A little self-deprecating humor this morning, courtesy of your author. I showed up to LAX in my slippers…and it was not deliberate. Then I did it again.

Oops: I Forgot To Take My Slippers Off Before Arriving At LAX Airport

I tend to wear loafers when I fly because they are easy to slip on and off in case the TSA has the metal detector turned up and because they are more stylish than gym shoes (then again, I’m the odd millennial who still likes Brooks Brothers) but more comfortable than wingtips or other more formal shoes.

Around the house, though, I wear these lovely Birkenstock-like slippers with cork latex bedding that conforms to my foot…thanks to my German wife for showing me the joy of “house shoes” (slippers are called Hausschuhe in German).

Most days, you can catch me wearing these slippers, even when I take the kids to school, though I don’t wear them out otherwise. I had a morning flight and was up before dawn getting work done, enjoying my coffee, and finishing my packing.

Of course, I was wearing my slippers…

I finished packing, kissed my wife goodbye (the kids were still sleeping), and got in the car. I drove over to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)…about 30 minutes from my house…parked, and walked into the terminal.

Arriving in Terminal 5 (I was flying American Airlines), I stepped on the escalator to head upstairs to the security checkpoint. It was then I looked down and saw this:

The thing is, those beat-up old faux Birkenstocks are pretty trendy considering what people in LA wear these days…I wouldn’t have really minded if I was anywhere else…

But I was flying to Pittsburgh (a far more formal city) on a work trip and that meant I did not have my work shoes!

Thankfully, I had packed some suede shoes in my carry-on bag along with my gym shoes…otherwise I would have been stuck buying a new pair of shoes or trying to wear my gym shoes to work but sorry, I’m too old to pull off the Nike look in nice pants and a collared shirt.

I wasn’t even going to write about it, but then I DID IT AGAIN.

This second time I had to turn around and drive home (thankfully, I had time) and switch shoes.

So the bottom line: look down at your feet before you step out of the house. It took me 20 years to make this mistake and now I’ve made it two trips in a row.

Wow…what a dolt that Live And Let’s Fly guy is.