I just returned from a lovely and bittersweet trip to Warsaw. This has been a long time coming.

I used to travel somewhat frequently, but that peaked in 2015, the year I visited something like 20 countries. At the end of that year, I stopped working for a year and a half while I prepared first for potentially applying to grad school and then for a job search. During that time, I abstained from traveling and nightlife so I could focus on whatever was next.

Then I joined Fitbit in November 2017, which started an intense couple of years while I learned about the company and how to be an effective site reliability engineer. There were a couple travel opportunities in those years, but for all but one, my distributed team came to San Francisco, so I didn’t travel. One time I went to Boston in June 2019. That was a nice trip, though I was the only one traveling and it was only a partial team get together. The first big full team gathering was supposed to happen in March 2020 in Bucharest. I also planned to stay in Taiwan afterward. But as the Covid pandemic started ramping up, the business part of that trip ended up getting canceled. I still went to Taiwan for 15 days, staying basically until the point it seemed I may not be able to get back due to all the borders and flights closing.

The next team gathering wouldn’t be till years later, after I had switched teams, in August 2022. But that unfortunately conflicted with the whims of the megacorporation that had acquired Fitbit, and the trip was canceled the Friday of the weekend my teammates were flying into San Francisco. That was pretty demoralizing for everyone, but supposedly times were getting tough. Profits were record breaking and cash piles massive, but we still had to cancel the nearly in progress gathering.

The year 2023 quickly became pretty terrible. My team, and in fact almost the entire organization under my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss, was notified January 20 that we were among the 12,000 employees Google decided to lay off. Only, while most of those folks would receive pay for the next 60-90 days and then receive severance, most Fitbitters were put on what the company called a “delayed transition” due to the anticipated difficulty for the business if we were laid off immediately. This meant we had staggered dates in the future until which we would remain normal employees. At the end, if we behaved ourselves, we would also get severance, though without that 60-90 day paid “notice period” where we wouldn’t need to work. This was portrayed as an enviable position compared to those laid off immediately. We were then told about 2 weeks after the layoffs that the plan would be to effectively offshore all of our roles. Fitbit needed people to manage the legacy infrastructure for the years until the migration to Google’s internal stack was complete, but the executives demanded layoffs. So rehiring the same roles but in cheaper countries became the plan.

My layoff date was initially October 27, but sometime in March one teammate’s and my dates were extended to December 29. And as of now, a request has been made to extend that again to February 23, 2024, but I don’t yet know the outcome. This is because my team uniquely has no existing European counterpart to whom we could start transitioning, so an entire team needed to be hired. It took much of the year to attempt and fail to hire full time employees for the job, then to switch to a strategy of hiring contractors, take bids, and finally start interviewing folks in August. We were told some of us would go to Warsaw to train the new folks; initially the business wanted one or two travelers, but my manager insisted on three. Travel was scheduled for late August. And as that date approached and it was clear no contractor would yet be able to start, we rescheduled the trip for a month later. And as mid September approached, we still weren’t sure if anyone would be ready to be trained. But we refused to reschedule again, and in the end we were able to meet with three contractors in Warsaw. The trip also served as a somewhat of a much delayed team meeting for Chris, Jarod and me. It’s too bad it wasn’t our full team, but it’s the best we are going to get before we are all laid off.

I’m glad we got to go, even though the mood was mixed going in. Jarod had never traveled internationally before and was really bummed the team gathering got canceled last year. Chris was not excited about the concept of going to train our replacements. I was more or less accepting of the situation, already looking forward very much to the end of my time here. It’s been a long ride over the last 6 years, with the migration to Google Cloud from Softlayer, the almost two years of limbo pending the merger, and then the 2 years of frustration running into the realities at Google and how, despite being fueled by mergers, it is really, really bad at them.

Friday, September 15, Oakland, California

I started packing Thursday evening. Gathering what I need doesn’t take that long, but settling on which bags to take is the hard part, especially since I’ve lost track of where everything is or even what bags I have. But it worked out, and I ended up with my Osprey Porter 46 bag as a somewhat large carry on, and my messenger bag from Japan as my personal item. The messenger bag is falling apart, so I left the shoulder strap at home, but the handles are big enough to put over my shoulder anyway.

Friday I woke in time to catch the 09:00 90 bus near my house to the Coliseum BART station. I made it to SFO’s Gate D6 by 11:19, 70 minutes before departure. I bought a $17 sandwich at The Plant organic cafe, but it was just OK, and just before purchase was totally unnecessarily placed in a very thick plastic container. My Alaska Airlines flight to Los Angeles was delayed around 30 minutes due to the inbound flight being late. The flight itself was quick but was my first “first class” experience. There was no meal service on account of the short 50 minute flight, but I was served snacks and drinks on a fancy dangling drink holder. I arrived at LAX around 14:07 at Gate 64B.

