I broke an etiquette rule at the airport, and I’ll never go back

It’s an item that’s a staple in one supermodel’s wardrobe. Which is why I gave this ‘controversial’ cult travel hack a whirl on a recent flight to Seoul.

When I was a child, if I wore my slippers out of the house, my mother would scream and give chase.

There was a clear delineation between “indoor” footwear and “outdoor” footwear, and if you dared tinker with that system, there was a chance you’d get locked out of the house. In winter.

So it felt decidedly weird to wear a pair of UGGs not only out of the house, but all the way to an entirely different country when I wore them on a flight from Sydney to Seoul recently.

My dramatic break from Mitchell Family Etiquette came after reading an article where the decidedly chic Lauren Burvill from Conde Nast Traveller road tested the “controversial” UGG Tasman shoe, and declared it “the perfect shoe for long flights”.

I broke an etiquette rule at the airport, and I’ll never go back

Initially I was scandalised. But she makes a compelling case, stating that UGGs are “shockingly back”.

So I decided to try the shoe that has been spotted on jetsetting celebrities, including Hailey Bieber, Gigi Hadid, and Shanina Shaik, for myself.

Sorry, mum.

Firstly, as you can see above, this is not your traditional UGG boot that Pamela Anderson made famous when she teamed it with an iconic red swimsuit on the set of Baywatch.

The Tasman is made from recycled materials and is the low slung style, sitting just below the ankle. It has a non-slip sole (so you won’t go skidding around on those buffed tiles at the airport), and is versatile in that you can wear them with socks in cooler destinations, and sans socks in warmer locales. For example, I had socks on with them at Sydney Airport and throughout the flight, and then just whipped them off when I landed in much warmer Seoul.

They don’t have any metal in them or thick soles, so you can wear them through airport security.

The shoes are now my airport staple.

The UGG Tasman. Image: @pelletterialuisa / Instagram

Why you need to have this shoe in your suitcase.

As any Australians knows, long-haul flights can snuff out your will to live. Anything that makes the experience more pleasant is worth its weight in gold.

Above all, I loved that they were super easy to slip on and off on the plane. Often, your feet puff up on a flight and trying to jam those balloons back into a sneaker as the plane is coming in to land can be a demoralising experience.

They are also incredibly light, so they won’t make your suitcase heavy as you travel about.

But the thing that has made me a complete convert, is how comfortable they are.

This article originally appeared on Escape and has been republished with permission