Hello neglected blog! Big changes have been happening around here. On 12/22 I left Microsoft (crazy, I know!) and had 17 days off work! HOLY COW! 17 days without a job was the greatest thing. I was able to fully decompress, spend some time at home with my family and Fluffy cat and then head back to Seattle before starting my new job at Expedia. You’re looking at the new Legal Counsel for Hotels.com and the Expedia Affiliate Network in North America (if it sounds like a huge job, that’s because it is. Who gave me this job? I’m still in disbelief).
The first day at the new job was pretty crazy. I went to the corporate HQ for a 1/2 day orientation followed by lunch at a nice restaurant with my skip-level boss and the lawyer who does my job for the Expedia and Orbitz brands. I then went home, got my stuff together and headed to the airport to fly to London for the rest of the week.
^^Angel Building, across the street from the Expedia London office^^
I flew out of Seattle Monday evening and arrived in London around 1pm on Tuesday. After a quick pit stop at my hotel (and a 30 minute power nap) I walked to the Expedia London office. I met my bosses in person (I have a boss for the Hotels.com brand and another for the Expedia Affiliate Network – both sit in London) and met some of the London legal team. My Hotels.com/direct reporting boss and I then headed to the Jamie Oliver restaurant in the bottom of our building for a beer. After our beer I headed to the Tube, got an Oyster pass for the week and headed back toward my hotel. I was staying in Shoreditch which is a hip neighborhood in central London (think the Brooklyn of London).
When I got back to my neighborhood I walked around for a bit before heading to a pub nearby I found on Yelp.
I walked in and sat down at the bar, a few minutes later a guy with an American accent sat down next to me. We started chatting and it turns out that he also works at Expedia and was on my flight from Seattle to London 2 rows behind me, except he had a one way ticket and was moving for a promotion in the Expedia Affiliate Network – he is my client! How small world is that? I had a roast beef sandwich and fries (chips?) for dinner and we had 2 beers and chatted about work and then said goodbye because we were both jetlagged AF. It was nice to find a friend in a foreign country, though.
Wednesday and Thursday I worked long days, was super jetlagged, learned a ton, was in meetings all day, and didn’t sleep much. On Thursday night my friends (B)Art and Amy flew from Dublin to hang for the weekend. While waiting for them I took myself to Andina for dinner on recommendation of my boss’s wife, then stopped at the Old Fountain for a beer.
^^Delicious local beer on tap^^
It was sooo good to see Art and Amy for the first time in over 6 months. I met up with them for a little bit then headed back to my hotel to get some rest for my day at the office Friday. After a long day of meetings for me on Friday and a trip to Stonehenge and Bath for Art and Amy, I went out with my boss and coworker for a beer at a local pub. My boss then had to get home but my coworker invited me to meet up with some other coworkers at another pub nearby. Art and Amy met me there since it was close to their hotel and after hanging with everyone for a while (which was really fun) we headed back toward my hotel to get something to eat. After dinner we walked around Shoreditch before stumbling into this bar that claimed to be the “home of ping pong”. It was a total trip. You walked in the front door, down some stairs, down a hall and ended up in this GIANT room with black lights a DJ and about a hundred ping pong tables. The place was filled with people and we had the best time watching ping pong games, fucking with people’s ping pong games and hanging out.
The next morning I got up as early as I could, headed across the street for a rhubarb yogurt from the grocery store (best yogurt in the whole world ever) and then to Pret-a-Marge (which is where I ate breakfast and got coffee every day while I was in London, it was great) for a coffee and a chocolate croissant (so unhealthy but I was kinda hungover, and technically on vacation at that point, so whatevs). I took it back to my hotel to finish getting ready and wait for Art and Amy. We met up and hopped on the tube (and then transferred like 5 times) to get to a place a beer rep in Seattle recommended to me called Ye Old Cheshire Cheese. There has been a pub in it’s location since 1538 and it was really freaking cool. There were a ton of caves in the basement of the pub and little, secluded corners to enjoy a beer in. We ended up staying for 2 beers and a shared order of fish and chips that was really delicious.
We decided that we wanted to walk around and sigh see and also eat more fish and chips and drink more beers throughout the day. Ideal London day in my opinion. So glad Art, Amy and I are always on the same page! From the pub we walked down to the River Thames and along it until we hit the London Bridge.
^^Window selfie along the River Thames^^
After we walked across the London Bridge we walked into a coffee shop to warm up for a minute and to get directions to the Borough Market. We wandered around the market for a while which was really cool and ended up getting some venison sausage, cheese (holy crap, the dairy there, you guys it was mind blowinggg) and fresh bread to eat as a picnic. I also stopped at a tea shop to pick up some tea for my dad. We ate our picnic at The Cider House (outside) while enjoying some traditional English cider. Afterward we made a quick stop at the gin shop next door so I could get some gin to bring home and then we headed into a nearby pub to warm up because we were FREEZING. Once warm we hopped on the tube and took it down to the London Eye which we had planned on riding, however, it wasn’t open when we got there (womp womp). Unsure of what to do next we grabbed beers at a street vendor and walked back and forth across the river with them, walked by Big Ben, bought some v touristy souvenirs at a stand by the river and ducked into another pub Art and Amy had been to previously for some dinner.
After that we hopped on the tube and headed back to Shoreditch to bop around some more. We quickly learned there that every chill place was closing early and every “cool” place you had to wait in a line for 30 min to get into (eye roll). We eventually found a bar without a line, went in, I made BFFs with someone who had the exact same taste in music as, sang along to Ignition Remix, and then Art, Amy and I left for the next spot. At this point it was after midnight and we’d been casually drinking all day, so when we stumbled upon a strip club we went in, I got scolded for OW OWWWing the strippers, we gave them all of our money, we drank beers, and then we left in search of drunk food. We found fried chicken near my hotel and took it back to my room to eat it at 3am. At that point we were all understandably exhausted and Art and Amy headed back to their hotel. I slept for about 4 hours before I had to wake up and go to the airport.
The flight home was a million hours long, I tried to get some sleep, I worked a little, I ate the airplane food and when I finally got home I ordered delivery food from the Uber, slept for 12+ hours and didn’t feel jetlagged anymore.
I’ve been back for two weeks now and I’m trying to figure out my job. It feels crazy to have this new job, but I am trying really hard to get up to speed and hopefully it will happen soon.
So there’s my update. Thanks for staying with me through my silence, friends. Cheers!
