Shoes

One of the things I want to do in this blog is to give advice on travel accessories. So often I hear people say that a trip was ruined due to having bad shoes or a coat that did not insulate as well as they thought. Since I have quite a bit of experience in traveling I thought that my input may be valuable. So for this first "Travel accessories" article I have chosen shoes.

Shoes are perhaps the first and most important item a traveler has. I've had some rotten shoes on a trip or two. Or I've had the wrong shoe for what I was doing. A prime example of this is when I climbed Mt. Fuji back in 04. I went up and back down while wearing Dr. Marten's low cut street shoes. They were well worn in so I didn't have to contend with blisters, but I had no traction and the sole gave me little protection from the millions of sharp, tiny stones littering the path of the mountain. I was not a very happy camper. Another time I went on a hike and got drenched in a heavy, 5 hour rain. My feet were not happy.

The most important thing is comfort. If you're shoes give you trouble normally, traveling with them won't be any more pleasant. Actually it'll be worse since you'll be walking around more and being more active than usual. The bad thing is that comfort usually comes with a price. I have found that the more expensive the shoe, the better they feel on my foot. I now have a pair of Ecco loafers. They are great, some of the most comfortable shoes I've ever had. I walk in them. I work in them. I can do just about anything with them. They ran me about $150, but it was worth it. My other pair of shoes that I use often are my hiking boots. I use Vasque. Again they were expensive, but damn they are comfortable. These are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. Hands down they are worth every penny of the $200 I dropped on them. I can walk miles and miles in them without feeling much in the way of discomfort.

Quality is another major factor in traveling shoes. Again this is related to price. If a shoe is cheap it will most likely fall apart on you mid trip. That would suck. I very nearly had that happen to me. Actually it did. I was in Japan last year and I wore a pair of sandals. These things had been all over with me. They were great. But time and use won out and they fell apart one afternoon, a week before I went to the Philippines. Now the quality of those sandals (Rainbow sandals) was not bad. Actually they were quite good and sturdy, but you must make sure your equipment is in a usable condition before traveling. If you have a pair of shoes with a questionable soft spot in the sole, you should probably buy a new pair.

You also have to think about how you're going to use your shoes. Are you going to be just walking around a city? Are you going hiking? You need to bring the right shoe for the right occasion. That's one reason why I buy hiking boots so often. They are pretty versatile and can be used for just about any occasion. My Vasques are such that I can walk around any city and be fine or go climbing around hills and forests.

The last thing I'm going to write about is waterproofing. Waterproofing can save an entire trip. For example, Japan is pretty raining during the summer months. Your shoes can get pretty soaked pretty easily. Having a waterproofed set of boots can definitely make a trip during the Japanese summer better.

Basically what I'm saying is "go for the hiking boot". It has all you need and will get you around feeling like you're walking on clouds. You just have to dish out the cash.