Business Travel for salary employees: Should it be during your work week or weekend?

So I need to head out of town for work. My boss told me to pick 3-4 days in the next month.

I told him I would head out on a Monday, arrive Monday night, and work Tuesday-Thursday. I would return on Friday.

He told me that I should probably leave on a Sunday. I asked him since I'm salaried (and do not receive overtime), why would I leave on a weekend since it's work travel?

He had a problem with my question. I don't understand how.

Work travel counts as work. Why would I leave on my weekend vs a work day?

Who is wrong here?
Dawnb,

My paycheck says 80 hours. Doesn't that mean you work 80 hours, or am I imagining things?

Unless your travel time truly takes all day, maybe your boss would be more open to you catching an early flight on Monday, working Mon-Wednesday, and catching a late flight on Wednesday. I agree that you shouldn't have to use your whole weekend, but maybe it would be a good compromise to not ask for two entire days just for travel.

Is your company picking up the expense? If so, the rationale is get you there the cheapest, and Sunday is often a more reasonable day to travel. I would go with the flow, and leave on Sunday.

You are wrong. You leave when your boss wants you to leave. If that requires a weekend, that is what it is. As a salaried person, you have no 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday job. If you are thinking as an hourly person, you will continue to have problems with your boss. If you want to be an hourly person, keep questioning your boss.

Thursdays are the cheapest days to fly, i would leave on Thursday. As a salaried employee, you are expected to do overtime and other duties as assigned either on or off "work time", because you are being compensated, you are salaried. Sometimes when you aren't working, you still get paid, so just look at it that way! Have a great trip and be safe, I wouldn't make a big deal about it, because it is something expected.

In my experience it is not at all unusual to travel at least one leg of the journey (to or from) on your own time. Being paid as an employee who is exempt from overtime pay does not in any way guarantee that you will work only 40 hours a week. In many companies it is considered that you are paid more than hourly employees, so that on the occasions where working more than a 40 hour week is required, your higher annual compensation means that you are therefore willing to step up and put in more hours when needed. ... Furthermore, the fact is that it is not at all unusual, for salary employees who do not receive overtime, to work more than 40 hours per week. While sometimes that means coming in early or staying late, or coming in on the weekend, for some it means doing work from home. I have done all those things in the past - to get a job done when there are time constraints that mean that regular 40 hour weeks won't meet the need. ... Finally I will note that exhibiting an unwillingness to step up and put in more hours here and there may well be looked at negatively when you are considered for a raise and/or promotion.