In Tuesday’s upcoming eFlyer, we lead off with a story about a survey that shows that Americans, much moreso than Europeans, add-on leisure travel to their business trips. Which made me think about my own side trips. The one I remember most clearly was also the first. I was doing stories in Amsterdam and Paris in the summer, so I arranged to rent a car and stay a bit longer. The week before I left, I found out the car was standard, not automatic, so I took three quick lessons on driving a stick from a local driving school, picked up the car in downtown Amsterdam and chugged my way–stalling periodically–to Brussels, where I was visiting a friend who had recently moved there. Then I stopped-and-started my way to Paris, where fortunately my hotel had a parking garage. After doing my usual routine of inspections and interviews in Paris, I met up with friends from England and we drove around the French countryside. Fortunately, one of them drove. We picnicked on a glacier on Mont Blanc–I still have the pictures–and drove as far as Aosta, Italy, basically just because I couldn’t resist getting into Italy once I was so close. Usually when I’m on my own, my add-ons involve exploring places that could make for more stories. I like having the structure and the reason for visiting places. I guess that puts me in one of the survey’s minority categories: people who always enjoy their business travel. –Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer