I don't quite follow you BEagle.
I'm currently in North America, I just selected Lydd on my Aera (in the Direct To page) as an experiment, and then brought up the HSI panel. The screen shows distance and direction to Lydd which is far from local!
You are using the DCT function for this, I agree - but I've certainly used this in flight for cross referencing then just returned to my original route. Not particularly onerous in a trimmed aeroplane en-route.
Using "Nearest" you do get a list, not just the single nearest.
G