1996 — Slovakia. A cold, dark, communist-era pool. Uninviting, but familiar. A team of nine elite swimmers and me, 17 years old. I remember feeling the weakest of them all. The goal: to swim more than...

Have you ever been to a place so remote you don’t see another human for days?

A place where the night sky stretches on forever, the Milky Way spills across the sky like paint, and silence is louder t...