Google maps says that the morning route I usually take is 4.7 miles each way, so 9.4 miles round trip, and that usually gives me about 20k steps, so that seems to track with your numbers. It's a long walk! The biggest tip I can think of is consistency -- taking my morning walk is so ingrained as a habit now that I feel weird when I don't do it. And I'm lucky in that I have a route I really like, the bike/pedestrian path system we have near the river in my town gives me kind of a "best of both worlds" situation in that I feel like I can experience some natural beauty, but I also have a nice smooth walking surface (and I don't have to deal with cars). It also has lots of locations that function in the AR games that I've played, that helps give me something to do and keeps me from getting bored.