That's usually my "Plan C"


Unfortunately, the steel toes are required for the sites I'll be visiting.

The situation is my boss wants me to make a "world tour" to visit with our petroleum field engineers. I'd go to our regional labs and also to the oil/gas fields themselves to see what new chemical technologhy is most wanted and then come back here and invent it.

The tour includes Scotland, Norway, France, Germany, Russia, China, the Philipines, the UAE, and assorted places in Africa. My boss knows I'm not thrilled with this idea and put an emphasis on Paris as a positive aspect of the trip. Apparently he doesn't know I watch the news. Most of the places sound either benign or I'll have armed guards with me. Paris is the wildcard...

It's quite possible that this tour won't happen, but if it did I'd only have about a week's warning. I figured I better start preparing now.

-Blast

I think Paris is your least threatening part of the trip, personally.

Enjoy the world tour. The news has a low % chance of happening to you, but stay in yellow and avoid crowds as much as practical.

Enjoy the food in Paris, never a bad place for dinner. Those other places may have food/nutrition but there's nothing like French cuisine.

, and I hear they got good looking women too!!!!

Jeez! Who needs real terrorists when Fox, CNN, MSNBC et al can keep the population in a perpetual state of fear?

The biggest thing you need to worry about is the entrance doors (turnstiles) onto the Metro. They are pneumatic and they snap shut quite quickly once you've gone through, so keep your luggage and fingers close to you.

A

I do not want to get into a debate about the world view of the US or patriotism or anything like that, but this tactic has been used by many people I know for various reasons or another, the most recent being a friend of mine who went to Colombia the same time Bush did his Latin America tour:

If asked, or if the situation arises, CLAIM TO BE CANADIAN.

Again, no offense to any Canadians nor my fellow Americans, just going on what has worked for several friends for various reasons.

I am currently wearing my second pair of these. If you are not restricted to real "boots," you might consider them. They look a lot better than the engineer boots I used to wear when I worked in the fields, and, although heavy, I can scoot along better in them than real boots. I flew in them a year or so ago, and the TSA didn't bat an eye at them either...

Hey, those look pretty nice. I'll run ( ) them past our safety guy and see what he thinks.

-Blast

Got mine in a Hi Tech factory outlet, second pair half price, something like $75 for both pair! I wouldn't want to wear them working a well pulling crew, but it sounds like you are a "shirt," so they should do just fine. Just remember to scuff the soles in the dirt to remove the oil before going onto carpet...

Hey OBG i just got a pair of boots that look alot like those from la police gear on closeout for forty bucks same brand. They are really heavy, but way better than standard steel toe boots.

Link to boots