本平台今日起将转发麦克贝茨日记，敬请关注！今日刊发第一篇：终于开启2018年“为梦想行走”中国之旅。
现在是伦敦时间20:24，我马上就要到达伦敦希思罗机场4号航站楼等待飞往上海的航班，之后将转飞北京，开启我们2018年的徒步之旅。这已经是雪琳和我一起做慈善徒步的第七个年头了。到目前为止，我们已经徒步了12,000多公里（8000多英里），为世界各地的慈善机构筹集了50多万英镑的善款。
今年，我们的徒步里程不到300公里（200英里），但是我们希望在募捐善款金额上有所突破。希望在这个并不是很长的徒步里程中筹到更多的善款，是雪琳想要达到的理想目标。但我对此却没有太大的把握。任何慈善活动都有多个层面。首先，是筹款的目的；其次，是徒步面临的挑战。今年的挑战也许会小一些，因为这是我们有史以来最短的一次徒步。还有一个层面，那就是徒步的体验，这是我们享受其中的奇妙之处。
我们已经徒步穿越了25个国家，中国和爱尔兰与其他国家截然不同，在这两个国家，我每次的徒步都受到热烈欢迎，徒步之旅发展了两国人民之间的友谊。2015年，我们从北京出发徒步到杭州，这也是我们慈善徒步经历中最奇妙的一次。那次徒步，好多中国红十字会的年轻志愿者沿途加入了我们的征程。有的人会与我们徒步一整天，有的人或许徒步几个小时，有的可能只是为了和我一起拍一张自拍。但是，和这些年轻的志愿者们一起交谈，使得那次徒步更加令我难忘。
今年，中国曹妃甸职业技术学院的学生将加入我们的行列，从北京徒步到河北省的曹妃甸。曹妃甸职业技术学院是一所非常棒的大专院校，我和雪琳2016年曾经来到这里与学生们交流互动，和师生们很快建立了友谊。我们当时承诺会再次回到这里，这次徒步也履行了我们当时的诺言。通过今年这次徒步，我们希望能够为贫困学生筹集教育奖学金，帮助贫困地区的学生进入职业院校学习一项技能，为他们以后的生活提供更好的机会。同时，我们还将为英国威尔士亲王殿下的慈善机构——英国查尔斯王子基金会筹集资金，帮助英国贫困的年轻人。
坦率地说，今年的徒步并不轻松，许多阻力摆在面前。我甚至怀疑今年的徒步是否真的能够实施，就更别提真的是否能完成了。我夫人雪琳在这方面非常能干。据说世界上有三种不同类型的人，第一类人总是在等待事情发生，第二类人会促成事情发生，第三类人询问发生了什么事。我夫人雪琳是属于第二类的，当她得知事情可能不是很顺利时，她十天前就立即飞到了中国，提前把一切都安排妥当。我很想念她，期待着明天在机场与她相见。
今天真的忙得有点手忙脚乱，好多事情都赶到了一起。我儿子和他的女友从巴西飞来伦敦，我在离开前把家门钥匙和其他一些事宜交代给他们。他们下午5：40到达，我6点离开，正好匆匆见了个面就告别了。
徒步鞋是我最重要的装备，上周我从“北面（North Face）”紧急订购了一双，但临走的今天还是没有收到。我只好迅速赶到了位于考文特花园的“北面”商店，向他们解释了我的处境，他们给我提供了很多帮助，尤其是一名来自台湾的女士为我的徒步鞋费了不少精力。他们的库存没有我想要的款式，但她耐心地给我试了很多型号。最后总算挑好了一双合适的鞋子。
马上就要到达机场了，8,000公里（5,000英里）的飞行后，我就可以见到雪琳，期待着开启我们的中国之旅。
原文 / 麦克·贝茨勋爵
翻译 / 郭春涛
翻译校对 / 陈必萍
微信编辑 / 杨帅，李璟瑶
总校对 / 雪琳
贝茨勋爵日志英文原文如下：
It is 20:24 and I am to be found in Heathrow Terminal 4 waiting to board my flight to Shanghai and then up to Beijing, the starting point of our 2018 walk. This is the seventh walk which Xuelin and I have done together. So far we have covered 8000+ miles and raised £500,000+ for charities.
This year we will not be adding much to the total of miles–approx. 200 but we are hoping we might make a significant addition to the fundraising total. More funds raised, less distance walked–this is Xuelin’s vision of heaven, for me I am not as sure. There are also multiple levels to any charitable activity, first is the cause for which you re raising funds; then there is the challenge of the walk–this is less so this year as it is our shortest ever walk by some margin but there is another level and that is the experience of the walk and this is where the walk will be amazing.
We have walked through 25 countries and only two I would say have been truly exceptional in terms of the welcome we have received and friendships which were developed–China and Ireland. We walked 1000 miles from Beijing to Hangzhou in 2015 and it was without doubt the most incredible walk we have done. What made it so was the many young Red Cross volunteers who joined us along the road sometimes for a day, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes just for a selfie but it was those conversations which made the walk so memorable.
This year we will be joined on our Walk from Beijing to Caofedian in Hebei Province by students from Caofedian Technical College. It is a wonderful college that Xuelin and I visited in 2016 and struck up and immediate friendship with students and teachers. We promised to come back for another walk and this is the fulfilment of that pledge. Through our walk we hope to be able to raise funds for scholarships for disadvantaged students to get a springboard to their life chances by attending the college to study a vocational skill. We will also raise funds for The Prince’s Trust the charity of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales which helps disadvantaged young people in the UK.
To be quite frank this year’s walk has been a real struggle to organise so many barriers seemed to be placed in our way that we began to wonder whether we would ever get to the start line never mind the finish line. Xuelin is incredible in this regard. It is said there are three types of people–those who wait for things to happen, those who make things happen and those who ask what happened. Xuelin makes things happen and when the going got tough she got on a plane and went to China ten days ago to get things ready. I have missed her and I can’t wait to see her at the airport tomorrow.
Today has been a mad dash with so many things needing to come together. My son and his young lady friend were arriving from Brazil and they needed to get there before I left to handover keys and paperwork. They arrived at 5:40PM–I left at 6PM so that connection worked.
My walking shoes–the most critical bit of kit had been ordered from North Face last week with Express Delivery sadly despite waiting to the very last moment I didn’t receive the delivery never mind the express bit. I dashed to the North Face store in Covent Garden and explained my situation–they could not have been more helpful especially a young lady from Taiwan. They didn’t have the exact style I wanted in stock but she patiently took me through all the options. I tried them on and bounced around many times before finally choosing a pair.
So, almost there, just a 5000 mile flight to go before I see Xuelin and we can start looking forward to getting going.
来自：职教城宣传部
制作：李璟瑶
责编：李 倩
