When an automaker flies one of us out to some exotic locale–let’s say Tucson–it’s usually just a solo trip. These aren’t exactly vacations, since they’re brief and usually jam-packed with driving, meetings, briefings, feedings, et cetera. That doesn’t mean there aren’t perks. The meals are usually great and journalists generally get to bank the airline miles. There’s just very little downtime.
Mercedes found this out when she took a trip to France on Audi’s dime. It was her first trip abroad and one that was a little nicer than the average person is going to be able to afford. Solo trips, though, aren’t the only kinds of press trips. Automakers will sometimes invite a spouse along for the journey, especially if it’s a more lifestyle-oriented event like Pebble Beach or a place like Palm Springs.
The alternative is that most automakers don’t mind, with advanced notice, if you pay for your own spouse to come along. This is often a great deal because the most expensive part of the trip is often the hotel and the frequenters of these types of junkets often have plenty of miles to spare. In these situations, your husband can enjoy the day in Edinburgh while you’re out driving. Usually, the spouse or SO is invited to at least one dinner.
In all my years doing this, the best version of this I’ve ever heard is that an unnamed journalist was invited to Hawaii on a trip by a Japanese automaker. I’ve been told it was Mitsubishi and the car was the Mirage, but I’ve never confirmed it. In this possibly apocryphal story, the journalist in question brought along his fianceé.
This makes a lot of sense, right? If you’re going all the way to Hawaii you should bring your girlfriend along for the ride and surely she’ll be able to find something to do during the trip while you’re out trying to induce understeer from an economy car on a mountain road in paradise. There are beaches, stories, great food and… priests.
That last bit is important because what this genius did was get married in Hawaii during the trip and basically got Mitsubishi to cover the most expensive part of the wedding (depending on how nice the ring was). In the common telling of this story, this was a second marriage, so no family was expected to come. Just a guy, his soon-to-be-wife, and maybe a Vice President of PR as the witness.
David’s on his honeymoon in Hawaii right now, though this isn’t a press trip. He just paid for it himself, which feels anti-carjournalist if I’m being honest. I insisted to David multiple times that he didn’t need to work on his honeymoon and, yet, there was a story from David today that he admitted he wrote quickly while ENHRN (Elise, Not Her Real Name) was at yoga.
Commenter PajeroPilot kinda hit the nail right on the head here:
ENHRN: “David! What are you doing with that laptop open? You’d better not be working on our honeymoon!”
DT: “I’m not, I’m just… looking at porn.”
ENHRN: “That better be true!”
I can relate. Whenever my wife hears me mutter a faint wow while driving, she just asks what car it is this time.
I do this all the time and my wife usually says “we can’t afford another car, but what was it this time?”
haha yeah. If I react when passing a dealership, my wife just says “no”.
If that is the best press trip story you have heard, you have not been asking the right people.
I cannot tell the best press trip story I have heard, but I can tell this kind-of good one.
My autojourno friend is in the hospitality suite (where we generally meet, get our room keys, snacks and bevs, etc) talking to Sr PR person. Jr PR person comes over to them with panic on face.
Jr PR: “Uh, [Sr PR], the [nationality deleted] journalists are here.”
Sr PR: “So?”
Jr PR [awkward pause]: “They brought hookers.”
Sr PR excuses herself to my autojourno friend, then goes to the door and gently explains that the hospitality suite is for the use of journalists but, alas, not their guests.
Not my best press trip story, but a press trip story.
The hookers-at-a-press-trip story I’ve heard too many times. I know one guy who was able to get one in as a “photographer”
I’m very proud to have joined the illustrious COTD alumni. I must admit, I have used porn as an excuse to my wife when browsing listings for beat up shitboxes, more than once.
There is value in banning your spouse from working on your honeymoon, even just a little ‘recreationlly’. Especially if they are a proctologist.
Can we shift into calling her “Enhern”? David loves being married – I can feel the pride every time he writes, “my wife.”
either that or David changes his last name to Elise, Not Her Real Name.
also, bizarrely, my computer just autocompleted “Not Her Real Name”….
I mentally pronounce it “Enron,” but that might be my accounting degree talking.
For some reason, my mind wants to label she who shan’t be named PRNDL.
When my wife hears me say, “Look at the sexy girl” in traffic, she knows I mean a car. Even so she tries to make me sweat a little by teasing me.
