#WalkForIndia My Journey Part 2

20.07.20 - Day 1 Zurich HB to Suhr

I got the tram from my home into Zurich HB in a chef jacket and recorded this video before I left towards Suhr , temperatures hit highs of 31 degrees and soon I realised the walk was going to be harder than I had expected despite the training walks I had completed. I had made a huge mistake in that I brought a bag with me that was approx 15 kg in weight. I started to get back pains because of the bag, nevertheless I ignored the pains and carried on. The Swiss scenery was really wonderful with the apple trees , Sun flowers , ripe cornfields and vineyards. I covered 44 km this day which was further than google maps stated due to diversions on the walk. During this walk i received the most amazing message from an ex- F&B Director of Hyatt , which was really kind and positive , this motivated me. I was pleased to get to my airbnb accommodation. The people were very nice and room was clean and cool which was fantastic. I managed to make arrangements to get my bag lightened for the following day which made me happy.

21.07.20 - Day 2 Suhr to Aeschi

When I woke up in the morning I noticed my left leg had started to go numb and I was getting what I can describe as hot sharp pains. I immediately took some anti inflammatory tablets and set off to Aeschi. Donations looked good as we were moving up to the 6000 chf , which made me happy. I uploaded this video on Tuesday. During the walk I saw some really nice places, I am always impressed by the water cleanliness in the lakes and rivers in Switzerland. I now started to notice that my apple watch battery would not last if I had the sat nav on and was walking for over 9 hours which was a real pain and often stopped working due to the battery. I started to notice that many roads did not have proper foot paths to walk on. The weather today kept raining and then it was drying back up , this has started to cause my shorts to chafe on my legs making them very sore. When I arrived at my accommodation I was very tired and I took a shower and went straight to sleep. I walked 44.30 kilometres today. At my airbnb I had the most amazing breakfast which was served in an afternoon tea style . Really lovely people and in fact the lady had worked in Bournemouth in the UK in a hotel as a waitress in the 1980s.

22.07.20 - Day 3 Aeschi to Bern

Today I set off to Bern and all was well for most of the walk and I actually thought I was going to get to my accommodation early and was delighted . As you can see from my video this morning I was in quite good spirits as I had already completed 88 km. Martin Jones was visiting his friends in Morges and asked me to send him my location from google maps , it was good to catchup in person and shows what a kind human being Martin is to go out of his way to catch up. Then suddenly the heavens opened up 3 km from my accommodation , honestly I have not see this type of down pour in Switzerland , see my video here . In total I walked 36.3 km today . I did not arrive to my accommodation until 9.30pm and everything I had with me was absolutely soaked and I mean everything. The accommodation in Bern was more basic than I had hope for although nice people. I grounded myself by thinking about why I was doing this walk and for whom. When you have perspective of your situation compared to other peoples it is a good way to get yourself feeling grateful.

23.07.20 - Day 4 Bern to Avenches

Temperature today was at 28 degrees , my left leg now was very sore , blisters were starting to occur on my feet because my trainers which were wet and many of the roads I was walking down did not have proper foot paths so my ankles started to get sore from the long grass and plants I was walking through. My left thigh muscle now was having really sharp hot pain spikes and to be honest I was questioning If I was going to finish this walk. Here is my Video for today which was a bit reflective. While I was walking I started to think about a kilometre at a time to get through.

In my mind I was thinking this is how a business strategy should be , you set a tough destination target which can be far off in the future , you set frequent local goals and get to them no matter how tough the going gets. Ultimately you will reach your end goal as I did.

Martin Jones contacted me and said he was leaving Morges and if I send a location pin to him he would bring some water, a medical kit , which he did with some very nice petit fours. We grabbed some lunch and then I carried on my journey to Avenches. I have to say I loved Avenches , the place I stayed at was right in the heart of the high street and it was really quite special. As I had got there earlier than planned I went to dinner and had my first beer and some Thai food to a DJ and clock bell dongs. It really was quite an experience. The food was nice and I went to bed to try and get my leg better by resting it.