Then I headed to the gate where I expected to find my teammate Chris. Tempted by what were clearly better sandwiches along the way, I bought another $17 sandwich, this time from Homeboy Cafe and Bakery. I confirmed with the cashier it would not come in a giant plastic box first. Then I met Chris at Gate 134. We chatted a bit and worked on the presentations for the training that would start Monday. Before takeoff, I also bought a bottle of kombucha that the lady initially didn’t want to sell me because she said their refrigerator wasn’t working. I convinced her to let me buy it by pointing out kombucha is a fermented drink, anyway.

The flight to Warsaw was interesting. It was my first time in business class, and with fully reclining seats. The atmosphere was certainly different than in economy. Instead of being told you can’t have items outside your bags in the bin or the seat in front, it kind of seemed like people could do whatever they wanted. The meals were also pretty good, and filling. I definitely didn’t need both of those sandwiches I had bought earlier!

Saturday, September 16, Warsaw

We arrived at Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) around 12:35 and proceeded through to the baggage collection to wait for Jarod. My Google Fi service ended up just working with no issue. Jarod was planning to use an eSIM with some service called Orange, but couldn’t get it to work. Chris paid a $10 surcharge to use international data on his AT&T plan. I think Jarod went with that eventually, too.

Then we exited the airport and looked for a bus that Google Maps said we could easily take to get to our hotels. We found the bus stop, but were not able to get tickets in time for the bus. I did get to the front of the line at the bilety (ticket) machine, but the screen had some issue where it responded extremely slowly to taps. We ended up just getting on the bus without a ticket, hoping we could pay on the bus. But it was packed, and there was no way we could get back to the ticket machine on the bus. We arrived at the hotel before the bus emptied out enough for us to try paying. Once we found their NYX Hotel at 14:39, I walked to mine, Platinum Residence, arriving at 14:57.

Later we met to have dinner at Street Restaurant & Club (al. Jana Pawła II 19). I got pierogies from the entrees section of the menu that said all dishes come with a side and salad. The waitress even took my order for a side of potatoes. But the meal ended up not coming with the sides, and upon my asking, I was told the pierogies just don’t come with anything. I pointed out the menu was wrong, and the waitress just said sorry. I asked them kindly to fix the menu. I hoped she would actually bring the sides then, but alas, nothing. The meal was still good, but I wondered if this is what service is like. I also got to looking up tipping customs, thinking tipping wasn’t a thing in Europe. But I found apparently in Poland a tip of 5 to 10 percent or more can be normal at a restaurant. Since we didn’t have cash and didn’t get the option to tip via credit card, we didn’t end up tipping for this meal anyway.

First meal in Poland, with Jarod and Chris at Street Restaurant & Club

Sunday, September 17

Sunday we met at NYX and walked to a breakfast place Jarod had suggested, Waffle Bar. I intended to try a waffle, but accidentally ordered something that was actually a bagel. It was still good, but I was tempted to also order a damn waffle like everyone else!

I ordered some kind of bagel at Waffle Bar. Jarod and Chris ordered actual waffles.

Streets of Warsaw

The entrance to a Warsaw Metro station

Then we walked to a World War II museum called Warsaw Uprising. It had a fair number of artifacts behind thick plexiglass, and many video or interactive type exhibits. We didn’t spend enough time to read through all the content, but we were there for a couple of hours, and it was intense. I either didn’t learn or had forgotten the war basically started in Poland. And all the photos of death camps were quite heavy. The weapons and equipment were fascinating. I was surprised Chris apparently has an extensive knowledge of guns and weapon history.

A Liberator B-24 airplane, an American heavy bomber, at the Warsaw Uprising Museum

Warsaw Uprising Museum

Streets of Warsaw

After that, we walked around and ended up at a prominent and older looking tower called the Palace of Culture and Science. We found that you could go up to the 30th floor and have a look around, for a fee of about $7. Jarod and I were laughing at the seeming placeholder of “Floor XXX” on the website, but then when we saw it was actually labeled that way, Chris broke it to us that it was just roman numerals. Duh.

Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw

Warsaw views from the Palace of Culture and Science 30th floor

Warsaw views from the Palace of Culture and Science 30th floor

It was funny to see kids these days apparently write their Instagram handles instead of their initials (at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw)

Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Then we got dinner at a place called SŁOIK. I had dumplings and shared a dessert with a two-short-words name I didn’t recognize. On the way back we stopped at a Żabka, sort of like their 7-Eleven, to look for a nail clipper for Chris and soap or water for Jarod. I got tea I think; they only had regular black tea, no green.

Dinner with Chris and Jarod at SŁOIK

Dinner with Chris and Jarod at SŁOIK

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

It was cool to see escalators with visible mechanics at this shopping center in Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Monday, September 18

Monday morning we met at the Google office at a building called The Warsaw Hub, which is actually twin 31 floor towers. The office is super nice, with a fancy open air patio area on the roof.

31st floor of the Google office at The Warsaw Hub

We met the local team manager Nikita and went to work near his desk for an hour before the three contractors were due to arrive by train from Krakow. Once we were all together, we went to a conference room and the training commenced. The first day was mostly introductory material covering everything we owned and the pieces of tech at a high level. It went pretty well overall.

