To think DH cant come to this

roffle.

My company suggested my husband come to Korea with me. (and then they covered his breakfasts, because - no idea but we were quite happy to pay for them). And my current company suggested that on a recent trip to Berlin for a Thursday meeting that i take the day off and take DH with me for a long weekend.

Not all companies are the same, don't be daft.

Public transport in London is easy peasy

Three things to bear in mind when using the Tube:

Stand on the right on escalators. The left side is for people who want to walk up or down.
Don't step off the escalator and stop dead in your tracks. If you need a moment to work out which direction you need to go, move to the side of the passage.
Have your ticket or card ready as you approach the barrier. Don't stop in front of the barrier and hunt through your bag for it. If you need assistance, there will be a manned gate at the end of the line of barriers.

Bag snatching, pocket picking and bag dipping are the most likely crimes in a crowded area. Have a cross body bag, keep it securely zipped and fastened with valuables at the bottom. Keep it on your lap in a busy cafe, never ever hang it on the back of the chair.

My DH sometimes stays with me. The rooms are double so that doesn’t make any difference to the company. I don’t mention it and they wouldn’t find out anyway. I can’t claim anything back on expenses for his food etc but can’t see the issue with staying in a room that’s already booked and paid for.

Post I quoted is talking about 'an extra day and often more' added to the trip, not an early finish and some golf or beach time.

That's not a 'normal' work trip.

I've done this many times, it's a way of cheap travel, sometimes if it's somewhere nice we book another night or two, dp's the boss anyway

Have you got kids? Is he trying to get out of looking after them?

You clearly never worked in, or with, the insurance industry then. We provided a service to that industry in Asia and were constantly hosting London brokers on jollies - a couple of client meetings and a day on the beach, conferences that had a day 2 finishing at 11am so they could all go off to play golf, you get the picture.

“work” is a very wide term though. Even the insurance guys would work all hours if they were coming out to deal with an actual incident, and anyone preparing for a negotiation or arbitration or the like would be working all evening in the hotel. But the training, conferences and “business development/client relationship” trips are often more relaxed.

What does he expect CENTRAL London be like. I live 30 minutes away and am in CENTRAL London most days and weekends. It's not like it's a ghetto.

Apart from that, I sometimes stay in husband's room when he travels. I go off exploring and get my own breakfast and dinner. Nothing has ever been said at work. He has also travelled with me and my employer doesn't mind either as long as I don't expense for for food and drink for him. Room is apid for anyway.

thousands of women travel on the tube in London use a bus. If you want to see the sites. London is easy.

Yeah, growing up in Central Scotland when we got one touring musical at a time to the Edinburgh Playhouse was just as good as having the whole West End on your doorstep, sure it was..

The Festival and the Fringe have their place but that is only 3 weeks and they are mostly amateur productions in small-scale and temporary venues. Accommodation prices also go through the roof for visitors at that time. I’m happy living in London with year-round access to world class plays and musicals and going up to Edinburgh for the Festival.

As someone with considerable actual experience of the Tube - unlike the OP's DH - the one thing I would 'not recommend' is adding an extra body if the OP needs to travel at rush hour. Taking a chaperone will make the sardineing worse, not better, and add stress if they can't both fit on the same train.

Alone is a lot easier.

That was my first thought.

OP, you're an adult, perfectly capable to travelling about the capitol like millions of other adults. And school children.

Tell him you asked and work said no, and go have your adventure! I don’t like that he told you the tube would be scary so you would then want him to come, that’s not right. I live in London and I promise the tube is not scary.

@araiwa - so you are saying definitively that this would be gross misconduct and against company policy in every company in the UK?

I hope not, because that would be a ridiculous generalisation, and the fact that various posters on this thread have said that it definitely IS allowed by their employers proves you wrong.

I have stayed with dh at his hotel, when he has been travelling for work - his company permitted it, as long as we paid for my meals.

I've lived in London over 20 years, get the tube/bus etc all the time. None of this has happened to me.

The worst that happens on the tube is generally the pass-agg tutting and the subtle manoeuvres and body-blocks as people fight for seats but oh-so-quietly.

Ok but it takes me 4 hours by the fastest possible method to get to London from my house and it costs a fortune to stay there. It's just not as attractive as going elsewhere to seek culture!

Public transport in London is easy peasy, and there is so much to do by yourself. I love to hang out in museums myself when I have time to kill between things.

That said, nothing wrong with your dh joining you either, I've never had an employer or hotel object to having him stay over if he was in the same town. So if it would be a treat for him feel free, but you don't need him in any way.

I find it a little too convenient that your partner has told you he "has to work immediately" on trips. Nearly every trip I've been on, there's been time to relax and enjoy an evening dinner/morning after/extra day at least. Often more. I would wonder why he doesn't want you with him?

No idea who you work for but an "extra day at least" and "often more" on a work trip is so far removed from reality in any business I've ever worked in that I don't think we even inhabit the same planet.

It's normal to arrive only the night before, or maybe day before if long haul, and then crack on with whatever it is.

Having worked on 6 continents for the big multinationals (oil & gas, pharma, etc) with generous travel policies, I can count on, well, one finger, the number of times there's been a full extra day at a given location after finishing, and then it was only because I didn't want to risk missing the only decent flight home after meetings in Jakarta. Even sales conferences piss-ups are well enough choreographed that there's not that much free time after the event.

That's ridiculous!
He is just wanting to come along - which does seem a good idea.
Otherwise - it's just a city, with a public transport system used by everyone from school children to overseas visitors.

Is it just you coming down or will there be a load of you from your company in the hotel? If just you and it's a PI, no one will know anyway. Do it!

Spend your evening on the South Bank or Covent Garden, ask us for some great places to eat and what to see!

I do get that the "good god how have you never been to London?" comments could be seen as London-centric and patronising etc, but it must surely be usually for two people married to each other, living in a western European country, to have neither ever been to the capital city! (Maybe they bonded over their mutual dislike of cities?)

I was allowed to take my partner on a work trip to America! It depends on the company and its policy.

Perhaps he's just expressing concern for her safety in a strange environment. Lots of people do it every day without problems, some do have issues. There was a post a while ago about someone who's partner expected her to make her own way home from the station. Again lots of people do this frequently without issue some have problems. He may be concerned that she's more likely to be attacked or robbed in London than in their home town.

How have you never been to London!!

and you don’t need a ‘man’ to help you get the tube around. Jesus Christ

I don’t think it would be a problem, I’ve been with DH on work trips to Wales and we just had to let the hotel know there would be two guests in the room (fire regs) and that only one breakfast would be billed to work.

If my work were to send me to London though…I love DH but I’d go on my own, I think I’d have a much better time.

I can't see how he can be in a position not to recommend tube travel when he has never been to London? What does he think it is?

I have to go to London for work now and then (after having previously lived there for 35 years), and I absolutely love going on my own, taking myself out to a nice restaurant, wandering about etc. I do take DH and DS with me every third or fourth time and we make a weekend of it. In your position, it being the first visit to this major world city, I'd be keen to take the DH and share the experience. Then maybe later visits on your own?