Getting There
After 10 hours and 8 minutes (thanks Flight Aware), I touched down at Heathrow airport just outside London. American Airlines offers a flight direct from Phoenix (PHX) to London (LHR) which was pretty nice. Customs was a breeze. In fact, I didn’t even talk to a human! From the seat on my plane to standing outside the airport, the entirely process probably took twenty minutes. Not bad for an international flight!
Working in London Town
I’d like to take a quick pause to backtrack a bit. Rewind to the end of March. I had been interviewing around for a bit, received a few offers, and finally was ready to make my decision. When the recruiter asked me when I would like to start the new job, I mentioned that I’d been grinding away for two years working full time and pursuing my masters full time. I said I would need four weeks before my start date. Me, being a bit of a type-A person, didn’t want to quit work and go on some big extravagant trip without having something lined up when I returned. What happened next was surprising.
It must be that during the Great Resignation, the job market turned hot. White hot for software engineers. This meant that companies were writing offers, candidates accepting them, and then the candidates later declining after getting poached by another company. So anyways, my recruiter asked me if I would be willing to start in a couple weeks, and then when the time came for my break, I could have my PTO as promised. And that’s when my recruiter (Go Ginger Winters!) reminded me that Woven Planet’s unlimited PTO policy is very generous. I immediately said yes to that. How could you not!? Working only three weeks at the new job to then get four weeks of PTO… Crazy! I digress.
Okay, back to London. Since I had requested this time off over a month in advanced, my boss forgot I would be on vacation. Someone else was also off on vacation, so I was asked to cover. I checked our HR policy regarding working remotely in foreign countries. Turns out that working for a fully commercial company has its perks! I could work pretty much anywhere that wasn’t Russia. Totally different from the times I worked for a government contractor where I couldn’t even take my computer outside the country. I pitched the idea to my boss and he approved my request to work remote from London office.
A photo with my colleague in the London office 
114-116 Curtain road, Woven Planet’s office! 
Commuting into work on the Brompton 
Common area. Isn’t it trendy?
So I work for Woven Planet, a Japanese company. They acquired Lyft Level 5 (the self-driving division) in summer of 2021. Along with the acquisition came offices in Palo Alto, CA and London, UK. Given I’m a remote employee out of Arizona, I had never been to a Woven Planet office before. The first work office I’d be visiting would be one in another continent? Pretty sweet. I ended up working a week out of this office. What was cool is that I met one of the other IT guys in my group. The whole team and I ended up going out to lunch every day I was there. What lovely people!
Feeling like a Londoner
Given that I was technically “working” in London for the week, I unfortunately didn’t have too much time to play tourist. That said, it was approximately a 20 minute bike ride from my hostel to the office each way. (Staying in Elephant & Castle) This meant I had plenty of time to ride with the fellow cyclists and get a true feel for the city. Each morning I went for a run before work and later would take the bike and explore new parts of the city on my way to the office.
On my way to work, I learned about the “Suitys”. British love their slang. This is no different. Turns out that commuting to work through an active means is quite common in London. As a result, the suitys would jog to work with a backpack on. Upon arriving, they’d shower and then change into a suit tucked away in their backpack. And I didn’t just see one or two people doing this. There were dozens of suitys running the streets! Hah, pun intended.
Below are a few photos from my time not working in London.
It’s Tower Bridge! 
The London Eye 
Taken in one of the many parks within the city 
These look like foxtails. Someone comment what they are? 
Tulips… I think 
A little exploration before work 
Feeling right at home with all the cyclists! 
Unfortunately I didn’t get to do as many touristy things as I wanted to in London, but I did manage to familiarize myself with the city. It’s definitely some place worth coming back to! With the work now over, it was time to embark on my actual vacation! Ready to board the Euro-Star train and head to Amsterdam.