My first post from outside my motherland India; also long time since my last post. Well, here I am - back in business. Those working in Indian IT companies very well know what Onsite is; I had dreamt of it many a time when I was in offshore working for a foreign client from India. Onsite is working directly from the client location - so higher salary, global exposure and better client visibility (my preference in the same order). Major leap in career too they say.
I have been looking for an Onsite opportunity for close to 2 years and became desperate at a point. My desperation came to an end last month when I got my UK visa. I was asked to start last week. Got my tickets with Dubai being the transit point. This was my first air travel - was very excited and nervous at the same time. My parents, sister and my eldest niece had come to airport to see me off. After bidding them bye, I went through Immigration and Security Check. Earlier I had got my boarding passes after luggage check-in where I was also given a tag that can be tied to a baggage. I thought it was for their Flight advertisement and so I kept it in my pocket. After a long wait, the plane arrived. We were informed that there would be a delay of 15 minutes due to some reason, only God knows what that lady said in speaker. When boarding started, security told me that my hand-luggage did not have security clearance and it cannot go through. Only then I realised that the tag that was given initially must be tied to the baggage so that they can apply a seal after security check - damn, I went back in a hurry and had it done.
As soon as I got in the flight, I was greeted by the flight crew and was also told my seat location. I sat next to a guy who was also in a flight for the first time. I tied my seat belt when asked to (its certainly not rocket science as they speculate in movies and commercials). I was a little scared about the take-off but it was rather fun. The airlines I took was Emirates and the ambience was very good. As it was a morning flight, we were given breakfast which was unsurprisingly nice. The flight landed in Dubai. Got to tell you, it was a BIIIG airport. I must have walked at least a kilometer to reach the designated gate for my next flight; I had to go through a tighter security check on the way. All done well, I was in the flight and this time the journey was a longer one of 5 hours whereas earlier one was 3 hours. This one also being Emirates, the experience was good again. We were given the Menu for lunch and I was planning to have Chicken; but my bad - I was served Asian Veg which they said was pre-ordered. I thought my company might have done it, but I am still not sure about it. Leaving that and the frequent turbulence due to bad weather aside, the trip to UK was peaceful.
I reached UK and went through UK Immigration which went fine. My colleague had booked a taxi for me and thankfully the guy was already there, waiting for me with my name on a paper. It was a 2 hour drive to my destination and the local time was 9:30 PM when I got here. The same colleague had arranged for a temporary accommodation; I owe him big time. It was a good trip and a great experience altogether. I had planned to say further more but just the travel part took so much space. Let me end this post now and share my further experiences in forthcoming posts.
