Traveling barefoot

Just the act of living barefoot---routine walking, getting around---on a 24/7 basis has been incredibly easy for these 8 days. One tires, one perspires, etc. But the process of being barefoot all the time is---what is le mot juste?---natural! Just as if the human body had evolved for just that purpose! Gee.........

 

well i suppose being as "laws" requiring man 2 wear shoes almost every where have really only been in place 4 the past 100 years or so i guess maybe we have unevolved 2 the point where we chose not 2 wear them :rofl:

 

Um.... there ain't laws that say that...


Interesting, OP. When outside, I go barefoot for about an hour each day. I currently have blisters, from not (only) trauma, but burns from heat, combined with rocks and shit irritating them even more. I had to move the dogs walk from mid day to late afternoon for low sun angles. And this happens on dirt/gravel roads as well as blacktop.

Nah, having second degree burns all over your soles is natural, and thus, healthy and the right way to live.

 

I actually won't do that, traveling barefoot. I always bring at least flip flops if the weather is spring or summer hot, at least some kind of closed shoe if it's fall or winter cold. Some public transit also requires shoes or passengers will be cited or even asked to exit at the next stop. I would also dislike being stranded and have to subject my bare soles to temperature extremes (frostbite cold or 3rd degree burning hot) or surface extremes (very large rocks or sharp and slippery loose gravel).

 

I love travelling barefoot, i.e. not carrying any footwear with me. Only once have I ever had a problem on public transport - on a bus in Crete. On that occasion I did have some flipflops with me so I just slipped them on. Plenty of problems in museums and art galleries though.

 

You wouldnt have those problems if you had been doing it the natural way your whole life.

 

Car trips, the flip flops don't get unpacked until I have to go into a restaurant at the destination. Airplane trips, the flip flops go into my carry-on bag as soon as I get to my seat. Depending on my daily schedule and type of destination, I can go without shoes up to 95% of the time, without any comments from people in authority.

 

Me too, KJ. There's still evidence of people on here stressing unnecessarily, I feel. Just do it. At the end of the day it's only feet. No one cares!

 

When you are going to fly, you have to take off your footwear to go thru the checks. Is there any reason that you couldn't just be barefoot when you get there & the whole flight?

 

It varies, depending on the views of the staff. One time, while standing in line for the checkpoint where everybody is required to take their shoes off, I was told that I had to keep mine on until I got to the front of the line. Stupid. It was a bare, clean floor. Sometimes, airline employees at the gate make a big issue. No reason to fuck with them. It's a short walk.

On the plane, at least half the passengers take off their shoes. Nobody cares.

Once I arrive at the destination airport, what can they do, tell me to leave the building? That's what I want to do. I'm getting out as fast as I can.

 

Agree. Car trips, when I'm not with someone too concerned about driving barefoot, flip flops stay on the floor of the front passenger side. I am aware that if there is a collision on the road—even if it's not illegal to drive barefoot an officer can still issue a ticket for reckless driving (and then subsequently insurance can deny a claim)—but primarily it's in case the car breaks down so I don't have to keep hot-footing it on the usually blacktop shoulder of the road during the middle of summer and especially the hottest afternoon hours. I haven't tried restaurants yet but I've been successful with a lot of business locations.

 

For real? Those people exist?

In case of a police interaction, the flip flops are under the front seat. Nobody can prove when I took them off and when I put them on. No video camera under there. It's my word against nothing.

I think driving with sandals can be dangerous. They can get caught on the gas pedal, at the worst possible time.

Start with outdoor seating areas. You're not actually going inside the restaurant. Not walking past the NSNS sign.

 

I'm not sure about flip flops under the driver's seat. I get it, just slide them out from under and slide them on, but a quick stop might cause them to slide under the pedals.

Outdoor seating areas shouldn't be a problem at all. The ones that might be a potential problem would be having to walk through the restaurant to get to the outdoor areas.

 

Thats just nonsense, can you cite that?

 

Not so nonsense when searching for "california vehicle code barefoot driving" (without quotes). Despite many pages stating otherwise...

FindLaw: http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/05/illegal-to-drive-barefoot.html

"In addition, if a barefoot driver gets in an accident, he could possibly be cited for reckless driving if police determine that being barefoot somehow contributed to the crash."

Personally, one very annoying thing about barefoot driving is constantly having to lift the foot to go from the gas pedal to the brake pedal in traffic jams, while even wearing flip flops allows a pivot of the foot back and forth between both pedals. In that case, I might even opt to wear closed shoes temporarily since flip flops can get slippery when bare feet sweat in more humid weather.

I would still at least carry shoes in the car no matter what. Broken glass on the shoulder of the road is still easily avoided, but I would hate to have to lift my soles in the air more often and more quickly to prevent serious burning and then have to walk on my heels in between shade spots on the blacktop. The shoulder of the road obviously has to be used for car trouble, or pulling over after a collision where the vehicles are still drivable and there were no injuries. Especially when driving through desert areas in summer peak heat, the heat waves radiating off the asphalt are so much they look like a lake since they also extend a distance past the hottest surface at any given point, and I'm not sure I could ever get my soles that tough and heat tolerant even if I kept training the soles to blisters by extended walks on excessively hot asphalt enough to blister the soles.

 

20+ years, no problems so far.

 

Possibly and if...you didn't mention a crash in the other post so you were basically being inflammatory.

 

I wrote (post #11 in this thread): "I am aware that if there is a collision on the road—even if it's not illegal to drive barefoot an officer can still issue a ticket for reckless driving".

Looks like I mentioned if and collision. A crash is a more vehicle damaging collision. Not being inflammatory.

 

Alright fine, but you are being paranoid in your assessment.
A cop can cite you for reckless driving for chewing gum, if he deems it a contributing factor in the collision.
Hell, your " pivot of the foot back and forth between both pedals" is reckless driving in my book. You should be actively lifting your foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal, and visa-versa I don't care how annoying it is.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you though, I never do. I drive barefoot all the time in summer. I've been in one wreck/ crash/collision that was my fault my entire 44 years driving and that was when I was 16. I was barefoot and I was also drinking and driving, but I received no citation for either. I got a ticket for failing to yield to right of way.

I really don't understand all the worry and fascination of going barefoot.

Its really not that big of a deal as all these fetishists make it out to be.

 

I am about to attempt taking a plane barefoot. I have a new foot tattoo though, so I hope that's a good enough excuse.