Working from London (Days 1-4)

Six months ago this city was pretty foreign to me, so it was comforting to arrive and actually know my way around, more or less. I spent my first 3 days in London working from our office here and really enjoyed it. Not to mention, my jet lag wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the first time I traveled here (melatonin supplements for the win). It was good to meet with folks, see familiar faces, do project work in-person, and have an overall productive business trip. I was actually a little bit hesitant to leave on vacation because there are just so many things going on right now that I’m excited about. I managed to overcome my workaholic-impulse though and promised myself not to come into the office on my holiday. Instead, I only worked a bit Saturday from the hotel to wrap up things that needed to be done before I left.

Work aside though, I had a couple chances to go out for drinks with some colleagues which was great. Had previously never met the [User] Experience team here and they were a lot fun. Also, on Friday night (after an office-wide gathering at a nearby pub) I had the opportunity to meet up with Jake! We had dinner in Soho and it was nice catching up with him. Overall, it was a good first leg of my trip and I look forward to my next opportunity to go back.

With that, I’ll leave you with a few funny UK-customs I’ve started to get accustomed to:

1) Being asked if I want still water or sparkling (have learned to ask for tap)
2) Drinking on the sidewalks (think pub overflow)
3) When looking for “take out” ask for “take away”‘
4) Everything being terribly expensive
5) Using an Oyster Card

Eh, I’m tired. That’ll have to do for now. I’ve spent the last 3 days sightseeing with my parents who have just come off their two-week European cruise. Tomorrow I leave to Germany. More on both these counts later. In the meantime, check out my Flickr. Later!