Okay, let’s talk about this whole ‘business or pleasure’ thing. I found myself smack in the middle of that gray zone not too long ago, and it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.
So, the company sent me off to a conference. Decent location, somewhere I actually wanted to poke around a bit more. The conference ran Monday to Thursday. I figured, hey, why not stay the weekend? Flights were already covered, right? Seemed like a smart move at the time. Save some cash, get a mini-vacation.
I told my manager I was extending my stay using my own vacation days and money. They were cool with it. So, I booked an extra couple of nights at a different, cheaper hotel nearby for Friday and Saturday. Packed a separate small bag with my non-work clothes. Thought I had it all figured out.
The Trip Itself
The conference part was… well, a conference. Sat through talks, shook some hands, collected business cards. Standard stuff. But honestly? My head wasn’t fully in it by Thursday afternoon. I was already thinking about the museum I wanted to hit up on Friday.
Checking out of the ‘business’ hotel on Friday morning and into the ‘pleasure’ hotel felt a bit weird. Like shifting gears too fast. I tried to keep everything separate. Used the company card for meals and transport only during the conference days. Switched to my personal card religiously from Friday morning onwards.
- Conference days: Company card, business mindset (mostly).
- Weekend: Personal card, tourist mode on.
Where it Got Messy
The real fun started when I got back and had to do my expense report. Man, what a headache. I laid out all my receipts. The hotel bill for Mon-Thurs was clear. The flight was clear. But the meals… Thursday evening, was that business or pleasure? The conference was officially over, but I was still technically on the ‘business’ part of the trip until Friday morning checkout. I grabbed dinner with a couple of conference buddies. We talked some shop, but mostly just shot the breeze. Felt gray.
Then there was a taxi ride on Thursday afternoon after the last session but before dinner. Was that getting back to the hotel (business) or heading towards a pre-weekend activity (pleasure)? I honestly couldn’t remember the exact purpose.
I submitted the report, trying my best to allocate things fairly. Then came the email from accounting. They questioned that Thursday dinner. And a coffee receipt from Friday morning before I checked out. It wasn’t a huge amount, but the back-and-forth was annoying. I had to justify the dinner as “continued networking”. The coffee… I think I just gave up and said I’d cover it myself, even though I technically bought it before checking out of the business hotel.
The Takeaway
Look, I got the expenses sorted eventually. No major drama. But the whole experience just felt… bleh. It added this layer of stress and mental bookkeeping that kinda soured the ‘pleasure’ part of the trip. I spent half my weekend slightly worried if I’d messed up the expenses.
Now? I’m way more hesitant about mixing things like that. If I fly somewhere for work, I do the work and come home. If I want a vacation in that city, I book it completely separately on my own time and dime. That gray zone? It looks efficient on paper, but in practice, for me at least, it just muddies the waters. Keeping things clean and separate works better. Less hassle, less explaining, less low-key anxiety about receipts. Just my experience, maybe others handle it better, but that’s where I landed.
