Originally Posted by
HomerJ
...I have a good buddy who lives in W.VA who used to be an IT PM.
But that was 18 months ago, and since then he has only had sporadic employment.
WE will see him this weekend as a bunch of friends will get together.
He's a good guy and we only see each other once or twice a year, so I/we will subsidize him for the weekend.
Just by picking up checks/buying rounds, getting tickets.
Life's short, and when he's back on his feet things will go back to normal for him.
He's do the same for me.
I'm not gonna take someone out of travel plans just because our economic situations are different.
+1. It becomes more difficult when long-term priorities and financials diverge, but it can be worked out. To me, it seems like the OP and his friend just had completely different expectations of their trip & what they wanted out of it.
I've had friends who were in completely different situations financially, and the biggest difficulty on shared outings was making sure everyone felt like they were contributing but enjoyed the opportunities opened up by the freer/fatter wallets (without leeching). If it's subsidizing, so what? I care about the $ far less than I care about being able to share time with friends.