The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

13 October 2006

Sole survival

Miriam is on the road, and I have to assume she's packed plenty of shoes:

[A] woman can't go anywhere without at least four pairs of shoes. Not even overnight. For a ten-day trip, you can imagine how many shoes are needed. It is a question of bringing the shoes juste for every outfit. Every outfit has its own shoe karma — the difference between dressing for success and looking like a slob is having the exactly right pair of shoes. Then you have to bring sneakers, because God forbid you actually have to walk somewhere, they are the only shoes you can actually wear without bringing tears to your eyes. And involuntary but deeply felt groans from your lips.

This caught my eye because for the World Tours I pack, yes, four pairs of shoes. These are, however, sixteen-day trips, which leads to the next question: in the unlikely event that I ever acquire a real live traveling companion of the female persuasion, will I have to get a larger vehicle just to accommodate her wardrobe needs? (I currently drive an Infiniti I30, which is considered more-or-less mid-sized.)

Posted at 6:20 AM to Dyssynergy


Just fit Gwendolyn with a roof-top luggage rack! More luggage space for shoes, and as a bonus the aerodynamics, handling and gas mileage all go to hell together!

Posted by: Kirk Leggott at 8:58 AM on 13 October 2006

And cover up the sunroof? Not a chance. :)

(Dymphna, my old Toyota Celica, had such bad airflow that lashing a curio cabinet to the roof actually improved her gas mileage.)

Posted by: CGHill at 9:04 AM on 13 October 2006

A trailer, then?

Posted by: unimpressed at 3:41 PM on 13 October 2006

Maybe I'll get lucky and happen upon someone for whom clothing is optional.

(There are, of course, issues with that. Two words: leather seats.)

Posted by: CGHill at 5:18 PM on 13 October 2006

Two more words: Seat covers. :)

Posted by: unimpressed at 6:01 PM on 13 October 2006

What nonsense. Shoes are nothing but little portable floors for your feet. When I travel, I expect to be doing a great deal of walking, so I usually take -- yes -- my most comfortable pair of walking shoes. (Not sneakers -- usually some sort of work shoe or earth shoe style pair made with special supportive insoles, skid-resistant soles, and leather uppers.) If I'm going to some beachy place I might pack a pair of sandals, but then again I hate the feel of sand getting between the straps and my toes so I may not.

I had a friend, though, who was more your typical clothes-horse sort. Once we went to a four-day trip to LA to see a reunited famous goth-punk band. We -- or at least I -- fully expected to be pummelled half to death by the crowd, so I packed a couple of pairs of jeans in my duffle bag and made sure to bring the leather jacket I owned at the time. And my sturdy concert-going leather boots. Well, my friend expected to hang out with the band, and she was frantically unable to make up her mind what to wear, so we ended up dragging three suitcases, one of them one of those huge ones with no wheels that people use to emigrate to another country, halfway across the country for a four-day visit. This is why I now travel (when I do), by myself.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at 8:08 PM on 13 October 2006

Two letters: RV.

Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 12:09 AM on 15 October 2006

If I wanted to burn up that much fuel, I'd take the damn plane. :)

Posted by: CGHill at 12:14 AM on 15 October 2006