When I was working in the US the contract said I’d get flights home half way through the trip. So I called the travel people and got them to fly my GF over instead.
She was so excited to come to the US for the first time. A week in Indiana in February wasn’t what she expected.
LOLOL. Evansville is so nice this time of year.
The Applebee’s is just as cozy in January as it is in May.
We did Indianapolis (she likes race tracks) a tour of historic architecture in Columbus (hilarious) and popped down to Bowling Green for the Corvette museum.
She felt that her free trip to the US did not represent good value for money.
Our next trip to the US was a Phoenix/Vegas/Yosemite/SF/LA road trip. Much more successful.
As a Minnesotan child, I always loved going to Evansville to visit grandparents for Christmas because the weather WAS nicer!
Evansville isn’t nice any time of year.
Source: Was born there.
A Mitsu Mirage makes a lot of sense for Hawaii, now that I think about it. Cars are super expensive there and don’t need to be luxurious or anything. It’s not like you can go on road trips.
The European launch of the Mitsubishi Mirage in 2013 was held in Monaco. Same vibe.
Tucson. Hyundai taught me
…Same.
That engine/trans boneyard that he found at the side of the road was pretty cool. He was geeking out (it was on the ‘gram for those who don’t follow)
TBH When I worked in newspapers I would take some vacation days and interview for a job some place nice and just use it as a vacation. Now I was in circulation so no Hawaiian vacation but some nice people nice areas and I was willing to take a good job offer.
Even as we read this I know David is looking for Steve McGarretts Mercury. Pictures to follow.
Exotic Tucson. That should be our new tourism angle.
It’s a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. So you’ve got that going for you.
It is true, you can eat quite well here. And I mean relatively inexpensively.
“COME SEE” and then the “c” and the “s” merge into the city name to remind 80% of the population that they’re spelling it wrong.
C before S is the key to success.
Good to know she’s cool – as someone who doesn’t find most famous actresses that attractive, she is…well..an exception to that rule… Anyway, getting an automaker to pay for his honeymoon would be the most DT thing ever
I had never heard of her until just now…I think the only movie I’ve seen on her credits is the Squid and the Whale. Which was a cringey/excellent flick.
I’ve always thought she was smokin hot, and her beautiful eyes…wow
Late 90’s/early 00’s German cars. Riiiiight up until I see the turbo badge, because I still want hot but I’m too old for crazy.
“This is similar to when my wife sees me snap my head while walking or driving and just assumes it’s Volvo 780 Bertone and not, you know, another woman.”
My wife assumes the same, although rather than a Volvo it’s usually some malaise era boat, like an Oldsmobile Delta 88 or such.
But sometimes it’s a Volvo.
She will inevitably see said car, and say, “Ugh, you want it, don’t you?”
Not Delta 88 but Rare and Classic cars just did a great video on the Olds 98, come on, who would want this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzlTy5_WNg
Drop dead gorgeous!
The last one of these for me was an R32 Skyline GTS-t.
I’m pretty sure I could start creepily leering at women now and she’d just assume they reminded me of an RX7 or something. But if I did that I might miss seeing some cool cars.
Volvo V70 (P3) for me – don’t kink shame!
When my wife notices I’m turning my head she looks in the same direction and usually guesses what I’m looking at…
If she doesn’t, I say something like “I’m looking at that butt.”
So what variety of “x journalist,” where x is a kind of vehicle, gets the best junkets?
Luxury yachts? Depends on your definition of ‘best’ I guess.
I’d rather do a track day, or go off-roading or something, rather than doing luxury yacht things.
A 780 Bertone!? Where? *frantically looking around*
“Porn” = “Surplus auctions of mid-60s USPS mail trucks”
LOL, well deserved COTD.
I love the idea that somebody, somewhere, has enough 60’s mail trucks that they need to be auctioned off en-mass.
That could’ve been David someday, hade ENHRN not come along.
Well yeah….. as David matures into married life, he’s gotta get and RV for fun-times….. said RV can be the Grumman LLV, heck The Bishop already wrote it up for you DT!
https://www.theautopian.com/turning-the-grumman-llv-postal-vehicle-into-a-camper-was-a-stupid-idea-so-were-doing-it-again-with-the-new-oshkosh-ngdv/