Thursday 2-28-13
I got up around 4:30 am again. I’m getting tired of this early waking up. I spent the time packing up my gear because today after work I head to the airport to fly to Chennai where I’ll visit with the remaining PMs that I work with. I manage to get everything squeezed in thanks to the realization that I can have two bags checked!
Since I still have plenty of time, I checked out and spent a long morning out on the porch eating breakfast and reading. The sales manager for the Taj stopped by to chat and gave me his card. I think this means I have just become the main point of contact from IBM with the TAJ West End. lol.
After breakfast, my ride showed up early and we talked about the timing of how I can get back to the airport. My flight is at 5:40, we have to be ready to board 1 hour before that, I have to get through security before that, and we have a LONG drive (because we never get more than 35-40 KPH (about 20-25 mph). So he recommends leaving at 1:30 pm…that leaves me 3 hours or so in the office!
I was actually pretty emotional about leaving the office, everybody walked out to the car with me and even though Meenak, Vamsi and Soukarya will be coming to Chennai next week, it was very sad for me to leave. I very much enjoyed my time with everyone there. Many thanks for all the hospitality from Meenak, Vamsi, Soukarya, Dhaval, Rashma, Arun, and Velu. I hope to get to know the other PMs better if I have a chance to return.
The airport was not too crowded…it reminded me of Midway airport in Chicago, except for the birds flying around trying to eat my food! I decided to have a Italian dish…some pasta in tomato sauce, just to make sure I didn’t have any issues on the flight. The flight was only an hour and they served a snack of cheese tomato sandwiches and some very good banana / vanilla flavored cake. We were landing before most people were done eating!
Here’s the airport:
I had no trouble with baggage claim, mine were the first two on the carousel! I walked out and my driver was towards the end of the line. As I was warned, Chennai is very humid. It was another long drive to my hotel. After staying at the Taj West End, I had changed my hotel to a Taj hotel in Chennai (the Taj Club House). I was originally going to be at the Trident, which is closer to the office, but Bruce, Neeraja, Meenak and pretty much everyone else said that hotel was not as nice as the Taj or some of the other higher end hotels. Strangely, it was actually cheaper than the Trident.
The Taj Club House, is very nice. It doesn’t have the beautiful grounds like the West End in Bangalore, it’s more like the Westin in Indianapolis. Service is the specialty for this hotel. There is a pool on the roof with a view of the city, and this morning just before breakfast, I got this picture:
More to come tomorrow (about today). :)