I hate traveling. Whether it’s a plane ride, a road trip across the country or even a weekend jaunt across the state, there are few things I look less forward to than going somewhere away from home.

It’s not that I hate people or other places, it’s that I can’t stand packing and having to choose what to take. Because I don’t have much stuff, what I do hang onto gets used. Lots.

But Five Fingers makes traveling way, way easier. No worries about which of my hard-to-fit-into-a-suitcase dress shoes to pack, no fretting about how many socks to take (I only have three pairs of Injinji) and no more having to choose between my workout shoes and my running shoes. As a guy who rotates a pair each of Sprints, Classics and KSOs, choosing the right pair to bring along means I just toss all of them in my bag and go about my way. This is awesome for so many reasons:

1. I don’t always have to take my shoes off at the airport
You’re not supposed to ever take off Five Fingers, but the TSA people at the podunk airports like Sky Harbor apparently don’t read their regulations. LA, Seattle and both the NYC airports let me go right on through without peeling them off. Very nice.

2. There’s no question about what to wear
Should I wear my slip-on dress shoes? My lace-ups? How about those ankle boots with jeans? Who cares? I just wear my KSOs when it’s cold, Classics when it’s warm. Feel free to judge me when I walk into a nice place, but I’m comfortable and you’re not. That’s worth way more than conforming to any standard.

3. I’m a star everywhere I go
I had a nice conversation with a rather scary looking, redneck trucker type at a Flying J yesterday and instead of running away in fear that he would take be into the woods and pull a Deliverance, we talked about footwear and how much his feet always hurt.