[winston_smith]

I've tried white lies like that and had them immediately backfire, plus they make me feel dishonest. "How is the conference going? Oh, great. I thought about going myself but didn't see any when I googled it. What was it called again?"

With a little thought you can almost always avoid dishonesty. "Hey, I'm thinking of visiting your town next week. Could we get lunch?".

Reputation matters.