General Travel FAQs

Domestic Travel - Personal Days

Current policy states that there is a 1 business day to 1 personal day ratio for all domestic travel.  If you are over this ratio, please contact the division office.

Foreign Travel - Personal Days

Current policy states that there is a 2 business days to 1 personal day ratio (round half days down) for all foreign travel.  When calculating personal days use the following notes, but if you are unsure, contact Travel Help

View self-service instructions on how to set up your direct deposit if it does not already exist in the system for your travel expenses.

• Employees: According to the travel policy, travelers are able to get an exemption with permission of the Berkeley Lab Site Occupational Medical Director and their Division Director.

• Guests: It is possible to accommodate such request if a doctor's note from the guest is provided indicating the limitation. This note has to be submitted to the Berkeley Lab Site Occupational Medical Director together with a memo from the host's Division Director requesting the exception. The Berkeley Lab Site Occupational Medical Director will review and if approved, the travel office will issue the ticket.

The Laboratory offers a corporate US Bank Visa card to career employees who travel at least once a year. The cards are to be used only for expenses associated with official travel, such as hotels, meals, miscellaneous expenses, and registration fees.

Cards are issued at no cost to the traveler and with no individual credit check. Applications are available from the Lab Travel Office or may be printed from this home page. Once completed, the application must be approved by the traveler’s supervisor and faxed to the Travel Office (x6888).

Download and fill out the Charge Card Application Form.

When a traveler is required to charge a conference registration fee or lodging deposit in advance of an approved trip, he/she may be reimbursed for that amount via TREX on a Pre-payment Expense Report, before the trip takes place.

Fill out a Traveler Profile in askUS. Profile will be submitted directly to ADTRAV (ticket will automatically close)

You must have a personal profile in ADTRAV reservation system before being able to start a reservation.

Note: ADTRAV will block all emails addressed to them that contain full credit card numbers.

Once submitted, you will receive two email notifications:

• 1. A confirmation email from askUS (confirms profile was sent to the Travel Office)

  2. Traveler Profile complete (final confirmation) with specific instructions on how to access Concur via ADTRAV RezDesk

Traveler Certification:

• Traveler Certification

• Traveler Certification without Email

Travel Authorization:

• Create a Trip Authorization

• Approve a Travel Authorization or Expense Report

Expense Reports:

• Create an Expense Report WITHOUT an Authorization

• Create an Expense Report WITH an Existing Authorization

• Create an Expense Report for a Local Trip

• Create a Supplemental Expense Report

• Create a Prepayment Expense Report and an Expense Report to Closeout the Prepayment

Other:

• The TREX Workflow

US Territories are considered domestic for travel purposes.  These include:

• American Samoa

• Guam

• Northern Mariana Islands

• Puerto Rico

• U.S. Virgin Islands

Canada & Mexico are considered foreign travel locations.

• • Domestic: You can change the project ID when creating the expense report.  This can be done even if you have already done a pre-trip expense report!

  • Foreign: Contact Elijah Walker at the Travel Office and your budget analyst as soon as you are aware that this could be an issue.  With written approval from IT Division Operations, attached to the expense report, you can change the project ID in TREX.

Note: Travelers are highly encouraged to request reimbursement for the actual cost of Meals & Incidental Expenses (M&IE) up to the established rates.

Per diem is the allowance for lodging (excluding taxes for domestic travel only) and meals & incidental* expenses (M&IE). The General Services Administration (GSA) establishes per diem rates for destinations within the Continental United States (CONUS). Per diem rates for Alaska, Hawaii and United States possessions (referred to as OCONUS) are established by the Department of Defense. The rates for all foreign travel are established by the U.S. Department of State.

Established Rates for Lodging and M&IEE

• Continental United States (CONUS) Travel

• Alaska, Hawaii and United States Possessions (OCONUS) Travel

• Foreign Country Travel

Deductions When Meals are Provided

When meals are included in registration fees or are furnished as part of an official Laboratory business function, the established M&IE rate is reduced according to:

• GSA Website: M&IE Breakdown