May 31, 2013

Finding A Pair Of Cute and Comfortable Sandals Should Not Be This Hard

After several weeks, I finally have a pair of black sandals that meet my feet's finicky requirements.  It was not easy.  I needed black sandals I could walk all day in without pain and that would look good with skirts and dresses.  I specifically needed these sandals for Disneyland and Europe.  But the requirements didn't stop there.  My feet have needs.  I cannot tolerate things between my toes, I need an ankle strap, and I need a slight heel.


I started off by buying these adorable Teva sandals online:

Teva Cabrillo Universal Wedge

They had awesome reviews on every site I could find that carried them.  How could I go wrong?  When they arrived last night, I happily put them on and marveled at how comfy they were.  I wore them to dinner at a restaurant three blocks from our house.  On the way there I was having some doubts on their comfort.  On the way back, I was noticing pain.  By the time I got home, the soles of my feet were burning.  Apparently the stitching on the foot bed was irritating my feet.  None of the other reviewers had this issue or at least none of them mentioned it.

Dammit.  There was no way around it: I had to return them.  Even worse, I wouldn't have any comfortable shoes to wear to Disneyland.  We're leaving early tomorrow morning, after all.  It looked like I was out of luck on having black sandals for Disneyland.  I'd have to make do with my next-most-comfortable shoes, my Crocs Adrina wedges.  However, they had stretched a bit too much and were no longer that comfortable.

I continued my online shoe search.  I looked at dozens of sandals specified as 'comfort shoes' and cross-checked reviews.  I had 5 pairs on my shortlist.  Figured I'd bite the bullet and order a pair and play 'order & return' a few more times before the Europe trip to find the right pair.

I complained to Mars about my Disneyland shoe situation.  He insisted that I go to the neighborhood specialty shoe store and buy some sandals that would work.  I've never shopped at this specific shoe store before because it's expensive.  I explained to Mars that the cost was prohibitive and I could get a much better deal online but he said he didn't want to take any chances with me experiencing sore feet in Disneyland.  He offered to do the grocery store run I was planning to do in exchange for me getting some acceptable shoes.  Done deal.

I walked into the shoe store today and explained my sandal requirements.  The first pair the salesguy pulled off the display was a Dansko sandal (Sandi to be exact) and I recoiled a little in horror.  I thought to myself 'HELL NO'.  They looked like clunky senior citizen shoes!  He pulled a few more off, all of them looking like elderly orthotics.  I pulled a few pair, including a cute pair of Taos sandals I had been eyeing online last night.

Well, wouldn't you know it but all of them made me look like I had blocky Fred Flintstone feet except the Dansko.  *scratching my head*  Shockingly, they are not as hideous on the foot as I had imagined.  I mean, I'm not excited about how they look but they fit the bill.  And they are comfortable!  And black!  And have a an ankle strap and a heel!

Brace yourself.

Here they are:

Dansko Sandi

They obviously don't have high marks in the looks department but they are attractive on the feet.

The real test comes on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday when we'll be walking at least 12 hours per day in Disneyland and California Adventure.

Stay tuned to see if my feet, back, and legs survive.  I'll also provide a detailed Disneyland travel report.

FYI, I will be offline until at least Wednesday night.  See you then!

3 comments:

  1. How did you go at Disneyland? My family is intending to travel there next year from Australia and I too am looking now at what will be the best type of shoe. I too hate things between my toes but my additional "thing" is that most of my foot needs to be covered (I've had too many bad sunburns on the top of my foot) and I like an arched footbed. What sort of bag did you end up carrying around? I wondered with the rides.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there! Thanks for the comment... and good question! I did say in a later post that the sandals didn't work out for me but didn't give further details. I wore them in the car on the drive down to Disneyland (~8 hours) and they were annoying me even when I wasn't on my feet. I had the burning sole issue again. I still don't understand why since they didn't have any label or stitching on the footbed. Maybe I'm sensitive to the material? Anyway, I realized they weren't going to work. I gave them one last go that evening while standing in line at Disney Will Call to pick up the tickets. Yep, pain and burning. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive a day with them in Disneyland so I wore my beloved purple Crocs Adrina sandals. No problems at Disneyland whatsoever... and we spent 14+ hours on our feet 3 days in a row. They are so awesome that I bought another pair especially for Europe in black. Anyway, you might want to consider Crocs. They have tons of styles now that I'm sure you'd be able to find something that fits your needs. I just bought some Mary Jane style Crocs that have a high arch - very comfortable! For a bag, I bought a crossbody Baggalini. Loved it! I never took it off. (I mentioned it in one of the luggage posts.) You're going to have a great time in Disneyland! Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting Article. Hoping that you will continue posting an article having a useful information. Comfortable Wedges Shoes

    ReplyDelete

discussion by