Austin Texas

I’ve never been to the USA! And my first trip leads me to Austin Texas.

It wasn’t really on my bucket list, but as it happened, I got a promotion at work and joined the exclusive team of SolarWinds Head Geeks.

So they invited me over, round about a month after my trip to Geneva.

I wasn’t ready for this!

I never traveled in a significantly different time zone, so the jetlag got me.
On top of that, I went from Ireland to Texas, which tripled the temperature.

I stayed in the corporate apartments just across the road from the SolarWinds headquarters. Walking distance maybe 90 seconds.
But it was so hot; I lost all my moisturizer upon arrival!

Well, this is what the office looks like:

The studio from a new angle:

Here I am, joining my new colleagues:

Another thing I wasn’t prepared for was the food.
I tried my usual heavily Italian-influenced dishes in restaurants, but to be honest, I couldn’t find proper stuff.

My bad, why not eat like the locals?

Mission “burger in new city” accomplished:

More local food:

I wasn’t sure what I am eating. Upon further inspection, it was fried and battered Mac’n’Cheese – wth!

But it was tasty, that’s the essential part.

I also had great Tex-Mex with the guys and went to Austin downtown each evening with other folks I met at random conferences in Europe in the past years.

It was nice, seeing them all together finally!

I guess I will be back. And I think I will spend more money in the Roundrock Outlet Mall.