“It was a walk,” Nootboom says by phone from Australia. “It was incredibly hard, especially because all the stones were stuck in your feet. Although people were a little disappointed when they saw the soles of my feet, they were still really beautiful. But everything inside was shattered.”

Nut Boom served for ten years by the Ministry of Defense and was sent to Afghanistan three times. He went to Australia, faced psychological problems and was relieved to walk barefoot. “But also by talking about it. You notice that there is a barrier between players to discuss suicidal and depressive feelings. That’s why I made this trip to get attention.

To increase publicity, he chose to walk barefoot. “A normal trip of 3000 km gives very little publicity compared to barefoot. No, I did not train for it. Nothing could prepare you for such a journey. I wanted to show you that you can do anything you set your mind to. Guide by example.” . For example, ‘The Perfoot Dutchman’ wrote on Instagram that after 151 days his legs felt like “Mike Tyson punching bag”.

That trip took him from Cairns in northern Australia to his front door in Sydney and earned him two Guinness World Records, including a long trip without two legs. Walked the last kilometer with him for a few kilometers and now it was a beer time. “I’m incredibly distorted. For the next two to three weeks I will do nothing and rest and recover.”