Shoes, shoes and more shoes

Seriously I (Sandra) am not the clothes or shoe horse in this family, but let’s not go there right now. He has admitted that he has a problem and that is the first step toward recovery, and a lighter suitcase.

Have I mentioned before that I dislike clothes shopping?

The main reason I hate shopping for clothes is because a) I can hardly ever find anything that looks good on me and is comfortable, and try as I might, b) finding clothes that don’t have massive amounts of static is difficult – now add in that we’ll have limited real estate in our suitcases, so… shopping = not fun.

And I loathe shoe shopping because finding shoes for wide feet is pretty much unheard of here in Bend Oregon and when you do they are either butt-ugly or wicked expensive.

I know we’ll be doing most of our day-to-day transportation the good old fashioned way, walking, but I hate wearing shoe-shoes, you know, the full coverage sneaker or boots and let’s not even begin to talk about the perils of socks. Oy!

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I’d much rather wear flipflops. Plus it’s going to be hot and humid for at least the first three months that we are traveling and roasting my already uncomfortable feet in socks and sneakers or hiking boots is just not appealing.

Cue the walking sandals

When it’s hot I usually survive in my flipflops or wedge sandals, nether of which are very conducive to eight hours of walking, plus as I’ve gotten older I need a little arch support and neither my flipflops nor sandals have that, plus my existing pairs have already been around for two years, so they are about to give up the ghost anyhow – did I mention I loathe shoe shopping?

I’ve had walking sandals in the past but frankly they were just whatever I happened to find at the freddy’s, not a lot of thought went into the purchase. It was pretty much “yep these won’t mind getting wet and they fit. Sold”

But not knowing what shopping options will be available within walking distance of our temporary abodes and knowing that we’ll be spending 5, 6, 7 hours a day walking when we are exploring got me to thinking about what do I want in a walking shoe..

For me, it has to have a wide toe box, comfortable and cushy foot bed but a sturdy rubber sole for good traction on wet surfaces, and it’s definitely got to have some arch support.

Cue the Amazon shopping cart

For the first six pairs of shoes I ordered I took the opportunity to try Amazon’s prime try before you buy and ordered six pairs of flip flips that supposedly had arch support. They may have had a little more arch support than what you’ve find on dollar store flip flops but the shoes also felt like flip flops and after trying them all on I realized I wanted a little more toe protection and ankle straps so that I don’t walk out of the shoe.

(As a side note, Amazon showed my a really cute pair of Vionic Pismo in super cute rust colored design called Starfish, and they were just too cute. But once they arrived I realized that they just didn’t fit into the suitcase real estate budget. They are cute, but they are not practical for our purposes.)

Begin the hunt

So all six of them went back and I took another shot at the hunt for the right closed toed walking sandal with arch support…

I usually have to either order a size bigger or hope that the shoes are wide enough for my wide foot (bunion and wide foot). First I scoured the website looking at the reviews to see what others were saying about which walking sandals were a good option for wide feet and based on the reviews I ordered three pairs – the atika Women’s Athena Outdoor Sandals, the Dannto Women’s Sport Hiking Sandals and the Viakix Womens Sport Sandal and I went ahead and ordered the size 7.

Results may vary

I was surprised that all three were actually wide enough for my feet so that’s a bonus. However after just a few minutes of wearing the most expensive of the three, the Viakix Womens Sport Sandal, around the house I already know those are going back, all the straps have a rough edge that I don’t want to even bother with. And I think I shall return the atika Women’s Athena Outdoor Sandals and here’s why I chose to keep the Dannto Women’s Sport Hiking Sandals:

The atika Women’s Athena Outdoor Sandals feel “cheaper” even thought the Dannto Women’s Sport Hiking Sandals are the cheaper of the two by about $10 – the atika just don’t feel as durable. The weight difference is negligible, if you weren’t acutely aware of the importance of shoe weight when walking long distances, you probably wouldn’t even notice

Plus the atika Women’s Athena Outdoor Sandals have no adjustments other than the bungee on top, no ankle or heel strap so your foot sits way back in the shoe and theres no way to adjust anything.

The Dannto Women’s Sport Hiking Sandals has arch support where as the atika Women’s Athena Outdoor Sandals is basically just a flat foot bed and the adjustable ankle and heel strap plus the bungee on top of the Dannto Women’s Sport Hiking Sandals allows me to make needed adjustments.

I’ll post an update after I’ve worn them for a few more days and if they make the cut, I’ll post an update after we’ve been on the road for a few months, so bookmark this page or subscribe so you get updates!