I second what the last poster just said. "Real" orthotics have to be custom made to form fit your foot and only a podiatrist can do this. Mine cost $375 and insurance DID NOT cover it. It all depends on your plan. I work for a state agency and we have a lousy plan! You need to have a reason to get them, i.e. plantar fasciaitis, heel spurs, arch problems, and once getting them you need to find shoes that you can comfortably fit them into - not all shoes accommodate them. Once you do that you need to break them in - and a trip to Europe is not the time. You wear them at home, walking, to work, etc. for 4-6 hours a day to start and then work up from that. I wore mime all the time in Europe, day and night, and had virtually no problems. I do not wear them every day at home tho because they do not fit comfortably into my work shoes even tho I have gone to what I consider rather ugly SAS shoes for work.

Hi Alex,<BR>I'm a tennis player and love hiking and walking my dog, but we walked SO MUCH on our trip a few weeks ago, that by time we were in Spain for ten days, my feet hurt SO MUCH I had to go back to the hotel and soak them and rest before I could continue. Still, I love to walk so much that before my next trip I plan to take up several suggestions here and visit a podiatrist. I varied shoes (sometimes even breaking down and wearing tennis shoes) and that helped. It's interesting to know that other people have gone through this as well. My husband had no problems at all (and here I thought I was in better shape than him!) Well, Good luck. <BR>Paula

Thank you all so much for responding to my post. Now I don't feel so bad, and I guess I just have to realize that I'm just not going to see all the sites in a city. I will have to pick and choose and not feel so bad taking other transportation other than walking sometimes. Happy travelling to you all.

The key is 2-3 days in the city. We take a lot of cabs so we can save our energy and make the most of the 2-3 days. Used to walk more but we found we spent more time walking than seeing what we want to see. Obviously sometimes the walk IS what you want to see.

Sometimes the sore legs are due to poor venous circulation in the legs. I play tennis and do water aerobics, I can walk for hours given the right shoes BUT If I didn't wear the special stockings to compress the veins in my lower legs, about one hour would be my max. So the moral of the story is, if this continues, tell your doctor. He/she can check for pulses in your legs, and if absent, prescribe these stockings. Yes, they're hot (I only wear the knee high ones when i walk a lot, otherwise I don't wear them), but I can be a real tourist with them and I won't have ulcers when I'm 80! Judy