When you travel 150 days each year and have trekked across 65 countries (and counting), a comfortable pair of shoes is one of the most important things you can pack. "It's the difference between enjoyment and torture," says travel expert Samantha Brown, the two-time Emmy Award-winning host of Places to Love. "I like to walk for hours to get the feel of a place. Uncomfortable shoes mean I'm just focused on sitting down or having to pay a lot of money for shoes at the destination."
As a travel expert myself, I couldn't agree more. It's so easy to hit my 10K-steps-a-day goal when I'm exploring that I often raise the bar to 15 or 20K. New places also introduce all kinds of new terrain, including slippery cobblestone (Lisbon and Rome come to mind), wildly uneven sidewalks (I'm looking at you, Mexico City) and more stone steps than you thought you'd ever climb (Old Town Dubrovnik is undefeated). Don't underestimate what you're demanding of your feet when you travel.
To help you pound the pavement safely and with minimal pain and fatigue, Brown shared seven of the most comfortable shoes she's ever packed for travel, including a few go-to airport shoes. Slipping into any of this footwear is a step in the right direction.
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