Travel surely is broadening. When Rodney E. Gould '65, an attorney in Framingham, Mass., headed to Gaza to depose leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the case of the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro, he says he expected "a guy in a headdress and handgrenades." Instead, he said, "a little, meek guy showed up with a cigarette in a cigarette holder, like in Casablanca." The PLO official had a son at UCLA and feared that the youngster would stay in the U.S. rather than return home to run the family banking business. "Who doesn't have the same sentiments?" Gould said.     Following the PLO's 1985 hijacking of Achille Lauro and murder of one of the passengers, the surviving passengers filed a lawsuit against the tour operator. Gould, who defended the operator, brought a third-party complaint against the PLO seeking indemnification and lost profit and years later came out with a win--and another altered perception. The PLO paid to settle the case, he thinks, because settling "helped their public position, which is that they're interested in peace."     Over the last 15 years, travel-related defenses have become a major part of Gould's practice at the 10-attorney firm of Rubin, Hay & Gould, but few suits have as much at stake as the Achille Lauro case. Gould says travelers sue when they stub a toe; when the air conditioning doesn't work; when they're served the same cafeteria food three times in one week; when they find a sandy beach covered with seaweed. Even though these culture-bound, often ridiculous lawsuits "are just garbage" and do not usually involve a great deal of money, Gould says, such suits "represent a shortcoming in the American jurisprudential system."     "Everybody thinks, `Maybe I'll hit the lottery, too,'" he said, referring to the $3 million awarded a woman who sued McDonald's because their coffee was too hot. A lawyer takes a case on a contingent fee basis, so cases get litigated. "If the courts more often awarded attorney's fees to the winning side, we'd have less litigation," said Gould, a Columbia University Law School graduate.     Occasionally, one of his clients is guilty of placing tourists in a dangerous situation--or putting them in an unfinished hotel. "The thatched roof isn't on, and you have a wonderful view of the stars," Gould deadpanned, admitting that he always liked to travel. When he was assistant regional director of the Federal Trade Commission in Boston in the 1970s, he says he welcomed the antitrust cases that came his way because they involved globe-trotting. "You fall into things," he said.     Despite those frequent flier miles to East Africa, Central and South America, Asia and Europe, Gould has found time to serve on the College's regional campaign committee and on his class's reunion committee. His ties to the College also remain strong through his daughters, Jody '94 and Amy '01.     And despite some frivolous lawsuits, Gould says he still enjoys new places and gets a kick out of swapping yarns about being stuck at remote airports in the middle of Africa. Of course, eye-opening experiences teach forbearance, humor and different ways of doing things. "But for every good trip," he said, "there're always six to Newark."