Is there anyone who can help me to correct my email making it more formal and polite? Annotation: A U.S company has a subcontract with an HK trading company that hires me as an in-country engineer to support a program. The customer asked for going to the US to attend a meeting and they want me accompanying them. The US Company also agreed it is good for both parties if I could attend the meeting. The problem is no one would like to pay my travel expenses. The US Company believes that the travel expenses are the responsibility of the trading company but here the trading company has a different opinion. I would like to send an email to the US Company to explain why I can't attend the meeting. Is there anyone who can help me to correct my email making it more formal and polite? My email as follows: Thank you for your invitation. It's my privilege if I would have a chance to get to attend the meeting in San Francisco and it is also a good opportunity to meet with your team to better understand the company. However, I have discussed it with the manager and I think that the meeting to be held in San Francisco is not part of an original plan; these are additional requests from the customer. Therefore, I am afraid that I cannot get to the US to attend the meeting for the reason of no proper/specific category-budget to finance the travel expenses. But you don’t need to worry about it; I believe Anny can manage everything in San Francisco.