Back to my quest. I see that there is a surface mount version of the 20X2, although it is not available in Australia.
I'm thinking about a small double sided carrier PCB with 14 (alternatively 16 or 18) DIL pins. That way, it should be possible to select the pins that are used in the smaller pinout. Eg hi2c/PWM/hSerial
Hmm. Food for thought. I'll have to fire up Eagle over the weekend.