Bee T r avel
Enjoying the planning, trip
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
The proof may be in the pudding. I prefer, however, the process of making the pudding, and waiting for it to gel, to the actual Tproofing. I've been known to work hours and hours over what I hope will be a great meal, and have absolutely no appetite for it once it's ready to serve.

I suspect that's how many of us feel as we embark upon the specter of making a trip. There are plenty of us who relish all that is involved in prospecting for a destination, weighing all the factors that will ultimately assist us in making the decision, and then carefully putting the pieces together. We often dread the part where we pack and travel.

There have been other times when, paralyzed with too many choices, I've had to put the whole idea of a trip on the back burner. At times, I let forces natural - and perhaps a little unnatural - sway me back on track, and nudge me towards one place over another. There's room for a little serendipity about such things, in my mind.

Even the best planned trips can have disappointing moments - even disasters. I've been stuck in Buffalo, stuck in Toronto, missed a connection in New York, missed a train in London, and once spent three days in Honolulu trying to get home. (That last one may sound as if it had appeal, but, try as they might, the Best Western Honolulu Airport hotel does not spell "wonderful" - and certainly not at the per night rates they charged hostages...I mean travelers.)

Some of my best laid plans include booking myself at (what turned out to be) a fleabag hotel in Los Angeles, a room whose door could not fully open because the bed was in the way, overlooking a graffitti'd warehouse wall in what might be called the "red light" district of San Francisco. Then there was the hotel room in Scotland that smelled like...well, the kidney in steak and kidney pie, shall we say. At times, my Scottish thrift too often declares the decision.

Such moments hurt my professional pride, but in cutting me low, a necessary humbling reminds me that not all of us always make the correct and perfect decision. That and there are more Best Western and Motel Six people than Ritz Carlton people. Not all of us travel in privileged circles. But then, I don't want to have to dress for a hotel or every dinner. Behind closed doors, I'll bet the Queen and James Bond beg to put on jeans. Such thoughts keen perspective.

Back to planning matters, though. Working with only tiny sparks of ideas, your mind sifts data, part of that natural processing that occurs while simmering ideas on that back burner. I've abandoned the minute-by-minute plan for the general overview. The concept now overrides the train schedule. Chance and surprise have a say in the decision. When allowed, they convene, and find your destination and direct the plan. Let them in. See what gels. Savor that pudding.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globetrotting as a member of the travel industry in various capacities. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, N.Y. 14231-0150.)