Advice for Travelers Flying to Indianapolis for the ALSCW Conference

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Dear ALSCW Members Planning on Attending the 2014 Conference in Bloomington:

Please keep in mind that our conference rate for hotel rooms extends only to the end of February. Plan to make your motel reservations as soon as possible to take advantage of the lower rates.

Additional travel information is below.

For those planning to fly to Indianapolis:

Thursday is the best day to travel to the conference, especially if you travel during the day and join us for the 7:30 poetry readings. Landing in Indianapolis by 4:30 p.m. Thursday would enable you to attend the readings and settle in with plenty of time. The next day you would be ready for the conference’s first panels and seminars. Keep in mind that you will need two to three hours to travel from the Indianpolis airport to the conference. The last shuttle to Bloomington leaves the airport (a Star of America express bus) for Bloomington at 10:20 p.m., arriving a 11:55 p.m.

The express shuttle bus sites are noted in the hotel and transportation section of the ALSCW conference site. Two services (Star of America and GO Express) maintain every-other-hour service (both leaving roughly the same hour, half an hour apart). That means the wait for a bus ranges from zero to 30 to 90 minutes. The express ride to Bloomington is around ninety minutes. Both services stop at the Indiana Union (the Biddle Hotel), where the conference is taking place. If you are staying at one of the other hotels, check their website, or the shuttle websites, for the schedule that shows which of the two shuttle services will stop at your hotel.

If you decide to fly on Friday morning instead, remember that you will need two to three and a half hours to reach the conference. The Star of America leaves the airport every two hours starting at 6:20 a.m. GO Express leaves every two hours starting at 4:40 a.m. If you cannot travel on Thursday it is therefore desirable to arrive in Indianapolis by plane before 8:15. a.m. on Friday if you want to catch the late morning panel. If you land after 8:15 a.m. and cannot catch the 8:40 shuttle to Bloomington, the next available shuttle, a Star of America bus, leaves is at 10:20 a.m., arriving in Bloomington just before noon.

You will be in Bloomington in the first days of spring! Whenever you arrive, count on a conference full of interesting sessions, including a Saturday full to the brim, with a fancy (no-cost) luncheon and the annual banquet in the evening.

John Briggs
ALSCW President