> I like the awkwardness of the default prefix key.

I am 100% in agreement with you. It takes all of 5 seconds to add:

       unbind-key -T prefix C-b
       set-option -g prefix C-s
 

To your .tmux.conf on your local laptop (where I use tmux 99.99% of the time) - without worrying about conflicting on that once-in-one-year event where you start up tmux remotely.