Business and Beyond: A Week in London

The UK trip was fun and pushed me to the limit of my comfort zone, as I'd never traveled alone outside my country before. It was full of adrenaline, with plenty of culture shock and jet lag along the way.

So it all started when Ray (CEO of Performance Leader) and Pat (CTO of Performance Leader), both really nice guys, asked me to join their annual conference in the UK for a week. As honestly as I could, I asked them directly: the only thing that could stop me from traveling the world is my Pakistani passport (one of the weakest), so if I got the visa, I'd definitely join. As polite as these guys are, they helped me with all the visa documents, and I got the visa eventually without too much extra effort, though it was a stressful time, for sure.

So I packed and told my family a week before the trip. That's just my way of telling things to my family. I wasn't feeling much. I'd only known the Performance Leader team for a few months, but I went with my gut and took the leap. The good thing was that many of my friends live in different parts of the UK. Two of them, Waqar and Tayyab (really close friends), picked me up at Gatwick Airport and drove me toward my hotel in central London, the Sun Street Hotel. It was a long ride, so thanks to them for doing that for me.

When I arrived, I checked in. None of the PL team was at the hotel yet, so I got to my room and relaxed a bit. After a while, Pat messaged me and asked if I could come down to meet. I did, and met Pat, Logan, and Paul for the first time. The very first thing we noticed was that the way of greeting is different. On my side, we do a half hug and a handshake, but they went straight for a handshake, professionally, so it got a bit awkward (glad I'm not Arab, or the cheek-to-cheek might have made it even more awkward). But we laughed it off, had a short chat, and then went to bed.

The next day, at breakfast, I met some of the UK and AU team, and later the rest. Everyone was really welcoming, and Liz and Logan especially helped me feel at home and settle in.

After that, we went to the conference room, then Ray kicked off the meeting and the agenda. It was quite a packed schedule, but fun and really helpful before launching v6 of the PL platform. Along with the meetings, we had some time to chill in the evenings. We had dinners, went bowling, and Pat was also really nice to join me in exploring London on the hop-on-hop-off bus (that was fun), along with a light lunch and a bit of shopping.

I also got the chance to do some shopping with Waqar and Tayyab for a whole day. It was a solid get-together, good to reconnect after 4 to 5 years.

And then there was the final annual dinner at The Shard. It was an amazing time.

I went back home with memories, new experiences, and a fresh perspective on other people's cultures around the world.

Here are a few snaps from the trip: