I was just reading the script and a few things popped out:
1) The basket was for the travel editor but he's a little overbooked, not out of town.
2) They never found hotel.
That leads me to the conclusion that the driver was not the one they were supposed to get on-board with (i.e. in league with Spencer Spencer). I'd love to see an AU following up the "Island Getaway" (or just an AU of Ordinary People where Lois and Clark work things out some other way than the island retreat for work) where the travel editor is the one to go. When Lois and Clark get back, they talk to him in passing and find out they missed out on an amazing retreat.
CLARK: No. I'm just worried I'm a jinx.
JONATHAN: A jinx?
CLARK: Yeah. Let's face it, ever since she's known me, Lois's been kidnapped, frozen, pushed off buildings, almost stabbed, poisoned, buried alive and who knows what else, and it's all because of me.
-"Contact" (You're not her jinx, you're her blessing.)
| 
