Trying To Fix My Tevas – RESULTS – Senegal Travel Diary #18

This is the result of my effort to save my wonderful Teva Sandals. The Tevas that have been with me through deserts, and oceans and jungles across 4 years of travel. See what happened.

If you haven’t watched the first part, you can see it here: https://www.teamhazardridesagain.com/trying-to-repair-my-teva-sandals-senegal-travel-diary/

And here’s a great place to get an awesome pair of Tevas for yourself:
(Yes, we’ll get a commission if you buy through our link. Thanks.)

Video Transcript

My Teva’s broke.

I think Lac Rose, which was really salty

was the final nail in the coffin.

But these, these sandals
have been through a lot.

They have been through
four years of travel.

And they have been my
footwear 70% of the time

through Southeast Asia, through Africa,

through Southeast Asia
again, and Africa again

and they broke.

And so I wanted to save them.

A couple of the things I’m
gonna tell you right now,

I love Teva’s.

They are great.

They are comfortable.

This is not a bash on Teva.

These, these have really served well,

but you know every shoe’s
time has come, right?

But what I like is that
they have a nice thick sole

and those, this makes it so
I can walk all day in these

and my feet don’t get tired.

I have had occasions where I’ve ended up

with like leg cramps
at the end of the day,

but that’s cause I did
something crazy stupid,

it had nothing to do with the shoes.

And these shoes will just
keep me going all day,

whether it’s urban trekking or,

or off-road trekking or anything.

So, a good sturdy pair
of Teva’s will last you.

Four years is pretty darn good.

No four years is excellent
considering the conditions

that we’ve been putting them through,

deserts and jungles and
everything in between.

Okay, so having said that, I
had this, this piece came out

and what I did is I filled
this little hole with epoxy,

in case you missed the first part.

I filled this with epoxy and
stuck the, the tab back in.

Well, I am happy to say
that this worked very well.

See my, I can’t, I can’t pull it out.

It’s very strong.

The epoxy worked.

I, you know, I’ve been an art major

and dealt with materials.

If you need anything that needs fixing,

two part epoxy will fix almost anything.

If it’s metal that you
need to glue together

there are certain ones that
are even better for metal.

So, so if you need to fix
anything, get two part epoxy,

it’ll solve everything.

Better than Gorilla Glue,
better than Krazy Glue,

Krazy Glue doesn’t work for squat.

Okay, so this repair worked and I was,

I wore them yesterday.

I wore them down to get breakfast

and I wore them around the hotel.

And then I went to get dinner.

That’s where things went wrong.

I’m walking around, walking
around and I’m like,

“Hey, that’s feeling loose
up there, did it break?”

And I was all disappointed.

And then I went, no that’s tight.

And so I went to tighten it.

This part has come
loose on the other side.

Okay, I don’t know how these are made.

Like if this was one solid
strip of leather underneath here

and once it broke, I just,
you know, it was hopeless.

I don’t know if this was
a single strap of leather

underneath or if it was a two
part, but you can see how,

how dried and caked this is.

Even if I went to the trouble
of repairing this one,

it’s just a matter of time
before the rest of these break.

I think we’ve gotten to a point

where the materials are just done.

They’re worn out.

They’ve been put through too much.

And so I’m not gonna try
and save the second one

cause then I figure another one’s gonna go

and another one’s gonna go,

and we are going back to Dakar tomorrow

and Dakar has a sporting
goods store called Decathlon.

They’re fairly common around here except

I’m not sure that there are any

in the next couple of
countries we’re going to.

So I’m gonna take the opportunity,

when we have a good sporting good store

to get a decent pair of sandals.

I don’t think they’re gonna
be as good as my Teva’s.

In fact, I was kind of
looking on their website

and they don’t have things

in the high quality range of Teva’s.

But they have some that
should be good enough.

And so it looks like I am
gonna have to say a sad goodbye

to my Teva’s.

I mean really, I’d wear these for another

10 years if I could.

But I think it’s, I think
it’s time, they’re gone.

I’ve gotten everything
out of them that I can

and it’s time to say goodbye.

So bye my friends.

At least it’s one less thing
I have to pack for our,

our little jot back
down to Dakar tomorrow.

But I’ve got to say goodbye.

And so that’s the result of the Teva’s,

the repair worked but
they’re just too far gone.

Okay, the things of travel.

Remember to, to like and
subscribe and all that stuff,

because I just give you
the honest stories here.

This is, this is how travel
really goes sometimes.

And I hope you enjoy it
and I’ll see you next time.

Thanks for tuning in.

Trina Phillips

I've been traveling to off-the-beaten-path destinations for more than 20 years. Now I'm sharing my continuing adventures in Africa.

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