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My Story
How sport, travel and storytelling came together — and why I now explore the world through sport and adventure.
Sports Travel Tom didn’t appear overnight. It’s the result of years working in sport and media, travelling independently, taking risks that didn’t always work out — and gradually realising that sport and adventure offered the clearest way to understand the world. As I always say, “sport gives you a ready-made reason to go. And then it puts you among locals…”
The three things that never left me
From as early as I can remember, three things have always pulled at me: storytelling, travel and sport.
I wasn’t destined for greatness on the pitch, tennis court or golf course. I loved playing — still do — but I quickly realised I was far more interested in the stories around sport than the scoreline itself. The atmosphere. The rituals. The people. The feeling of arriving somewhere new and immediately understanding what matters there.
Even as a kid, I was fascinated by the microphone. I’d mess around presenting, telling stories, trying to entertain Mum & Dad with my 'bedroom radio' show. And whenever I wasn’t doing that, I was either thinking about the next trip or the next sporting occasion — even if it was only a local one.
The combination wasn’t obvious back then. It just felt like three separate obsessions. Looking back, they were always trying to become one.
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Working inside sport
For years, my career took me deeper into sport and media. Presenting, reporting, hosting live events, working in and around tournaments and venues.
It was a brilliant education. You get to see how sport is staged, how events are built, and what makes a crowd feel alive. You also learn what fans rarely see: the planning, the ticketing realities, the small details that make a trip smooth or stressful.
But something else was happening at the same time. The more access I had, the more I noticed that the real story wasn’t always the match, or the final, or the headline. Often it was everything around it — the walk to the stadium, the conversations in pubs, the train rides, the small traditions that locals barely think about because they’ve lived them forever.
That’s the stuff that stays with you. That’s the stuff that teaches you a place.
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The sail that didn’t go plain sailing
At one point, I accepted what looked like the ultimate job on paper: a role that combined travel, sport and storytelling in the most literal way possible — sailing around the world.
It was extraordinary… and also brutally hard.
Living at sea changes you. It compresses your world into small routines, big weather, and constant adaptation. It also has a way of revealing whether you can truly cope inside an extreme environment.
I learned a lot about resilience. I learned a lot about humility. And I learned that some dreams are romantic until you’re actually living them.
Six months into an 18-month contract, it ended. I was gutted — and, if I’m honest, a little relieved. It wasn’t the ending I wanted, but it forced a reset.
That failure — or whatever you want to call it — became part of the foundation. Because it made me ask the question that really matters:
What am I actually trying to build here?
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The moment sport became a travel lens
Back on land, back in “normal life”, I found myself thinking less about chasing roles and more about carving out something I could own.
The idea that clicked wasn’t complicated:
Sport is one of the best ways into a place.
It gives you a ready-made reason to go. It puts you among locals. It introduces you to culture and identity quickly — not as a tourist drifting past, but as someone sharing a moment with people who care about something deeply.
And adventure does something similar. A hike, a ride, a trail, a climb — it makes you slow down, look around, and feel where you are.
Put the two together and you get a way of travelling that feels more human, more connected, and more memorable.
That’s the seed of Sports Travel Tom. Not just travelling to places — but understanding them through sport and adventure.
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A turning point on Ben Nevis
A few years later, life threw another fork in the road. Uncertainty. Work changes. That familiar feeling of being between chapters.
So I did what I often do when my mind is noisy — I went somewhere physical.
I decided to climb Ben Nevis.
I took the train north, filming the journey and trying to turn it into something useful: a practical guide, told as a real day out. The weather was miserable when I arrived. The next morning it looked slightly better, which in Scotland can feel like a miracle. So I went.
The climb was hard, steady work. The kind of effort that strips your thoughts down to basics. Higher up, the weather closed in. Visibility dropped. The path thinned out. People turned back. Eventually I reached the summit… and I was alone.
For a moment, it was exhilarating. Then it was a little unnerving. Being on the highest point in the UK, in the cold, on your own, forces honesty.
Soon after, another hiker appeared. We walked down together. At the bottom, we had a pint — that perfect kind of pint that feels like you’ve earned it — and somewhere in the quiet after the climb, my mind settled.
I knew what I wanted next.
Not a perfect plan. Not a guaranteed path. But a direction.
I wanted to build something I believed in — something that brought sport, travel and storytelling together properly.
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Why I’m building Sports Travel Tom now
Sports Travel Tom is the result of everything above — the career, the travel, the risks, the resets, the wins, and the lessons.
It’s built on a simple belief:
Sport and adventure bring people together. They create shared moments. They help you feel a destination rather than just visit it.
And it’s built with a practical purpose too: helping people travel better. Knowing when to go, what’s worth it, how to plan, and what you’ll actually get when you arrive.
Some journeys are life-changing. Some are just good fun. Both are valuable.
My job is to help you choose well — and to tell the story of these places as honestly as I can along the way.
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