The Shoes We Pack (and Why Only 3)

thedodotravelers

Oct 16

5 min read

I have a confession to make, and I need to make it before I write anything else in this article.

I own 58 pairs of shoes.

That’s after I recently gave away 20 pairs to a charity. All in good condition. All loved. Just not loved enough to stay.

For somebody who owns 58 pairs of shoes, you might expect that packing for a 15-day trip would involve a serious portion of my shoe collection. A dozen pairs, maybe. One for every outfit.

Nope.

I pack exactly three.

Here’s why, which three, and the pair I desperately want to bring but can’t.

1. The Three-Pair Rule

After years of overpacking shoes, I finally admitted the truth.

For any trip over 7 days, I pack a maximum of three pairs of shoes. Here’s the reasoning :

Reason one : weight. Shoes are the single heaviest category in your luggage. Three pairs can easily add 2 to 3 kg to a bag. More than that, and you’re sacrificing your clothing weight for footwear you probably won’t wear.

Reason two : the honest statistic. Even when I packed 5 or 6 pairs on past trips, I actually used 2 or 3 of them. The rest came back in exactly the state they left in. Clean. Unworn. Pure dead weight.

Reason three : discipline makes you choose better. When you can only pack three pairs, you pick the three that cover the most ground. You stop packing “the cute one I might wear once.” You pack the workhorses.

The verdict : three pairs isn’t a limitation. It’s an edit.

2. Pair One : The Veja Tennis

The versatile one. The one that goes everywhere.

My white Vejas. Clean. Sharp. Minimalist. The pair I didn’t realise I needed until I owned them.

What they handle :

City walks. Airports, transit, Johannesburg day trips, long urban exploring sessions.
Casual-smart dinners. With a dress, with jeans, with linen trousers — they always work.
The in-between moments. When Birkenstocks are too casual and sandalettes are too dressy, Vejas are the sweet spot.
Travel days. Long flights, airport walks, the long transit from Mauritius. Comfort matters.
Safari game drives. Closed shoe, decent grip, zero drama if they get a little dusty.

Vejas are the pair that bridges every half of this trip. They go from the beach half to the bush half without changing register.

Brand loyalty confession : I buy Birkenstock, Veja, and Adidas on repeat. Those three brands run my shoe life. Nim is the same.

The verdict : every traveller needs one pair of white sneakers that can go anywhere. Vejas are mine.

3. Pair Two : The Birkenstocks

The most-worn pair of my entire travel wardrobe.

My Birkenstocks. The sandals that have done everything.

Beach days. Easy slip on, easy slip off, sand doesn’t stick.
Pool afternoons. Dries in minutes, cushioned footbed.
Walking around town at noon. Supportive enough for hours of casual exploration.
Casual lunches in a beach restaurant. Still look put-together with a kaftan.

My Birkenstocks will be on my feet 70% of this trip’s beach half. They are the pair I never regret packing.

The verdict : some sandals are vacation sandals. Birkenstocks are the sandal.

4. Pair Three : The Chic Sandalettes

For the dinners, the sunsets, the couple photos.

The third pair is the elevated one : a pair of chic sandalettes. Flat, elegant, a step above casual.

What they’re for :

Dinner at the hotel restaurant when the setting deserves more than a Birkenstock.
Beach-to-sunset cocktail moments where I want to look like I made an effort.
The couple photos Nim and I always take at some point. Chic sandalettes photograph better than flip-flops.
A city evening on the way back if we have a layover.

They’re not heels. They’re not flats. They’re the in-between that makes you look dressed without being uncomfortable.

The verdict : every trip needs one pair of shoes that can handle the sunset photo.

5. Nim’s Three Pairs

Same rule. Same discipline. Different style.

Nim applies the exact same three-pair rule. His version :

Pair 1 — Hiking shoes. For bush, dusty terrain, long walks.
Pair 2 — Birkenstocks. For beach, pool, casual.
Pair 3 — Clean sneakers (Nike or Adidas). For evening dinners and city outings.

We don’t match. We don’t try. His choice to pack hiking shoes for the bush and mine to replace them with Vejas is just two versions of the same discipline : pick what works for your trip, not what the brochure tells you to.

The verdict : couples who pack with the same rules fight less at the suitcase.

6. The Pair I Desperately Want to Bring (and Don’t)

My derbies.

Every trip, I debate adding a fourth pair : my derby shoes. Suede. Elegant. Perfect for a chic dinner in a city. The kind of shoe that elevates an outfit to a different tier.

Every trip, I don’t.

Because for a beach + bush trip, derbies would be out of place everywhere. Too dressy for a beach restaurant. Too fragile for the bush. Too impractical for anything in between. The sandalette does the dinner job without the stress of dust and sand on suede.

The derbies stay home. They always stay home. I keep thinking I’ll have the right trip for them.

The verdict : some shoes are for the trips you haven’t taken yet.

7. The Shoes I Never Pack

My short “no” list.

Over years of travel, I’ve built a hard list of shoes that never go into my suitcase. Regardless of destination, regardless of trip length :

Heels. Ever. On any trip. For any reason. Beautiful at home. Agony at destination.
Ballerines. Not supportive enough for walking, not elegant enough for dinner, not weather-proof enough for anything. Zero job on a trip.
Running shoes (unless the trip’s purpose is sport). They take space and I don’t run on holiday.
Shoes I love too much to risk damaging. If losing them would hurt me, they stay home.

The verdict : the shoes you leave behind say more about your packing discipline than the ones you take.

8. Confession : My 58-Pair Problem

The whole truth.

I need to come back to the opening confession, because it matters.

I own 58 pairs of shoes. I recently donated 20 pairs in good condition to a charity I love, because the collection was starting to feel absurd even to me. The remaining 58 are the ones I actually wear, actually love, actually chose to keep.

I spend a non-trivial amount of money each year on shoes. It’s one of the few budgets I don’t police. Nim knows. He gave up trying to stop me years ago.

So why do I pack only three on a 15-day trip ?

Because loving shoes at home has nothing to do with needing shoes on holiday. Holiday is a simplification of my life, not a replication of it. At home, I rotate between 10 pairs in a given month. On holiday, three pairs cover everything, and the discipline to limit myself is actually one of the small freedoms of travel.

The verdict : at home I’m a shoe person. On holiday, I’m a human with feet. Different relationship.

The Real Answer

Packing shoes well is a lesson in self-knowledge.

How many pairs you think you need vs how many you actually wear. How much weight you’ll accept in your luggage for a style option you’ll use once. How willing you are to be practical vs how badly you want to feel beautiful.

I’ve landed on three. Veja. Birkenstock. Chic sandalettes. One for the city and the game drives. One for the beach. One for the sunset.

The best pair of shoes on any trip is the pair you can walk 15,000 steps in without a second thought.

My derbies stay home. My heels stay home. My 55 other pairs stay home.

Three pairs leave with me. Three pairs come back dusty and loved.

That’s all I need.