Originally Posted by
windcruiser
I'm one of those "morons" who like going barefoot. I'm flying to Maui later this month and was dreading the long flights as well as an eight hour layover in DFW. Then I remembered past times when I've flown barefoot (to/from Aruba and Hawaii) and how much better it made the travel time go. So I fully plan to do so this time as well. I was only really hasseled about it once by an AA gate guy. And he was quite rude about it, so as soon as I was at my seat off came my sandals for the rest of the long trip and stopovers.
I realize there are a lot of up tight bare foot phobics out there but they don't bother me. I keep my feet to myself and unless you looked down you wouldn't even notice. And if dirty feet disgust you well, tough. I have my own pet peeves about others that I can't do anything about either. I'm not wearing shoes just because someone out there doesn't like to see bare feet.
I've seen others do it and have read posts on FT about seeing others do it. But my question is is there anyone else on FT that does it and what have been your experiences??
Rubbah slippahs, or "flipflops", as you call them on the mainland, are the "de rigeur" footwear here in the Islands: everyone wears them; all the time; everywhere; they are our "shoes". Barefoot, however, is only at the beach or inside the
hale (house). On long flights, (trans-Pac; not inter-island), everybody settles into their seats, kicks off their slippahs, and puts on a pair of socks for the flight. When using the lav., one puts the slippahs on over the socks, pressing the sock in between the big and neighbor toe to accomodate the slippahs. When deplaning, one removes the socks (or not, if it cold at the destination!), and puts on da slippahs. If you see someone walking around the airport or plane barefoot, everyone thinks they're a little
kapakahi: "Put on your slippahs, bruddah; what, you tink you're at da beach?"
