Travel Tips

If you drive to/from Norman*:

• Note the day/time/address when you depart.
• Keep in mind that only one night hotel can be reimbursed and that it must be within 24 hours of your arrival or departure. Be sure to go back to the front desk, if you need to, so that you have a receipt showing zero balance! Just think about it - I cannot reimburse something you cannot show that you paid for. The hotel will be reimbursed up to the federal per diem amount, meaning it may not be reimbursed in full. See below about federal per diem rates.
• Note the day/time/address you arrive.
• Note the license plate of the vehicle you drove.
• Keep any toll receipts.

I do not need food or gas receipts. Food is simply reimbursed at the federal per diem rate. Food per diem is not reimbursed unless your trip lasts longer than 18 hours. The rate that applies is either for the city/county of the reimbursed hotel, or the general federal rate if you did not stay over night but still travelled for more than 18 hours. Gas is built into the $0.505/mile for driving in your own car.

I do not need your mileage. Mileage is retreived using the addresses you report and a 3rd party mapping web site.

If you visit friends or do sightseeing en route, just let me know. If you stay with a friend instead of at a hotel for that one night you can claim, you are eligible for $10/day to offset their expenses. Otherwise, personal days are simply removed from the trip information and the mileage and per diem will be calculated as if you'd come straight here without the personal time. It is fairly common for travelers to tack personal days onto official travel.

See below about caps on items and on your overall travel.

Summary of what I need if you drive:

• date/time/address you departed from
• date/time/address you arrived at
• license plate number of the vehicle you drove
• receipts for any hotels ***showing zero balance due***
• receipts for any toll roads

If you fly:

• Note the day/time/address you departed from.
• Note the airport name.
• Parking can be reimbursed but we'll need the receipt.
• Note the license plate of the car that drove you to the airport.
• You are not eligible for per diem unless your trip lasts more than 18 hours (unlikely).

See below about caps on items and on your overall travel. I do not need your actual mileage but I can use it if you report it. Mileage is usually simply retreived using the addresses you report and a 3rd party mapping web site. You'd want to report your actual mileage if you have to detour around construction, or something unusual like that, which a mapping site may not take into account.

Summary of what I need if you fly:

• date/time/address of your departure
• date/time/address of your arrival
• license plate number of the vehicle that drove you to the airport so we can reimburse that mileage
• parking receipts for the airport (if you want that reimbursed)
• receipts for any toll roads (if you want that reimbursed)

Conference Travel

Things that can be paid by PO number:

• abstract fee
• conference registration

How POs work: you request a unique PO number for each thing needing a PO. Put that number into the payment information blank. E-mail the receipt/confirmation to Daphne and we'll take it from there.

Things that can be directly billed:

• airfare -- if I book it for you through my travel agent

We don't get any special deals unless you are originating or destinating in Oklahoma, however, so, on these, look around at flight schedules and prices (keep in mind your conference allowance) and then send me the flight information that is your ideal itinerary. I'll use our travel agent to try to book that flight. I'll send you information of a ticket that is on hold for you to check. IMPORTANT: You'll need to check over the ticket we put on hold - check the spellling of your name and that all the cities/times/dates are correct and get back to me w/in 24 hours or the ticket (price) is lost!

Things you must pay for up front and get reimbursed:

• hotel at the conference site
  • remember: use an official conference hotel/price or you must stay under the general federal per diem rate for that city/state
  • your hotel receipt must show that (1) YOU stayed in the room - your name is on the top - and that (2) YOU paid all or part of the bill
  • the receipt must show zero balance / or the payment you made. This might mean revisiting the front desk to check out, even if they nominally have a leave-the-key-in-the-room option... that receipt must show PAID!
• any driving costs like tolls, parking, etc.
  • remember, gas is wrapped into the mileage rate
  • if you drive to the conference location, your cost will be capped at the cost of what airfare would have been b/c a car was not technically necessary to get you there (you could have flown)
  • most of you will just drive to an airport. You may receive 2 round trips if someone drops you off. Or you can receive parking at your home airport - keep the receipt!
• food costs
  • you'll receive the MI&E rate for the city/state of the conference site
• any costs for things like printing a conference poster and buying a mailing tube to transport it in
  • it is no problem to carry these poster tubes on the airplane! They fit in overhead bins and airport security has never reacted with any question or surprise in my experience. Put the poster tube on the x-ray belt along with everything else you're carrying on. If you choose to mail it ahead (call your hotel for info) any cost for that will come out of your conference allowance.

If you pay up front for anything that could have been directly billed or done by PO, you may be reimbursed, but only after the travel is complete. Remember, besides caps on individual items, you are also capped at your conference allowance! And you cannot be reimbursed until after your trip is complete.

General Information

About federal per diem rates:

• All the important numbers are online. The lodging rate is the maximum that will be reimbursed. Taxes are in addition to the amount listed, so if it says $70 and your room is $70+tax, your total will be reimbursed. But if it says $70 and your room was $85 before taxes, then the $70 plus the fraction of taxes on $70 is all that is reimbursed. I suggest printing out the pages for the states you are driving through so you've got the info handy when you are deciding where to stop.
• Notice that certain cities are listed. If you stay in the county listed by that city, the city's rate applies. Be careful! It is possible to stay just outside a city but be outside the county listed and so be subject to a lower per diem amount.
• If neither the city nor county are listed, the rate is the standard CONUS rate of $70 for lodging and $39 meals and incidentals.
• Note: you are eligible for $10/day if you stay with a friend (essentially free lodging) to help offset their expenses.

About the cap on your travel reimbursement:

REU 2008: Your travel to/from Norman is capped at $500 (+100 to account for rising mileage rates). Your travel to/from a professional conference is capped at $1400 plus any excess from your travel to/from Norman. This means that after caps and rules on particular items are considered or followed, that your overall total will be capped as well.

*For the 10-week REU itself, driving is allowable and reimbursed as described here. If, on a later date, you are doing official travel that is a relatively short trip (e.g. the professional conference or an REUnion), and you choose to drive when you could have flown, the mileage portion of your trip is reimbursed up to the cost of round trip airfare.

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