Let me begin by saying I am not proud of this. When I texted some of my closest friends to tell them I had invested in Chacos, they were shocked. I have been anti-Chaco for as long as I can remember, however, I needed shoes that would be good for walking a lot in Spain. So, I accepted defeat and bought my first pair. It pained me to do this because the part of me that loves fashion was screaming “NO” inside of my head. However, I had to do this for the sake of my feet.

I still don’t think Chacos are particularly fashionable but they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn and I never took them off while in Spain. There were days when we walked upwards of 13 miles, yet my feet never hurt. I had never really understood the importance of arch support until now. My sandals and boots just don’t really provide the kind of support that Chacos do.

I wore my Chacos in the airport, which was a good idea because we ended up having to run in order to make our connecting flight. Then, I wore them to class everyday because it was nearly a 25 minute walk. I wore them on excursions to other cities when we walked mile after mile in the hot sun. I even wore them to hike around the outskirts of the city. One of the best parts about these shoes was that even though I wore them all the time and they kept getting dirty, it was incredibly easy to clean them.

All you have to do is rinse them off to get them clean. You can get the entire shoe wet and it will dry quickly. One day we went to the beach and afterwards, my shoes were really sandy. However, since I had my Chacos on, I just rinsed them off under the beach showers and went on my way. One day I wore them hiking and they got a bit dusty. But when we stumbled across a stream, I simply waded in it and rinsed off my shoes.

You might be wondering why I didn’t just wear tennis shoes during the month. The reason I went for Chacos was that it was extremely hot in Spain and I needed some sort of sandal. These shoes were perfect for traveling. They’re versatile and easy to clean. To be honest, I only wore different shoes two or three times on the entire trip. I wore some cute sandals one day and they were extremely painful compared to my Chacos. I also wore my converse on the flight home and I had blisters just from walking through the airport.

I’m not saying they’re cute and I’m not saying you should wear them all the time, but Chacos are comfortable shoes and are ideal for traveling when it’s warm outside. And, most importantly, you get super cool tan lines on your feet.