I can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrived at the airport over the past several years only to encounter a milling swarm of fellow travelers flocked within, around and toward the winding maze-like course en route to the TSA security checkpoint. Each and every time I descend upon this miserable, yet unfortunately necessary inconvenience, I repeatedly and rhetorically question myself as to why I haven’t yet obtained my TSA Pre-Check status. I never had a very good answer to this question, other than the simple truth that it never crossed my mind until I arrived at the airport terminal and once again found myself in need of having to remove my shoes to walk barefoot on the filthy airport floor (much to the chagrin of my OCD germophobic tendencies) through the security scanner (thanks, alot, Richard Reid, you @$$h0!e). Due to recent developments with my job, I’m now finding myself taking frequent short work trips, thus putting my various airline frequent flyer accounts to much better use of late. Because my travel planning and subsequent trips to and from the airport increased in frequency so drastically quite quickly, scheduling an appointment for TSA Pre-Check status finally became top of mind, leading me to pick up the phone, make an appointment and navigate my way to the somewhat secluded application office in the Fort Lauderdale International Airport perimeter. Once there, the actual process from start to finish took no more than 15 minutes, making me once again figuratively kick myself for previously not having taken a few minutes out of my day to get myself fingerprinted and screened sooner. My approval and known traveler number arrived faster than the estimated three week window (I guess TSA figured out I would do my best to be an asset in a sticky situation midair), and I was able to immediately put the known traveler number to good use several times within a few week period after receiving it. There has been a bit of irony in that for at least three of the flight legs I’ve taken since becoming a “known traveler,” the standard security line has been negligibly longer than the Pre-Check line. Regardless, a meager $85 investment, good for five years, has, in just the first month since receiving my known traveler status, proven its worth for this traveler, by virtue of being able to keep my feet tidily encased through the security check point alone. Pay your $85, too. Your tootsies (and blood pressure and patience levels) will sincerely thank you for it.