Authentic Travel: Dipping More Than a Toe into a Place

A few months ago, I wrote about ways to have a more authentic travel experience, the idea being that authenticity is best achieved among people who actually live in the destination. I forgot a big one: exercising.

I tend to do my New Year's resolving in November, when my birthday is, and this year's major resolution was to start swimming laps again; it's the only exercise I truly enjoy. I'm sure you'll be happy to know it's working out so far. And while swimming, I've remembered fondly all the pools I've swam in over the years. (That could be because every other pool I've swam in is nicer.)

As a traveler, I try to see as many locals' haunts as possible, and the pools absolutely qualify. In San Francisco, there was the YMCA at one end of the spectrum, and the fancy Bay Club at the other. In Seattle, there was the pool at Allstar Fitness on the 14th floor of downtown's Seattle Municipal Tower. In Chicago, I remember walking through an underground passage from the Fairmont Chicago to an adjacent fitness club with a very appealing pool. In Stockholm, I treaded water in an ornate 1902 pool at Sturebadet, a legendary gym and day spa. The pool I recall most fondly was the 50-meter municipal pool in Sydney's Cook + Phillip Park. A lot of pools claim to be "Olympic-size," but that means 50 meters long, which is twice as long as the lap pools you commonly see. (To find pools around the world, by the way, check out the Swimmers Guide database.) I also have a wish list of pools I'd like to swim in one day, including the one at the private club accessible to guests of the Four Seasons Santa Barbara Biltmore and, if I ever get back to Sydney, the dramatic Bondi Icebergs (pictured at top).

While I'm swimming, I could be anywhere. But—and I mean this about other countries, not Seattle, Chicago, et al—the cultural differences become apparent in everything else: the signage, the check-in, the locker rooms, the swimwear, the conversations you overhear when you're so exhausted from swimming 50-meter laps that you have to pause to catch your breath. At Stockholm's Sturebadet (left), to give one example, the men's locker-room attendants were women.

Swimming isn't the only fitness-related way to have this kind of cultural experience, nor even the best, because you're less likely to speak to anyone. So do yourself a favor next time you're abroad and go to a gym that's not in your hotel, even if it costs a few bucks. You may chat up a local or two, which is ultimately the most authentic travel experience anywhere on earth—or beyond, I suppose, but by the time interplanetary travel is a reality I'm counting on science to have discovered a way to achieve the benefits of exercise without any actual physical effort.