Most times on our travels we end up walking a lot more than usual. On our return home we often comment – we should walk more! A resolution which, alas, rarely lasts very long.

I recall having a pedometer back in 2007 on one of our school trips taking students to Japan. We walked a lot most days. I think in retrospect the settings on the pedometer may have been set somewhat generously. We did walk a lot the day we were in Kyoto, but 27.5km? Maybe … from our accommodation in a school hall just near the Kitano Hakubaicho station, up to Kinkakuji (the Golden Temple), then along to Ryoanji (the temple with the rock garden). Followed by a trip to Toei Usumasa Eigamura (also known as Kyoto Studio Park). We did walk a lot. Perhaps it was over 27km!

On the days spent at the sister school in Tokyo, we averaged around 10km of walking a day. It was quite a good walk and train journey from our home stay to school, then add on the activities throughout the day, and then the trek home again.

Days spent sightseeing we walked further, with my untrustworthy pedometer suggesting an additional 25km around Hiroshima, 20km around Himeji and 18km at Tokyo Disneyland. Probably dodgy calculations, but, yes, we did walk a lot.

Fast forward a few years from 2007 to 2015. By then I was the proud owner of a Fitbit and endeavoured to get a high step-count regularly. I tracked steps and took the Fitbit on our trip to New York in 2015. The daily step count online was a bit off, as the walking was done during US time zones, but I still walked a few kilometres – or was it miles in the US?!

My Fitbit data, beautifully saved and accessible on the internet even today, seven years later, shows that the first week in New York in 2015, we walked between 6km and 12 km daily, depending on our activities.

4 April: 10km – that’s the day we joined in with the pillow fights, and strolled around Wall Street.

5 April: 11 km – 5^th Avenue Easter Parade. This was actually my “best recorded” day so far with my Fitbit since its purchase in June 2014!

6 April: We started our bus trip to Niagara Falls, Washington, Philadelphia etc.

9 April: 12km – Washington – Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, White House, Air and Space Museum, The Mall, subway and walking back to our Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Silver Springs. In retrospect, taking the subway in Washington was pretty dodgy!

Then, while we were in Washington, I thought … where’s my Fitbit charger? Uh-oh – I think it is back in the Wyndham Garden Hotel in York, Pennsylvania. I had rushed to get the electrical cords in the suitcases as the porter was waiting to take them down to the tour bus. The room and carpet were all dark coloured, and I wouldn’t have noticed a small dark cord. Bother. So, an oops and yet another item lost overseas!

So, the Fitbit gradually lost power, finally conking out on 14 April 2015. I did eventually get another charger back in Australia, as my statistics online showed I earned some “badges” for steps/distances during 2016. Sometime during 2016, I must have lost interest.

Now, as a planned overseas holiday is on the horizon, with the prospect of lots of walking (here we come Egypt and Turkey), I think it’s time to get “walk fit” again. I suppose I could track my steps/distance in training on a phone app? But, the phone doesn’t count my steps when I’m walking and the phone is stationary in my handbag or on the table.

Maybe it’s time for a wearable – one of the new whizz-bang modern Fitbits or smart watches. An early Christmas present from someone, perhaps?? Hint, hint!!