Ireland Trip

It had been good 4 days since I arrived in Ireland. It's a very very very cold place. I thought Seattle in USA was very cold in the whole civilized world. But, Ireland beats it by a huge margin.

The Irish people are really good right from taxi drivers (or what you call cabbies in USA) to engineers at Cypress Semiconductor. First time, when I went to USA, I had tough time getting a taxi to go back to my hotel from Office. First of all, the admin assistant at the reception says "Oh! Is it my duty to book a cab?". What the f$#@? I had to literally plead her to get one, as I didn't know how to book it. Neither were the engineers there at Cypress, Lynnwood especially helpful.

When I came to Cork, Ireland, I was invited with a Mercedes Benz taxi waiting with my name as placard. Wow!!! It's a good feeling. I came to the hotel. Though the hotel people had little difficulty with my accent and my name, they lived through it and gave me a room.

Here, I have to tell you about my hotel. The hotel's name is Clarion Hotel at Lapp's Quay, Cork. It's the 2nd best hotel in the whole of Cork. Excellent hotel, good food and marvelous treatment. You feel as if you are the only guest they care about. This is something which you miss totally in USA.

Next, comes the people whom I work with. The first day when I went to Seattle, nobody even knew me. I didn't know whom I supposed to talk to. I didn't know where I should be seated. But, ultimately a manager showed me around.

Here in Ireland, a day before I started from Hyderabad, the guy with whom I was supposed to work with mailed me asking if there is anything what he could do. I understood then, that this was the guy with whom I should work for the rest of my trip at Ireland. He immediately showed me the cafeteria, rest rooms. The other guys with whom I have worked with previously talked to me very nicely and treated me properly. When I wanted a taxi back to my hotel in the evening, one guy has given me a number which is Cypress account and therefore I need not pay for it and they would know where to pick me up from.

When I called the taxi company and ordered a taxi, they talked very politely and arranged a taxi within 2 minutes, which was amazing. Today, I booked my rental car for this saturday so that I can see some places around Cork. I am leaving back on Sunday morning. I am too lazy to go around places every evening. But, I would compensate them this Saturday.

Especially Brendan O' Regan, David Keating, Stephanie O' Leary were very helpful. Not to forget Kieran Kelly who is the Design Center Manager here.