Anyway, now that I've thought about business, this suddenly can be written off as a business research trip. Right?

If you have a good enough accountant, sure.

Years ago, I knew a guy whose daily cartoons were syndicated in a bunch of newspapers. Once a year, there would suddenly be seven cartoons in a row of a guy sitting on a tropical beach with a piña colada. Pete had just gotten back from vacation. Those seven cartoons were proof enough for the IRS that he had been on the trip for research purposes related to his business.