When I travel there’s something I really don’t take care of: what I look like. I understand this is not very nice, but the truth is that I am not the kind of person who spends hours in front of a mirror, and when I travel I tend to forget about everything clothes-fashion-makeup-jewelry related.
Back on May, after I finished working in the Italian Alps (brrr, cold) I had just about 2 weeks before leaving to the Caribbean (highly deserved!) so I went shopping. I knew I had to find hiking shoes to climb Volcano La Soufrière, but I also wanted a pair of super comfy shoes to take with me everywhere. For the fair price of €14,99 I ended up buying these:
It’s obvious that I bought the cheapest ones without paying too much attention to the color. This kind of shoe is called “The German shoe” in Italy… no offense to the Germans reading, but when Italians say so it’s not a good thing. But yeah I got myself German shoes! And no, I would never wear them in Italy.
I couldn’t imagine that this pair of shoes, that I never even considered buying in my life before that day, were going to be the only shoes I wore for months! Me and them, we share some very nice memories together. To give you an idea, and I am not even mentioning everything they did, my ugly shoes…
- Showered under a waterfall in St Vincent and Grenadines, Caribbean.
Me @ Dark View Waterfalls, SVG (I was wearing shoes)
Waited for me at the entrance of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, while I was taking photos barefooted.
Stepped on the gas while I drove across the island of Cyprus on the left lane, UK style.
Crossed chilly water streams during my hikes in the Troodos mountains.
Became incredibly dirty while I played Indiana Jones on my 3 days in Petra, Jordan.
Left an indelible, unsexy tan sign on my feet… that still fails to vanish.
Roamed the Wadi Rum desert if they weren’t red and dusty enough.
Got lost, rode the tram, walked the Old City in Jerusalem with me.
Crossed a checkpoint between Israel and Palestine, and posed for a photo in front of the Separation Wall of Bethlehem.
Crossed the Jordan-Israel border and the Israel-Egypt border.
Walked the dirty streets of Cairo while I looked for a place to stay.
Came with me into the Egyptian desert, and sinked into the golden sand of its beautiful dunes.
Stayed with me on my car crash, but didn’t break. They remained in Egypt waiting for me until I go back.
Dear ugly shoes of mine, I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought you, but I soon realized you were going to be like a faithful travel companion for me. Thanks for traveling around the globe with me so far, and I know it isn’t over yet!
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5 Comments
I think you look absolutely stylish in that first photo – as well as the rest of the photos – casual desert chic! I actually had a pair of shoes similar to yours which I traveled with for years, except they were pale blue. While they may have been a little more colorful than yours, blue is really not a good color for shoes. No mind, though, because soon they were filthy, having been, like yours, soaked in water and treked in sand. And yes, I got a similar tan lines to yours while wearing them in the sun. They were comfortable and had great tread but were awfully heavy to carry around, so I finally tossed them so I wouldn’t have to pack them yet again when I came home in June. Now…I have to find another pair :)
“casual desert chic”… I like it:)
Yup, the color doesn’t really matter, they will be dirty and sandy soon anyway! Mine are not heavy, luckily… you can get these if you want hehe:)
I travel with a pair of Chacos and they are the ugliest thing ever but they are SO comfortable. I can walk on cobblestone all day and never get tired.
Just googled “chacos”… oh wow they look so comfy:) Something tells me I’ll have one of those soon…
aaha i love the “ugly shoes”! ok, they ARE ugly, but we are out to discover the world not to walk the runway…ok My comments is a bit biased since i only wear ugly shoes and i am quite happy about it :)
Ha ha ha, I think I need to get a pair of the ‘ugly shoes’ my ‘pretty shoes’ never survive so many adventures!
Oh yes these shoes were really good! But I didn’t realize how ugly they were until afterwards… ooops! Well, today I got myself another pair of ugly shoes for my next adventure :)