You spend a lot of time on your feet when you are traveling full time. Averaging the peaks and troughs of my pedometer data, I walk about 8km a day. Much of that walking is the casual and aimless wandering around a new city, some is speed walking from a rural airport to a hotel in the town center, and some of it is mountain trekking. If your feet are not happy, you most certainly will not be happy.
I started out, years ago, with full hiking boots. They were really, really good at the one thing that they were designed to do. The problem was that they weighed in around 1.5kg, were rigid, and took up a ton of space. Technology has improved, and boots have become lighter, but they are still inflexible and bulky. It was not until I spent time with a mountain guide in northern Albania, who was wearing flip-flops to hike over the passes, that I started looking in to other options. Debating the pros and cons of footwear options appears to be a gladiatorial sport, and I will save you the gore.
Over the course of my first two years I went through six progressively lighter pairs of footwear – boots, lighter boots, hiking shoes, three different models of trail shoes. I was indifferent about the performance of the big name brands trail shoes, and replaced them only because they fell apart in an astonishingly short period of time. The head sales guy at REI learned to duck out when I showed up.
My latest choices are Ecco Yucatán sandals (600g) or a Teva sandal. and Altra Superior Trail shoes (250g). Update – I am not a ‘sports shoe wearing human’ and traded in the Altras for Allbirds shoe. I buy the most matte and neutral colours offered, so they do not stand out as sportswear. I use both for walking and hiking, with or without pack.
The sandals are optimal on most days, and my feet love their freedom. However, they will never immobilize your foot completely, and I start blistering up after about 20km, so swap them out every other day on extended trekking trips. The Allbirds are great in most terrain, have held up really well, and are (surprisingly) better than sandals when it it hot and sweaty. Unsurprisingly you feel the trail when it is really rocky and crossing steep snow fields at altitude in Montenegro required some careful foot placement. If you are sloshing through mud or are in a downpour your feet will get wet, but the shoes are easy to clean and dry quickly.
I recommend that you save time and weight and start with the lightest shoe that you can find. You can always go heavier if they do not work for you.