I just came back from a vacation in Puerto Rico, and I wanted to share with you the extent that I went to for ensuring travel happiness with my eyeglasses! As you may know, I wear glasses everyday. What you may not know is that I do not own many sunglasses. When I was sick, I told myself I’d buy some when I get better to make life a little happier. For my trip, I bought sunglasses and looked into eyeglass security technology.

First, my new sunglasses.

I own sunglasses from Zenni Optical, but I did not get around to ordering new ones until about a week and a half before my trip. Zenni takes about 3 or less weeks to deliver. I had originally planned on going back to Warby Parker or Coastal.com to purchase sunglasses (their selections rock), but the prices, around $100+ depending on the pair, were a bit too pricey. To be fair, that price is much less than purchasing at a traditional eyeglass store. What did I do at the end? I purchased a Groupon. I found the website Lookmatic, and was about to order a pair at $70 or so dollars, but then found a Groupon right before I clicked “submit order.” My final total? Under $50. Booya. I loved the price. What I didn’t love was delivery time: the website guaranteed 3 day delivery. I ordered on a Saturday, and it didn’t ship until the next Thursday, not delivered until the following Monday. Too long for my tastes, but I got a cheap pair of sunglasses on time before my trip. Good enough, and I’m not going to gripe about it too much.

I ordered the Shelby in Black Tortoise. Looking cool.

I also bought these rubber stopper things at Wal-Mart. They were $3. Technical term: eyeglass retainer. They work well, and were awesome for when I went zip lining, but a con was that they only barely fit half the arms of my eyeglass collection. So, eyeglass companies, if you can make eyeglass retainers for hipster frames, I’ll buy them.

These wire retainers are going back. Did not work for me.

These are just interesting tidbits for the modern eyeglass wearer.