My company head office is in South Africa while I am based in Sweden. My manager sent out an email that next month he will be in France and would love to meet anyone in person for lunch or coffee.
My manager is a decent guy and I know I can learn a lot from him. I also want to build a good relationship with him since we work closely together.
I wonder if it is appropriate (and also a good idea) to fly there (considering that it's a 2-hour flight) to meet him in person.
Contact him and tell him this, and ask if it's appropriate to charge the flight and accommodation to the company. You'd have to talk to him anyway to find a place to meet, so call him in advance. I can't see any reason why the company would say no.
If the company will pay, yes. Otherwise I would say no.
I would expect this trip to take at least a day and cost at least three figures of Euros. If the company is happy to cover the costs and have you take a day traveling instead of working then great. You get to meet your boss and build a personal bond. It really helps long distance communication for your emails to be going to a person you have met rather than an email address. It is quite possible for the company to be happy to pick up the tab for this "team building exercise". However if they are not, and you would be paying out of pocket and perhaps even making up the time, then the company does not think it is worth it to them so it is probably not worth it to you.
An additional consideration is the environmental footprint of the trip. As this will require two flights of about 1000 miles each this is not likely to be negligible. It will be for you to weigh this against the value you would get from the meeting, your company may not consider it at all.
No. 2 hours by air is not "close". "Close" means "if you can get here without inconvenience", e.g. if you're in the same city or maybe one of the suburbs of that city. If you have no reason to be in France other than to meet with him, then you should not consider this a request from your manager to meet in person.
That said, if you have other reasons (or feel like making up a reason) to be in France, then feel free to meet with him. However, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to bill this to your company, as your manager is not asking you to join him. To be honest I wouldn't even ask the company if you could bill it.
If I was your manager I would absolutely say yes, it was worth it, and that the company would pay. In fact I would go further. Since your manager says he "would love to meet anyone in person for lunch or coffee" I assume there are several people on his team who work in Europe. I would try to organize it so that everyone gets together with him at the same time, so they not only meet the manager but meet their other colleagues too. And I would do it in a nice hotel. On company time. And if most of the team was in a place other than France I would go there rather than make all of them travel.
Maybe suggest that.
I wonder if it is appropriate (and also a good idea)
It certainly is. The only drawback is the flight time etc,. purely for a coffee. But if you had a reason to be in France then I'd certainly time it to coincide if possible.
If not then I wouldn't because it's a personal visit rather than work related.
I'm a dinosaur, already retired, so I don't understand the new remote work world, but absolutely you should go. This site demonstrates there are a lot of terrible companies to work for and the fact that you ask shows yours is not one. Managers (I was a low level one) are people, too. Some are good, some are bad. The good ones want you to succeed, maybe because they just want people to succeed or maybe because they realize that your success contributes to their success. If one of my people came asking for help it was my top priority. Unless your company reorganizes so regularly that you won't see this manager again, a personal relationship can be very valuable. You should confirm that you manager will sign off the expense report, but I would see that in the invitation. Come up with a plan, price it out, and send an email describing it and asking for approval.
Would you like to go to France anyway for a weekend break or a day or two? If yes, then arranging your trip so you can meet your manager as well could be very useful. As others have suggested, talk to your manager about what the company would be prepared to pay for, even if it is only the "working time" while you actually talk to your manager. Then see if you are prepared to put in the extra time & money yourself or not.
