Keeping Fit

Nearly a year ago I moved from west London, Ealing area to Bromley in Kent and ever since I had been commuting to work on public transport, travelling daily from Bromley South to London Victoria on Southeastern Trains and then to South Kensington on London Underground. I do try to keep fit and I used to go to my local gym at least once a week. Working at The Rembrandt Hotel in Knightsbridge I often use the great facilities of our Aquilla Health and Fitness Club. It has a beautiful swimming pool, sauna and steam room and it also offers great beauty treatments and therapies. Staff are excellent and provide a really personal service that can be experienced by all our guests who stay at The Rembrandt Hotel. However I always thought that although I really like and would definitely recommend the facilities provided by our Health Club I have been thinking what else can I do on daily basis to do a bit more for myself to keep fit.

My first step was to actually walk daily from Victoria to The Rembrandt Hotel in the morning and back to Victoria after finishing my shift. The walk from Victoria to The Rembrandt Hotel takes around 20 - 25 minutes. The journey on London Underground used to take me around 15 minutes so I do not feel like my overall travel to and from work has increased by that much but I do walk for around 40 minutes extra each working day which I do believe is helping to keep me fit. The other good point is that the walk takes me through one of the most beautiful parts of London - Knightsbridge, The Rembrandt Hotel is situated opposite the Victoria and Albert Museum and the area around the hotel is really adorable, great restaurants, nice shops and my daily walk takes me past Harrods and I really enjoy watching the stunning window displays that this traditional shopping store has created. Having got used to my daily walking routine that got me thinking what more can I do at work and out of work to help me keep fit. At work I decided to avoid using lifts and use stairs instead. The Rembrandt Hotel has six floors and as my work involves seeing lots of rooms daily I stared to use stairs on daily basis, I will be honest to you all reading this, at the beginning I found it a bit hard as when you walk up the stairs to see one guest in a room on 6th floor and then walk all the way back to ground floor only to be told by my staff at reception that a guest on 5th floor is having some issues with room and wants to see me can be a bit frustrating. However after a while I really got used to that and nowadays its very rarely that I will use lifts at work. In my spare time and on my days off I decided to start jogging. I always loved jogging and Bromley being in Kent has some beautiful gardens and parks. However please remember that when jogging you are doing this in a safe area. Nowadays I try to run at least 2 or 3 times a week for around one hour each time. With the weather being not the best lately I must be honest to you all that on some occasion I really was not looking forward to going for a run on my days off when its nice and worm indoors and really cold and very often windy and rainy outside however after an hour run, even in rain, I do feel like I had done something for my body and mind. With the winter hopefully behind and spring leading us to summer I am planning to get myself a bicycle and start cycling a bit, I was thinking of cycling to and from work however my this may have to wait as I have not been cycling for around 3 or 4 years, but I have been looking at some cycling routes around Bromley so that I know where to cycle one the weather gets better.

The point that I am trying to get across is that although I would encourage you all to use a gym and if you live or work in the area near The Rembrandt Hotel you should definitely consider joining our Aqullla Health Club; however we all can do a bit of extra exercise on our daily routines in order to keep fit. London and it suburbs have so may beautiful parks for jogging and if you consider to do some walking in London instead of using busses or Underground you may see more of this wonderful and beautiful city. The final point of my “getting fitter” idea is to stop smoking and if only I could be as determined on that point as I had been on getting fitter I feel I would feel much better about myself, however being a smoker for over 8 years that may not be too easy but with a bit of self belief and motivation I know it can be done

Submitted by Sylwester Sobilo, Front Office Manager at The Rembrandt