Hire the car and work while you ride. Makes more sense to apply the company's resources that way than to pay you to drive rather than do your job.

Is there a commuter train or bus option that might be viable?

I agree with -t.

Is that something you would feel comfortable discussing with your manager? With my company, I'd be expected to drive a rental unless I could provide justification for a more expensive option. Saving yourself anxiety and being able to work during that time could serve as good justification.

I've been pretty relieved the two times I've traveled with a bigwig and needed to get outside of the city, they both wanted to use a car service. Now, maybe if I had offered to drive they would have wanted to rent, but I told them I couldn't.

If there's a two cab/train possibility, that might be a way to split the difference, cost-wise?

My company is fairly liberal with travel expenses, but they would nix a car service in almost all cases unless it was client-facing. If you have a license, you're expected to drive. I'd definitely talk with whoever approves your expense reports first.

Just a quick search for trains from your neck of the woods shows same-day round trips coming in at the $120-150 range. Cabs are plentiful at Union Station, so getting to your final destination from there won't be difficult. Likewise on the return.

If only I could work in a moving vehicle! Alas, car sickness attacks even if just reading texts on my phone. As to the question, it doesn't sound like the price is out of line. There is more cost involved in addition to renting a car, with parking and gas and so forth. I say get the hired car.

eta: and of course what Maria said about discussing it first

Well, I'll be damned, that actually is a better way of hard boiling eggs.

First off - Teppy, you are right, putting the eggs into already boiling water does make them easier to peel. OTOH, I am also right that that makes the white cook faster than the yolks. The Food Lab solution to bring the water to a boil, add the eggs and boil for 30 seconds then add ice cubes and turn down the heat to simmer for 11 minutes at around 190F does in fact yield perfectly cooked eggs that peel easily.

Me being me, I plan to use the induction cooker that can be set to hold 190 degrees or following the initial boil with a long session with the circulator (I will have to compare results, hooray more experimenting!) , but the not so precise proof of concept on the stovetop went quite well.

Unfortunately I don't have time to talk to anyone before I have to make a decision. I just thought of it today! A train would not be better in terms of stress, for me. Good points about extra expenses of parking and gas, but the hire car would still be more expensive by a couple hundred bucks. I'll probably chicken out and rent a car. If they refuse to pay for a hire car, I don't want to pay for it! But I will ask about it, for next time.

The Food Lab solution to bring the water to a boil, add the eggs and boil for 30 seconds then add ice cubes and turn down the heat to simmer for 11 minutes at around 190F does in fact yield perfectly cooked eggs that peel easily.

I'm too lazy to add ice cubes, but what I generally do is bring the water to a boil, add the eggs, wait about 1 minute at a full boil, and then turn down to a simmer. The resulting eggs make me happy enough that I'm going to stick with being too lazy to add ice cubes.

Good enough! You could probably take it off the heat entirely; my previous method was to started the eggs in the cold water, bring to a boil and take the pot off the heat for 15 minutes, which worked okay except that the eggs were much harder to peel.