Try New Sports When Traveling

I think everyone has at least one favorite sport, whether it’s practicing yourself or watching on TV. A few days ago I came to think about what sports I have tried so far. I remember my first activity ever, baby swim with mom. About two years later I tried downhill skiing for the first time.

Before turning six I took my first dance class. After moving to another city the following year I put my dancing shoes on the shelf and didn’t start dancing until nine years later. Prior to that I played tennis a few times, tried golf twice, and in elementary school I was very much into chess, poker and inline skating. Apart from all regular sports like soccer, bandy, basketball, soccer, badminton, hockey, volleyball, and athletics/track and field they made us do on physical education in middle school, I did gymnastics, orienteering and cross country skiing. And in high school, I liked the time we had in-door climbing.

I will never forget the day in middle school when my neighbor and I signed up for a salsa class. I was so into Latin music that term. The following year, another friend and I joined a gym and tried dance aerobic, regular aerobic, kickboxing, spinning and karaoke spinning. Around the same time I also learned snowboarding.

As for water sports, I have snorkeled for as long as I can remember, waterskied twice, and sailed with my neighbor and her dad on the Swedish lake Boren once. In 2005, my sister and I went on a surf trip to Lanzarote.

Since the age of 14 I have loved yoga. I tried pilates a few times, chi gong and Tai chi once, and in high school we had lessons in jazz, modern dance and ballet about nine hours a week.

When working in the U.S. a couple of years ago I climbed on a climbing wall once. In Grenoble the same year we went hiking a couple of times, and had a go at water aerobics.

In 2006, when living in Malmö, I took some MC lessons. I had wanted to learn since turning 18 and since I only lived five minutes from a driving school, why not?. The same summer I bought a skateboard to learn the basics.

That’s it. Apart from jogging, running and cycling, I don’t think there’s any other sport I have tried. So far.

One fun thing with traveling is all the new activities you can test. For example, in Brazil they have samba and the Brazilian fight dance capoeira, Korea has tae kwon do, Australia surfing, Spain flamenco and Havana salsa. What else? What sports and activities would you like to try?