I Am So Glad We Bought These Shoes!

Tanya: “I am so glad we bought these shoes!” Yes, I am aware that our new shoes aren't the most attractive shoes in the world. Mine are purple though, and Andrew's don't look too bad with socks underneath. Ha! Wearing sandals with socks! We are real travelers now.

In all seriousness though, when traveling with just one bag and for a long extended time, making sure your shoes are the most comfortable things in the world is really important.  Being a tourist means you walk a lot. Walking a lot means you get sore feet. Sore feet means you get grumpy. No one likes a grumpy traveler.

Prior to buying these new shoes (Keen's), I was wearing Teva's. I loved my Teva's. They were red, had nice strapping, looked really good with pants, shorts, skirts and casual dresses. Check them out in my post about what I packed in my bag here.

However, the Teva's just weren't comfortable to wear all the time especially when we walk sometimes 10 kilometres a day whilst wearing our backpacks. They had to be replaced.

Andrew's original shoes were also Teva's. His shoes had to be replaced due to just being too worn out for their own good. Bits of the rubber were coming off, seams were coming apart, they had been worn non stop for about 3 years previously, so it was time to see them go.

Penang came through with the goods. There aren't too many shops that stock shoes that will fit Andrew's massive feet of size US 12, World of Sports came to the rescue, at a shopping centre near Plaza Gurney of course. If he was buying new shoes, so was I!

I ended up with Keen Venice H2 Sandals, Andrew with Keen Canyon Sandals. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

It is important to remember that comfort is everything when traveling with one bag and for an extended period time.  If you can find shoes that are both comfortable and look good then buy them!