California Free

I’ve made the trip from Pennsylvania to California six times. The first time I went, I didn’t have to pay for my plane tickets. Each of the next five times, the entire trip was completely free.

I was asked to be the best man in a college friend’s wedding a couple of years after we graduated. He lived near Los Angeles. I planned my trip out there with another college friend, Robert. Like me, he was an engineer and single. He’d recently been bumped from a flight to Alaska and had been given a large voucher in return. Generously, he used part of that voucher to purchase my plane tickets.

Robert and I rented a yellow Nissan Sentra and put over 1800 miles on it during the week before the wedding. Robert was a great travel companion. He was a brilliant guy who seemed to have a wry observation or witty remark for any situation with the slightest potential for humor. He was laid back and easy to get along with.

We had a map but didn’t have a detailed plan for the trip. After a long day taking in Yosemite National Park, we rolled into Modesto late at night and had some trouble finding a place to stay. Finally, we found a motel in a seedy part of town with a vacancy. We checked into our room and turned on the TV to wind down. Out of the corner of my eye, I sensed movement, but didn’t think too much of it at first. A short time later, the source of the motion became apparent: the room was infested with the biggest roaches I’d ever seen. I wasn’t happy about the situation, but Robert was traumatized. He wrapped himself up in his sheets to try to form a hermetic seal against the bugs. I don’t think he slept much.

Robert and I both had excess cash flow and saving for retirement was not yet on our radar. We were quite loose about money on the trip: we’d alternate paying for meals and hotels, not bothering to keep track to make sure we were sharing equally in the expenses. When we got to Morro Bay a couple days after the Modesto fiasco, we found a hotel with two rooms available. One was on the ground floor. The other was on the second floor but was the expensive honeymoon suite. Without batting an eye, Robert said we’d take the suite. He paid for it, explaining to me that he thought there would be less chance of roaches.

The suite had a fireplace. Though it wasn’t cold outside, Robert was determined to get his money’s worth. He got a rip-roaring fire going. Eventually we started sweating, so we turned the air conditioning on full-blast to compensate. I ordered a pizza to be delivered to our room for dinner. Inspired by Robert’s indulgences, I gave the young lady who dropped off the pizza a tip of nearly 200%. I can still remember the startled look on her face as she thanked me.

The trip to California with Robert was hands down the best vacation I ever took as a single guy. I would not return to the Golden State for over a decade. When I did, it wasn’t for a vacation. Between 1998 and 2001, I made five trips to San Jose on business. Some of those trips lasted two weeks, which gave me a free weekend to explore.

My company put me up in a four-star hotel that had a favorable corporate rate. I had my own rental car and an expense account. As the trips were typically during the summer, there was a lot of daylight left for exploring after the workday was over. It felt wonderful driving around the San Jose area after work. It was even more magical to venture out further on weekends, cruising in my rental car and listening to CDs I’d purchased for a buck a piece at a record store near my hotel. I spent time in San Francisco, Monterrey, and Santa Cruz. I hiked in some amazing parks, saw redwood trees and visited wine country. I absolutely loved driving around California and taking in its diverse terrains.

To add to my heightened dopamine state during those trips, the lead engineer from the company we were working with made client entertainment his top priority. Sujit had a company credit card with a $30,000 monthly limit. His greatest pleasure in life seemed to be making sure his customers had a good time. For the most part, this consisted in treating them to lavish meals. The highest amount I ever witnessed him lay down was an inflation-adjusted $7,500 at The Plumed Horse in Saratoga, a nationally ranked French restaurant where he hosted our group of 18.

I recently wrote a Forum article that discussed the special thrill humans experience when receiving something for free. I can’t help but think that one of the reasons I enjoyed my California business trips so much was that I didn’t have to pay a penny for any of them.