24.07.20 - Day 5 Avenches to Corcelles-le-Jorat 

Day 5 I wanted to try and go further today to reduce Sundays walking distance. I noticed there were some large donations and wondered if this was putting people off donating. In the video in the morning I said this. I set off from Avenches to Corcelles le Jorat , my leg , shins and feet were really hurting and I was taking the max amount of pain killers I could. My bag again was starting to hurt my back because the rain and sweat from my back had soaked into the bag which made it become heavier. Luckily for me I had made plans to change over the bag and only had to carry ruck sack for one more day. The accommodation at Corcelles le jorat was good and the people were really nice. I managed to eat and also went to a chemist , the lady in the chemist was amazing she gave me some cream specifically for Chafe from my shorts and this cream was a miracle. However as you will see in this video by the end of the day I was literally done. I had about 5 blisters like the picture below on my feet, although they hurt i was determined to finish. I covered 42.5 km today.

25.07.20 - Day 6 Corcelles-le-Jorat to Etoy

Today is Saturday and was excited as I was going to Etoy which is only 33km , as I was keen to reduce the walking distance tomorrow ( Sunday) . I had been in deep reflection in my mind and was happy that we had raised some money and was delighted we will be able to help about 32 people in India for 6 months at 3000 rupees per person per month. Here is my morning Video.

I was disappointed that many international chains had not donated or any Indian based business , yet my Hyatt and Morgans Hotel Group colleagues and been generous. Seemed sad to me that people dont want to help others worse off than themselves or maybe my expectations are unrealistic . I was also aware no one is obligated to donated and perhaps that is the way it is. I was excited to go to Etoy as believe it or not a colleague from Chicago wanted to do this walk with me and could not because of the quarantine issues, He had kindly arranged dinner for me a great little restaurant called Restaurant La Pecherie at Allaman. The fillet Perch was to die for , the very cold white wine made from the chasselas grape was wonderful. Thank you Stephan Blackburn we will plan something next year for charity. :)

The people at my accommodation were really lovely they had just come back from two weeks in Sardina and gave me their car to use to get to the restaurant. Honestly Nicole and Jose I could easily been friends with they were super kind. They even sent me a lovely email after. It really shows how the world is and that it is full of great people.

As you will be aware I wanted to walk extra kilometres today of which I did I got to within 39 kilometres from Geneva and was hoping I could start from the same place in the morning and get to Geneva nice and early. All in all I walked 36.9 kilometres today which was approx 3.5 kilometres closer to Geneva than my accommodation.

26.07.20 - Day 7 Etoy to Geneva

Through the night my feet had been hurting and I knew if I did not get up early enough I would not make it back to Geneva to catch the train home. I left the accommodation around 5am here is the video I did. I was hoping to get back to where I ended up the day before which was closer to Geneva, the problem was it was a Sunday and at 5 am there was no transport available to take me their. I knew then I would end up walking at least 45 kilometres today.

The journey to Geneva was tough for me it was extremely hot , every part of my body was done and I was limping badly through pain. Lots of positive message came through my facebook account that I setup for the walk and these kind messages and the ones from LinkedIn helped me get to the finish line.

I called the Stephen Blackburn who was going to do the walk with me from Zurich to Geneva and then opened up a quick and short live feed in to Geneva Train station. I had finally done it . In total I had walked in 7 days 287 kilometres.

I have walked the furthest I ever had in my life , in an effort to raise money to help our hospitality colleagues in India and to raise awareness of the situation of poverty for some really wonderful hospitality workers in India who were once chefs , waiting staff, room cleaners and front desk people from all hotel brands and standalone restaurant in India.

At the same time I was able to express my dissatisfaction of how the governments across the world have printed money out of thin air , bought debt bonds , which had in turn given the stock markets all time highs while millions of community and grass root businesses had closed and many for good because their fiscal stimulation policies did not work for real people businesses.

Tomorrow I will write up the plan how we will distribute the funds and the process. I will keep a financial tracker and proof of payments on my facebook page. I am also hoping we can get some videos from the people we are going to be helping so you can see it is possible by giving a little you can make a big difference to someones life.

True Hospitality leadership is when words and action come together so that the rubber can hit the road and take you on a journey to your intended destination. This is how I see Hospitality Leadership .

There are many more photos on my facebook page is here

Actual reconciliation of kilometres walked based iPhone readings

To Donate Click Here 12, 932 CHF Raised so far.