Living on an Expense Account - Workology

Living on an Expense Account Living on an expense account aint easy Living on an expense account aint easy Do you have a love hate relationship with business travel?     I know I do.  When Im on the road for extended periods of time, I start to get cranky and bitch a lot about being away from home.  When I get stuck in the office for too long, I start to get cranky and bitch about being stuck in the office.  Its possible that I am just cranky and like to bitch a lot, but thats not what I wanted to talk about in this post.   I wanted to talk about the joys of eating out on the company dime, the lavish meals and cocktails  that your average business travelor gets to enjoy while jetsetting around the country. Heres an average  a pretty typical dining day for me on the road: Breakfast:   Free hotel food or Starbucks (sometimes both) Lunch: I typically dine with colleagues in the work place because my employer Publix Super Markets  provides a free meal at most of their support locations. Dinner is when I let my hair down and go out, usually eating a $10-15 dinner at a local dining establishment, rather than  chain restaurant most of the time. Thats how I roll and for the record, we have a daily suggested food allowance for business travel that is set in the mid-thirties range. Not suprisingly, its how most  most cost conscious business travelors roll. According to  the New York Daily news,  Starbucks is the most popular dining spot  for employees traveling on business, according to a report from  travel and expense management company Certify.    In 2012, employees expensed nearly 21,000 transactions at the coffee shop retailer with the green and white logo, with bills averaging $7.54. Heres the top five dining expensed dining spots in the U.S., and the average bill price for 2012 according to Certify: Starbucks $7.54 McDondalds   $6.73 Subway $11.88 Panera Bread $19 Burger King $8.45 The report also tracked the most expensed airlines, hotels, rental car services and cities. The top performers included Delta Air Lines, Hilton Hotels, National Car Rental, and the city of Chicago. Where do you eat, drink, fly while on the road? Whats your favorite dining spot on the road? Where do you spend your limited funds?   Let us know in the comments!