On my second week in London I flew to Mountain View office. After 2 days in Dublin, one full day of house hunting, lots of new information, next Monday at 11 AM I was already leaving office and manoeuvring with my über-suitcase in a crowded Paddington Station. I took Heathrow Express (and if you are coming to Heathrow and have extra 30 pounds, I strongly advise booking a roundtrip from-to airport by Heathrow Express), sent a couple of e-mails from the train (yes, that is the beauty of it, aside from air conditioning and 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes trip to the airport), and in 15 minutes was manoeuvring further along the kilometers of tunnels and walkways of Heathrow.
I haven't flown for 15 years and was slightly afraid of a 10-hour flight and security procedures, but I was pleasantly surprised by the result. After a week of tiring days, I finally had 10 hours with my phone off, sitting in a pretty comfortable seat with a personal touchscreen display with dozens of movies, audiobooks and music channels.
The seat, although the cheapest economy, when reclined, also shifted a bit forward, making sitting just a tiny bit more comfortable. The headrest had "ears" that you could bend to avoid falling onto your neighbour while you sleep. I made a smart move and bought a travel pillow in advance, so with it, a pillow and a blanket provided onboard, I was comfortable.
I love traveling after a busy day or week. In this case seating for 10 hours, being fed 2-3 times, able to sleep for up to 10 hours, with an option to watch movies or listen to the music - that's a luxury I usually cannot afford at home.
The best thing about US (California specifically) is the weather. Of course, had I stayed longer or had I lived in US, I would have been upset by draught and losing electricity from time to time and many more things, but for a 4-day-hotel-business-trip CA looked and felt beautiful.
Since Silicon Valley towns have no public transport, I took a taxi to the office every morning.
No issues with it except Indian English. Every day drivers were different and every day they were Indians. And every day it took me 10 minutes to understand what he was trying to tell me. Even my favourite "I am a foreigner, could you please speak very slow" didn't help here. Because "slow" didn't make it any more understandable. They just replaced letters and vowels at their convenience and it was a wild guess game and a brain workout to understand what they said.
Another nice feature I discovered is a "square" - a small device plugged into the taxi driver's smart phone, reading credit cards. I was amazed. He swiped my card through this - literally - white square, it debited my card, I signed a deal on the screen and entered my e-mail address for the receipt. I was sure my card would be wiped out by the end of the day. Not at all. New technologies. Colleagues at the office shrugged and said it was a usual way of paying these days.
The office itself was nice. Very californian. I would have a hard time working outside: too cosy, nice and warm. But I imagine you get used to it.
The flight from US was as pleasant as the flight to US. The tip for avoiding a jet lag is to choose takeoff and landing times in the middle of the day and make yourself tired before you board. Then you can sleep on the plane (but not too much!), and when you land you still have enough time to get tired again before the night, but not too much to fall asleep too early.
I haven't flown for 15 years and was slightly afraid of a 10-hour flight and security procedures, but I was pleasantly surprised by the result. After a week of tiring days, I finally had 10 hours with my phone off, sitting in a pretty comfortable seat with a personal touchscreen display with dozens of movies, audiobooks and music channels.
The seat, although the cheapest economy, when reclined, also shifted a bit forward, making sitting just a tiny bit more comfortable. The headrest had "ears" that you could bend to avoid falling onto your neighbour while you sleep. I made a smart move and bought a travel pillow in advance, so with it, a pillow and a blanket provided onboard, I was comfortable.
I love traveling after a busy day or week. In this case seating for 10 hours, being fed 2-3 times, able to sleep for up to 10 hours, with an option to watch movies or listen to the music - that's a luxury I usually cannot afford at home.
The best thing about US (California specifically) is the weather. Of course, had I stayed longer or had I lived in US, I would have been upset by draught and losing electricity from time to time and many more things, but for a 4-day-hotel-business-trip CA looked and felt beautiful.
Since Silicon Valley towns have no public transport, I took a taxi to the office every morning.
No issues with it except Indian English. Every day drivers were different and every day they were Indians. And every day it took me 10 minutes to understand what he was trying to tell me. Even my favourite "I am a foreigner, could you please speak very slow" didn't help here. Because "slow" didn't make it any more understandable. They just replaced letters and vowels at their convenience and it was a wild guess game and a brain workout to understand what they said.
Another nice feature I discovered is a "square" - a small device plugged into the taxi driver's smart phone, reading credit cards. I was amazed. He swiped my card through this - literally - white square, it debited my card, I signed a deal on the screen and entered my e-mail address for the receipt. I was sure my card would be wiped out by the end of the day. Not at all. New technologies. Colleagues at the office shrugged and said it was a usual way of paying these days.
The office itself was nice. Very californian. I would have a hard time working outside: too cosy, nice and warm. But I imagine you get used to it.
The flight from US was as pleasant as the flight to US. The tip for avoiding a jet lag is to choose takeoff and landing times in the middle of the day and make yourself tired before you board. Then you can sleep on the plane (but not too much!), and when you land you still have enough time to get tired again before the night, but not too much to fall asleep too early.
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