So I'm going to try going around the world without shoes and see how far I get.

So I've been living in Hawaii for about 6 months now and have built up a pretty good callus base for my feet from going most of the time without shoes. But now I'm going to head out on my around-the.world tour and I don't want to lose my calluses. So I decided to try it without shoes.
I'm starting tomorrow. I'll still be a few weeks in Hawaii, just getting things organized, but I officially vacate my home of residence tomorrow so that makes me on the road. I'm going to try to do five continents: North America (OK, only briefly), Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. That's if the money holds out. I'm not going the other way round for some personal reasons.

Hitting London in February without shoes does not sound very inviting to me, and I'm also concerned about not being allowed into the places that I want to go without shoes on. So we'll see how far I get. For all I know some security gaurd at the airport might make me put on shoes. Also, since I'll be using alot of communal restrooms, I wonder how long it will take me before I decide to put on my thongs (flip-flops) in the shower.

So I'm gonna pack a couple of pairs of shoes. Why not? Easier to discard them later then to get some when I need them.

The itenary is as follows:
Feb-May: Great Britain, including hikes in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland (actually I want to skateboard Ireland in May, but no shoes).
June/July: Hiking from the Netherlands (OK, skate the Netherlands) over the Alps into Italy.
August-October: India/Nepal
December-? Australia/New Zealand.

Somewhere in there I want to make a trip to Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea for some freediving, which I will also be doing in all of the above places.

How far will I get? Will I be forced to compromise? Will I decide to compromise? How bad is snow on the feet? Or really cold rain?

One caveat: I am taking my freediving fins. As I won't actually be walking in these I'm not counting it. But I also like no-fin diving so it might be that I decide to not use them. Once again, better to have them when I want them then not to have them at all.

So my initial thoughts are these:
What about some exotic diseases in some place like India?
I guess my answer is I need to make it through February in England before I can think about that.

And I guess night-clubs are out. I mean, there's no way I'd even try getting in without shoes. That'll save money at least....

So if I don't make it completely without shoes (not saying I will, not saying I won't, just saying), I will try to post reasons why I decided to wear shoes in what situations and hopefully have some good observations for others who might be coming in my footsteps. As far as I know this is the world's first attempted round-the-world trip without shoes.

Nathan