My Travelin' Shoes

At the end of 2009, just before Christmas, I bought myself a pair of Ecco Lite boots. I loved the look of the brown boots but I was easily persuaded by the sales girl to get the black pair as I didn't normally wear a lot of brown and I wasn't yet comfortable with the idea of mixing brown and black, something I now love to do. The boots were light-weight, flexible and comfy and they were going to be my perfect traveling shoes. Unfortunately the price tag wasn't lovable. With 30 days to return them I kept them unworn in the box for three weeks before I realized it was a little impulsive of me to buy shoes for a trip I wasn't taking for another eight months. I returned them and spent the money on what I was shopping for in the first place, Christmas presents for my friends and family. I am horrible at Christmas shopping, I always find things I want for myself!

I hope someday I can replace this picture with one of me wearing my boots! Until then I'll just have to dream...

When July rolled around and I was getting ready to leave I thought again about my boots, unfortunately they wouldn't be out in Ecco stores in Canada until the end of the summer. The sales girl's foreshadowing remark that European stores carry different stock didn't phase me until I got to Europe in the fall. In fashionable Prague I was desperate for my traveling boots. There were two Ecco stores in the area of downtown Prague and within walking distance of my hostel. I went to both. They all carried the same unfortunate-looking platform heeled boots. I spent the next two months casually dragging my boyfriend to Ecco stores in almost all major cities just in case they might have my boots, but alas, they just weren't carried in European stores.

It wasn't until after it started snowing and I'd decided that I needed a more sturdy pair of winter boots for spending Christmas in Northern Sweden that I finally found a pair of my boots. They weren't even my size, or the right brown, and now that I'm going to Africa I definitely don't need them. But maybe I can get them for my next trip? For now I'll just have to settle for being bootless. But it's the traveling that's important right? - not the shoes.

As Matt Mays says,

"Good-bye girl gone to see the world,
Out to see every thing you choose
Now it's becoming so clear
That your feet are planted deep
In your travellin' shoes"