It was bound to happen. We had a good run. Shared a lot of memories together, covered some serious ground. We lasted much much longer than any other I had before. Some people say that you shouldn’t get too attached to a pair of sandals (It used to be common terminology to refer to sandals/slippers/flip-flops as thongs, but these days the word brings only snickers.) like any inanimate object, and I usually abide by that, but I might wear a black armband tomorrow anyway.

I like the recent trend in obituaries that shows a photo of the deceased in the prime of their lives, not at their weakest, soon before death, so here is a photo from Colombia, March 2010, with my right sandal still going strong, still a vital part of my life.

In happier times

When I first bought these from this supermarket in Brazil with the Amazon roller skating women, I was a little disappointed by their relative weight since weight is everything in your backpack, but they were so durable over the years that I came to think of these Ipanema “anatomicas” as indestructible and an extension of me.

I’m flying to Budapest on Sunday from Weeze, an old military airport in Germany between the Dutch border and Duesseldorf for 40 euros one way (US$50) on the dreadfully named Wizzair, definitely a Top 10 Poorly Named Airline. Also on the list is a now-defunct—of course!—airline I flew in South Africa called 1time. Wizzair had a deal I couldn’t refuse since it would take two very long days to get to Budapest by hitchhiking and I miss only one World Cup game this way. The ticket was only 19.99 euros including all taxes, but it’s 5 euros to pay with a credit card and 15 to check in a bag–30 if you don’t pay online!

Done been gone traveling for three months now.