great friends, travelled a bit and enjoyed (almost) every minute of it… But then life happened, and for nearly 20 years, I left (serious) swimming behind. Mid-30s arrived, and I needed to do something to stay active and healthy - I also enjoy food, so a hobby that burns extra calories daily is a bonus. ## Why the 1,000 pool challenge? I often travel for work, and being away from my home pool for days or weeks can be a real struggle to get back in the swing of my regular 12 - 16km over 4 or 5 sessions per week routine. I decided to build swimming into my travel - I like prompts to keep me proactive, so researching great pools, revisiting past favourites and writing about them I figure will keep me motivated - If you're reading this and the last new pool was years ago, please do feel free to contact me with encouragement and mild abuse! I hit on the idea and started the journey whilst planning a work trip to the US and researching pools along the route as I travelled from New York City to Washington, DC, then Philadelphia. I only wish I'd started counting years ago; I reckon I've already covered more than 40 pools over the years, but rules are rules, so if I want to include them, then I'm going to need to revisit some of my favourite (and not so favourite) pools of my past! ## Pool Rules! To keep things in order and ensure I'm not recording every puddle and pond, each recorded pool and swim must meet the following criteria: - The pool must be a known, measured length of at least 20 metres - The swim session must be at least 1,000 meters in total - The pool has some form of a recognisable lane or lap format ## How long will it take? I reckon the first 50 pools will come quite quickly. I've already researched and planned trips to quite a few, but soon enough, I will start to exhaust the easily accessible pools, and progress will slow. I will also continue swimming in my usual home pools for my daily workouts. Realistically, I think this will take more than 30 years to complete - but I like the sound of that, and if I do manage to achieve my goal of 1,000 pools, I will be a happy guy - and there will be tears! ## My Swim Kit People do often ask about my watch… I use a Garmin Swim. It's a great bit of kit and has transformed my attitude to my swimming - and suits my competitive nature! *Update:* I upgraded to a Garmin Forerunner 965 in 2024 to give better GPS for open water swims. I synchronise my swims with the Garmin Connect app and swim.com to keep the element of competition alive! In the good old club swimming days, I had a coach yelling at me from the pool deck, stopwatch in hand, counting every lap whilst hurling endless swim sets on ever shorter intervals! I still wake in the night hearing 'Bi-lateral Summers'! Now it's just me and the watch! ↑ Top [Favourite Pools →](https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/lists/favourite-pools) ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.