…for stupid people, that is:
“Skip the sandals when you fly — seriously. If there’s an emergency involving fire, broken glass or the need to evacuate fast, you’ll want real closed-toe shoes to protect your feet and help you move quickly. Sandals slow you down and leave you exposed when seconds matter.”
I always shake my head when I see people wearing flip-flops or the like when they travel.
That said, I’m not a huge fan of wearing sneakers to fly, either — unless they can be easily removed or put on (#VelcroFasteners).
If I’m flying into somewhere cold — e.g. Chicago or Yurp — the go-to are my favorites, L.L. Bean’s Snow Sneakers:
…although I see with some irritation that they currently only offer these to women. Fucking morons. It’s a good thing I ordered two pairs the last time I bought some. Considering that I only wear mine in winter (i.e. those few of non-consecutive days in north Texas when it’s really that cold), these should last me pretty much for the rest of my life. (My previous pair lasted me well over a decade, and they went to Europe and the U.K. over a dozen times.)
If you’re interested, try another brand, e.g. Propét (although they look kinda heavy):
All other times that I fly, it’s on with the faithful Minnetonka mocs:
I prefer the moosehide type, because once they’re worn in (which takes about a couple days), they’re fantastically soft and (most importantly) they’re not a hassle to put back on at the end of a flight, when your feet are all swollen from the cabin pressurization or whatever. They also squash flat in your suitcase to save space.
And yes, I always wear socks when flying and rest my feet on my backpack so nothing touches the airliner’s foul floor. (Don’t get me started about the fools who go to the airliner toilets in bare feet…)
All that said, my chances of flying internationally ever again are becoming vanishingly small. But that’s a topic for another time.
I attribute LL Bean with my full time conversion to hiking boots some 25 years ago. On a lark I bought a pair, liked em, bought for more of the same model in diff colors (all earth tones). Went back a year later to buy 4 more pair for backstock and they no longer sold that model.WTF???
10 years ago my wife bought me a pair of the Snow Sneakers and I initially liked them but they were too hot when the temp got to a certain level, and they were bulkier.
For the past 10 years I’ve been using the Hi-Tec brand with no complaints and have several new pairs in backstock for the imminent days ahead when they too will no longer make them.
Doods that wear flip flops and other sissy assed shoes out in public need to be slapped like the little bitches they’ve become.
Reminds me of an incident in the late 80s or early 90s where a Pakistani Navy frigate had a main space fire and they couldn’t fight the fire and abandoned ship because the crew were all wearing flip flops.
My wife tried compression knee socks on our last 9 1/2 hour flight. She says they work well to reduce calf and foot swelling.
How disappointing indeed! I have a pair of L.L. Bean hiking boots and a pair of the snow sneakers you mention. Currently the footwear Bean sells for men is of the variety I would choose for climbing K2 or McKinley, which tells me more about the kind of male human that is their customer (Lumbersexual is the descriptor I recall).
There is an ex-CIA guy doing the podcast tour that has 3 excellent travel tips that I’d even use in the USA:
1. Laced, closed toes shoes (and I’d promote it to boots). You never know when you will have to run a mile or walk 10.
2. 100 USD in small bills, or local equivalent. (More for Europe and cities in the US). 100 can get you to a US Consolate about anywhere in the world.
3. A laminated business card with important numbers. Yes, for the CIA they weren’t his real mother, but this lets rescuers have contact info for you, and you are no longer dependent on that phone for your memory. (This is good for us old fogeys as well. One fall could break our phone or our long term memory…)
I had one pair of sneakers with velcro closures. They lasted about six months as the velcro didn’t hold my foot in place and my toe came right out the end of the shoe.
I moved to hiking boots once I was working on my feet all day. When I worked in the hospital I did wear black sneakers that were adequate.
Good socks like Darn Tough and good shoes like Solomon, Vasque or even Bean’s hiking boots are the way to go. Sure they take a few minutes to tie but as others have said, you never know when your alternate mode of transportation, walking, is your only route out of a situation.