“What are you going to take with you?” Shoes. As weight is an issue we think 2 pairs each: a pair of trekking shoes and a pair of thongs (for me, the Aussie) or flip-flops for the boys. Two hours of trying on and walking around travel shops and we both kept coming back to the Scarpa Mojito ‘lifestyle’ shoes. They seem to be the most versatile, looking reasonably good for walking around cities, but strong enough for hiking in too. Combine this with comfortable, waterproof and light and it was a no-brainer. There is much less choice for children, but we eventually bought Jack Wolfskin Track hiking shoes which they both thought were very comfortable and not too garish. Job done… but the proof in in the wearing, so we will review them once we are ‘on the road’ so to speak
2016 – Update
Well the Scarpa’s were and still are fantastic shoes and will last us many years yet. The Jack Wolfskins for the boys ended up being disappointing, they were not very comfortable, leaked like sieves and fell apart rather than wore out. So we bought new boots in South America (hard to get for kids and REALLY expensive) and finally in Australia we update us all to Keen sandals which are waterproof, comfortable and lasted a lot longer. Ollie’s need re-sticking in Vietnam and Cameron is now wearing his in Australia as school shoes.
