Shoes and Socks

So here's how crazy I can get as I delve into the minutiae of trying to pack perfectly.

As I mentioned the other day, my cardinal rule of packing is to only take exactly what you need, not what you might need. A corollary is never take two items which overlap in function. Instead, pick one, or perhaps a third example, which can meet all of your needs (1). I thought I had this all figured out, but I was wrong.

My plan for shoes was simple: take a pair of sneakers and a pair of leather Top Siders. The sneakers would work for most sightseeing, any exercise I actually managed to do, going to the beach or pool if the weather cooperated, etc. The shoes would work for air travel (they slip on and off easily at the security line - a sad commentary on the world), dinner in a nicer restaurant, and anything else.

Which shoes, April 2014

This, then, drove my strategy for socks. A few pair of athletic socks, and a few pair of socks to wear with the Top Siders. And hopefully it will be warm and I won't even need to wear socks every day.

Then our friend and traveling companion Beebs threw the entire plan into an uproar, one which has consumed Sally and me since last weekend. After we hammered out the overall itinerary, Beebs took charge of our daily activities - which Sally & I thought was great, since it meant we get to enjoy all that stuff without doing any of the planning work. So Beebs calls and tells Sally that one day we will be renting a boat and going off to a little island where, among other great things, we will walk on the beach. A rocky beach. Where our shoes will get soaked by the waters of the Adriatic Sea.

Neither of my shoes seemed right for this. Nor did any of Sally's shoe collection (2). What we were advised is that we need "water shoes" - shoes that had grippy soles that would keep us stable on the wet rocks, and that would not be harmed by continuous submersion in salt water. So we started researching at some of our favorite online stores - Campmor (they sell, well, camping and outdoor gear), Zappos (they sell shoes) and Amazon (they sell everything). From this research, I determined that there are a few sub-optimal choices.

1. I could buy a pair of Teva sandals (or some similar brand). They're all synthetic, obviously are impervious to water, and offer a wide variety of styles. The most basic sandals don't offer a lot of protection to your feet, other than the sole.

2. I could buy a more enclosing style, sometimes referred to as a "shandal" - a shoe/sandal. I think they look a lot like fisherman's sandals, which an enclosed toe and sometimes a heel, and many straps wrapping around the feet.

Simple Tevas, April 2014

Shandals, April 2014

3. A third variation on this last theme is a shoe which is made to look like a sneaker, but is actually constructed much like (2), only there is mesh in between all of the straps which give it the shoe-like appearance.

So we went shopping. We visited a couple of stores, looked online, and wound up ordering or buying more than a half-dozen shoes between the two of us. I ultimately discarded choices (1) and (2) as:

- fundamentally uncomfortable to me
- very single purpose, and it seemed dumb to carry a pair of shoes to use one afternoon.

I bought a pair of shoes in the third category, which turned out to be made by Top Sider. After I brought them home I remembered that I had bought a pair of Ecco sneakers a couple of years ago that were similar. I dug them ought, and they were not just similar, but essentially the same design: they look like sneakers, but the sides are all mesh which allows water to flow in and out easily. 

Bad Sneakers and not Eccos(3), April 2014

I wound up returning all three shoes I bought, and I'll be taking those old Eccos. However, I'm now violating the overlap rule: these are actually pretty comfortable sneakers, and could possibly suffice to replace the ones I was planning to bring. Unless they actually do get rendered unusable by seawater immersion. In which case I'll need another pair of shoes. At this point, it looks like I'll have two pair of sneakers in the bag.



(1) This doesn't refer to items which you need multiples of, of course, such as shirts,
(2) Sally is planning to bring a few more pairs of shoes than I am. Appropriately, I hasten to add. Women just have needs which men don't.
(3) The Eccos in question are actually in my suitcase, which if you must know, I sort of pre-packed to make sure I would fit. Not that I'm OCD or anything. I'm really not. I'm not.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans