Others Barefoot in Public?

a nice young couple in their twenties shopping in a discount market where barefooters are pretty common lately, the man was barefoot, obviously tourists.

 

Hi, I'm barefoot in public all year round.

 

Way to go!!!!!....have fun, friend.

 

Hi FTB, Welcome To The Hip Forums, And In Particular The Barefoot Section...:sunny:



Cheers Glen.

 

There's one guy who goes to the same university as I do that also goes barefoot, but he's the only person I don't know that I see barefoot in public regularly. I think I've seen about six or seven since I moved to Melbourne a year ago. I get excited when I see other barefooters, but more often than not it's just a girl who's taken off her heels.

 

I've just seen a guy barefoot running along the seafront

 

I had a nice experience on Saturday at the reserve.
I was emptying the bin near the mini assault course and several children (aged about ten to thirteen) were using it.
One saw me and said "you must be that barefoot walker i've heard about"
They all came up and asked the usual questions, so i gave the usual answers, "more fun less tiring good for the feet and legs and appeals to my rebellious ex-biker nature"
Then came the usual challenges :- can you run on that gravel? no problem. Can you ride my bike with spiky pedals? no problem. Can you step on that nettle? no problem.
Then came the surprise, the original boy took off his shoes and socks and the others followed, and they tried running on the gravel and riding the bike, and concluded "you must have the hardest feet in the world!" they then put their shoes back on again.
I guess they won't become barefooters!

 

Saw a girl from down the street walking, or rather being pulled by, her very large dog, down the street barefoot yesterday.

 

A beautiful barefoot woman in her 40s, beaming a bright smile at me, when she saw me walking barefoot on the ped zone... oh, wait, that was my dear friend with whom I met yesterday, celebrating barefootjoy day...


Other than that, no other barefooters, despite perfect barefooting conditions (sunny, 25°C/77F).

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

Earlier this week, I was taking my daily walk through my neighborhood. When I was almost home, I spotted a young guy in his 20s crossing the street and he was barefoot. He must be a regular barefooter because his soles were black. :2thumbsup:

 

Just saw me againg going to the store.

 

Well I live in Auckland, New Zealand, surely the most barefoot friendly big city in the developed world. People here will go barefoot pretty much anywhere and in any weather. You're all listing sightings of a handful of barefoot people in the course of a year. On a cool, rainy winter day with a temp around 13C (54F) I might see only five to ten barefoot people as I go about my errands. On a warm spring or summer day I've tried actually counting a few times and the number is usually around 100, sometimes well over.

Kids are by far the most common barefooters because they go barefoot to school up to age 11 to 13 and so are quite used to it. I'd also say boys go barefoot more than girls, but only slightly. There's a major drop in going barefoot about the time kids start high school, but still teens barefoot is quite common. Young adults in their 20s seem even more likely to go barefoot than teens. However in this case men are definitely much more likely to be barefoot than women. People in their 30s barefoot isn't extremely rare, but it is less common. Barefooters well into middle age are not unheard of, but quite rare. Someone appearing well over 40 in bare feet in public would stand out.

As for locations, people regularly walk their dogs or just walk around the neighbourhood that way. At home or in the yard/driveway the kid or adult in shoes would be the exception. Kids skateboarding or biking barefoot is also a common sight. People walk around small shops without shoes all the time, the supermarket is the same. The mall is slightly more formal but you still might see 30 or 40 barefooters in a couple hours of shopping (but out of hundreds of people). Suburbs closer to beaches are still more common barefoot areas of course and in rural towns and smaller cities the proportion is even higher than in Auckland.

A few years ago I worked at a video shop and decided to count barefooters versus shod shoppers over the course of a shift to try and get a percentage. I remember finding about 50% of kids were barefoot and around 10-20% of adults depending on weather.

I moved to NZ several years ago and now it is something I barely notice anymore. I go barefoot all the time and no one gives me a second glance.

I have also been to Australia several times. Queensland is noticeably more barefoot friendly than any other part of the country. In two weeks in Melbourne and rural Victoria I saw only a handful of barefoot people. Compared to the US it would still be a barefoot haven but not compared to NZ. In Sydney I only saw a couple people, both just kids, barefoot in the city. But in Gold Coast and coastal New South Wales I saw more people barefoot than in NZ even. The mall, the airport, the city buses, barefoot people of all ages everywhere. I've heard far north Queensland like Cairns is even more that way. Just a little bit inland to Brisbane though and no bare feet in public anywhere.

 

Thanks for posting that really interesting summary. I'm sure we all now have a desperate desire to live in NZ!! I wonder if there are any other countries like that

 

I like in Cornwall, UK. I've got to say that it is pretty barefoot friendly here too. I kinda put that down to the relaxed beach culture and country environment. I and others go barefoot everywhere and anywhere with no issues, to be honest I was living in a 'bubble' and did not realise that being barefoot could be a problem until I read the stories of others, guess I'm one of the lucky few.

 

So writing on this thred got me thinking about it again, so I kept an eye out today to give you an idea of a normal day here. It was a sunny spring day with a high of 20C but I was only out and about between work and home for half an hour. In that time I saw a man in his 30s to 40s walking along the footpath (sidewalk in American-speak), a 12-14 year old girl walking home in a school sports uniform (sports uniforms often don't include shoes), a boy of 8-10 walking thru the mall food-court, his little sister, a man in his early 20s walking into the mall, a boy of 5-6 walking along a footpath, a man in his 20s walking around the supermarket with a woman who wore flip-flops, a boy of 5-6 standing in line with his dad, a man in his mid to late 20s walking thru the car park into the store as I left, then another two men in their 30s getting out of cars and walking into the store and finally a man in his 20s walking into a small shop on my street.

Now that is in the course of about 30 minutes and in fact that was unusually few sightings for such a nice day.

As far as other countries like NZ, I don't think there are any. I've been to Hawaii and not seen anywhere near the level of bare feet there. In Vietnam people didn't go anywhere without sandals/flip-flops. The only barefoot people I saw there were street kids who didn't look ethnically Vietnamese. There were loads of barefoot kids in Cambodia, but not adults and mostly it seemed tied to poverty. In Singapore and Malaysia I saw no barefooters at all. China was a place I would never even dare go barefoot as they spit everywhere and kids don't wear diapers so there is some awful mess on the footpaths.

I've also been all across Southern Europe and saw no one without shoes anywhere. Even in Egypt it was the same. The only barefoot person I saw in a week was a poor little beggar girl.

The only place I've heard of that is as barefoot-friendly for kids as NZ is South Africa. Kids there may even go barefoot more commonly in NZ as some schools actually officially encourage it. But from what I've heard it is a practise reserved only for kids there and very few adults or teens go barefoot in public even as all the kids do. I'll see for myself soon as I'm spending a month in South Africa in January.

One last thing to add here. Bare feet are not common in all parts of NZ. On South Island and in Wellington I rarely saw barefoot people and the kids wear shoes to school. Bare feet are only common in North Island and the very top of South Island where the climate is warm enough.

 

Same here - I'm in neighbouring Devon and I've not had a comment or any hassles about being barefoot all year. People really don't care a bit :2thumbsup:

 

NewK, thanks for the intersting posts! Welcome to the forums too! Ive often heard about NZ being barefoot freindly and going barefoot being very common in some parts but always wondered if it was really true or not and to what extent... Its def on my list of places to visit.... maybe next summer?? A barefoot stroll through the city with no funny looks at all..... that sounds just great!!

 

A barefoot stroll through the city with no funny looks at all..... that sounds just great!![/QUOTE]

You should try Germany!

 

Just thought I'd peek in here. I haven't done much on HF in quite a while. I started this thread a couple of years ago. Glad to see it's still alive!

 

StraightToes! Good to "see" you back. Hope all is well and you're still barefootin'.