When the Best-Laid Plans Still Aren't Enough I'M a partner and chief creative officer at Puccini Group. We conceptualize, design and operate restaurants, mainly in the hotel industry. So most of my business travel involves pitching new clients or researching cities for business development purposes. I'm an architect by training and I like seeing new places and how they are designed, so I don't really mind the travel. A. Once or twice a week, both domestic and international. A. Los Angeles International. There's just no sense of arrival when you get there. It's like a cattle trough. A. Prague. I'm of Czech ancestry, and the city is filled with an amazing energy that still manages to keep all of the old-world charm of the place. Plus, the architecture is just amazing. A. Airport bars where I'll have a cocktail or two and people-watch. I've had some great conversations with seatmates. People are usually interested in my work since everyone likes restaurants. I've been lucky that so far no one has ever said they've hated some restaurant that I've designed. It may happen, though, and I guess I have to be prepared. But that's the one thing about traveling a lot. You can prepare all you want, but sometimes things just happen. I was with two colleagues on a red-eye to Dubai out of Washington, D.C. We were going to Dubai to meet with some potential new clients and we were pretty excited. You always want to make a good impression, and one way to do that is to at least be on time for meetings. Unfortunately, the plane developed mechanical issues and we had to turn around and head back to Washington. We had to spend the night there and then head out the next morning. We weren't worried since we built a one-day cushion into our plan in case of flight delays or cancellations. We left the next morning as scheduled, and I eventually fell asleep on the plane. I woke a little groggy thinking we were getting ready to land in Dubai. No, we weren't. The flight attendant announced that we had to land at London Heathrow because of mechanical issues. I thought I was dreaming. At this point, we had to get to Dubai as soon as possible, but there was no way the three of us were going to make it there together. Flights were limited and nearly all booked to capacity. One of my colleagues took the first available flight, leaving the other two of us to fend for ourselves in Heathrow for about another eight hours after she left. There was a bright side. My colleague and I had plenty of time to explore the airport restaurants. Although we were late for our Dubai meetings, everyone was very understanding, and we did get the new business. But I learned that with travel, it's always important to expect the unexpected and adapt when things go wrong. People always talk about how rushed and nasty people can be at airports or on planes. But I had the pleasure of being part of something really pretty nice. I was on a flight out of Jackson Hole, Wyo., back to San Francisco, and there were probably about 50 people on the plane. The flight attendants told us that the captain of the plane was retiring after 40 years of service and this was his last flight. The attendants wanted to do something special so they asked the passengers to make some paper airplanes out of napkins, newspaper or whatever we could use. Most everyone went along with the idea and it was really amazing to see adults making paper airplanes. Some were pretty creative. When we landed, each of us handed the captain our paper airplane and wished him well. It was a great way to show this guy how much passengers really do appreciate the work of a pilot, and it was obvious that he was very moved by what we did. A paper airplane isn't a gold watch, but I bet you he didn't throw out a single one of those little planes.