Diary #461

Flying standby has its advantages, such as being able to change arrangements or make new ones at a moment’s notice, and often getting first class without having to pay first-class prices.  But one of its bad points is that one can get booted off of a flight which looked fine the day before, and then one needs to scramble to figure out how to avoid getting stranded in some airport with no immediate way to get t one’s destination.  All of my arrangements for this week of travel were easy-peasy and as of this writing still look very clear, with one exception:  I could not figure out how to get to Minneapolis.  Every combination I looked at was booked up, and though it wasn’t as bad as my return from San Francisco two weeks ago, it was bad enough to make me very nervous indeed.  Finally I decided to ask for Ghost Rider’s help, and though the plan he came up with did indeed work (I wrote this last night in a hotel room in Minneapolis), it required going without sleep Saturday so I could make it to the airport in time for a 5:40 AM flight to Dallas.  Steerage seats are apparently designed to be as uncomfortableas possible, and since they don’t recline any longer there’s not really a way for a princess like me to sleep any better than she could on a whole crateful of peas.  I didn’t think I was going to make it onto the Dallas to Minneapolis flight, and in fact when the wonderful, beautiful gate agent called my name to tell me that I had indeed made it, I was working out the logistics of flying into Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then getting a one-way car rental to Minneapolis to pick up the rental I had already paid for to get to Mankato!  But that wasn’t necessary, and today I’ll be presenting The War on Whores at Minnesota State at 4 PM in the Ostrander Auditorium in the Centennial Student Union.  Then on Wednesday evening at 7 pm I’ll be presenting the film for Sex Positive St. Louis in the Brown Hall Auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis.  Both of these FREE screenings were sponsored by my respective hosts and made possible by the fundraiser y’all have been so generous about supporting!  Then on Saturday I’ll be speaking at the Libertarian Party of Illinois convention at the Parke Regency hotel in Bloomington, Illinois (not far from Chicago), and returning home on Sunday afternoon.  Watch this space for more screenings, such as Tampa, Orlando & Miami in June, the Woodhull Sexual Freedom summit in the DC area in August, and then a sponsored screening for Reason (also in DC) probably in September.  And with any luck those flights will be much less hassle to arrange.