Yeah, Google paid for the rental car. I was driving a nice, newish Chevy Cobalt that I drove everywhere around the bay area. The route between the hotel and the San Jose airport wasn't challenging at all. The first evening I keep on reading few interview techniques books and tried to anticipate tech questions and come up with best answers. I've also drove to the Google's headquarters just to see it and make sure that I know how to get there for the next day. Second day I woke up early, took a shower, and put on my best suit. Drove to Goolge's hq (no problems this time around) and meet up with Gail - my recruiter. The day was filled with interviews until about 2:00 pm. After that I did some sight seeing around the bay area, visited the computer museum, and followed up with my recruiter. I also had a food allowance up to $25.00 a day as far as I can recall. I think that went to a restaurant once, but I was eating a local fast food mostly (silly me)...
Well, they paid for the ticket, rental, and hotel. I may as well have a mini vacation while there, no? Also, at that time they were the best company to work for. It would be a significant career move for me and I decided to do everything I could to do the best on the interview. Flying in the day of the interview and flying back the next day would be exhausting.