Must have for travel!  I stay in hostels a lot and shower sandals are a given.  These are so fashionable I can use them in place of regular sandals as well, meaning I carry one less pair of footwear in my bag! In addition to that, they are indeed super lightweight.  I am a 9 and got a 39, same as my leather and cork Birkenstocks.

As far as the sound effects go...I only noticed squawking when they were very, very wet. To be fair, I walk a lot and my feet are pretty flat.  They are essentially flip flops, so not silent like sneakers, but I certainly didn't have the foot-farting problems other reviewers have mentioned. :)

Would buy another color.  Hopefully metallic!