The Google office at The Warsaw Hub

Then the seven of us went for a team dinner at Browar Warszawski Restauracja & Bar. I ended up eating a ton. In addition to a soup called zurek and a whole bunch of appetizers Nikita ordered, I got a fish dish, sea bream. Some of the appetizers were interesting, including something called “pig fats” that was kind of like prosciutto. There was some discussion at the end about whether take out containers were common in Poland, and then I ended up getting one small one to cram whatever I could. The others laughed about my taking home the fish I didn’t finish, and there were stories shared about people getting banned from cooking fish in communal food areas at work.

Streets of Warsaw near the entrance to Browar Warszawski Restauracja

Biggest meal in long time but delicious, at Browar Warszawski Restauracja & Bar. I started with Żurek, pig fats, then sea bream.

Biggest meal in long time but delicious, at Browar Warszawski Restauracja & Bar. I started with Żurek, pig fats, then sea bream.

Tuesday, September 19

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. Jarod presented about our metrics stack for the entire workday, and we got lunch and dinner at the office. Folks were pretty surprised how complex our entire stack is and were very tired by the end of the day.

Wednesday, September 20

Wednesday was my turn to present for the entire day. I covered our logging stack, including deep dives into our Terraform modules and configuration. Everyone was again exhausted by the end.

One of my meals at the Google office at The Warsaw Hub

For dinner, the contracting company Grid Dynamics organized a light snacks and drinks at a restaurant called El Greco. It turned into a proper dinner once two teams and various managers arrived. The night was pretty good and I got to meet a bunch of people at Fitbit.

Dinner with Grid Dynamics and Fitbitters at El Greco

We had dinner with Grid Dynamics folks and the contractors for multiple teams at El Greco.

Streets of Warsaw

Thursday, September 21

Thursday was dedicated to all the other miscellaneous services our team owns, and was mostly presented by Chris and remotely by Jonathan.

The Google office at The Warsaw Hub

Warsaw views from the Google office at The Warsaw Hub

One of my meals at the Google office at The Warsaw Hub

Since the local guys were leaving Friday late afternoon, this was our last chance for a team dinner to wrap up the week. Nikita was unable to make it, but he suggested we take the guys to a traditional Polish place called Stary Dom. Nikita said we wouldn’t need a reservation, so the six of us gathered at the corner after brief stops at our hotels, around 18:00. I managed to use the local transit app to buy train tickets for everyone, and we found the place successfully. Upon walking in, it was packed, and the hostess seemed skeptical when we said we didn’t have a reservation. But magically she checked and found a table, the only one available I think, and led us in without a wait. I checked with Nikita if he actually did make us a reservation, but he denied it. I’m not so sure. The meal was delicious, and the waiter seemed pleased with the 20 percent tip.

Thursday we took our new team out for dinner at Stary Dom, a traditional Polish place.

Thursday we took our new team out for dinner at Stary Dom, a traditional Polish place. They serve bread not just with butter but also with a pork fat mixture, and with pickles!

Thursday we took our new team out for dinner at Stary Dom, a traditional Polish place. I had a venison dish because it seemed exotic, and I wanted to compare to my memories as a child. But after this I need to focus on being vegetarian!

Thursday we took our new team out for dinner at Stary Dom, a traditional Polish place.

After dinner, we all decided to walk back, which took about an hour and a half. It was an enjoyable walk, and there were some silly things such as a dead end we encountered after walking around a large building for several minutes.

Streets of Warsaw

Friday, September 22

Friday was our last day to cover operational things such as how we have been doing oncall, managing incidents, tracking work and some review. We ended a little bit early in the afternoon, as we could not have gone on any longer without folks collapsing anyway.

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

For dinner, Jarod and Chris and I took another of Nikita’s suggestions and dined at Rusiko, a Georgian restaurant. Nikita did indeed make a reservation there for us for 19:00, though after he started talking I realized I could have done it myself since it was done in English!

So, we walked there, ordered much of what Nikita said was good, and it was:

• Lobio: a red bean soup with Georgian spices
• Badridżani: eggplants with walnut paste, coriander and pomegranate
• Adżaruli: Khachapuri from the Adjara region, with a sunny-side up egg on top
• Georgian salad: traditional Georgian tomato and cucumber salad with fresh herbs, sheep milk cheese and sunflower oil or walnuts
• Khinkali: traditional Georgian meat dumplings from the Pshavi region with stock inside
• Bekeka: lamb shashlik
• Davit’s shrimps: jumbo shrimps in magic sauce
• Ikhvi’s Mtsvadi: Szechuan peppered duck breast on skewers.
• Millefeuille: puff pastry pillow with creamy filling

Per Nikita's suggestion, Jarod, Chris and I dined Friday night at a Georgian restaurant called Rusiko. It was delicious!

Per Nikita's suggestion, Jarod, Chris and I dined Friday night at a Georgian restaurant called Rusiko. It was delicious! This is Adżaruli Khachapuri from the Adjara region, with a sunny-side up egg on top.

Per Nikita's suggestion, Jarod, Chris and I dined Friday night at a Georgian restaurant called Rusiko. It was delicious!

Per Nikita's suggestion, Jarod, Chris and I dined Friday night at a Georgian restaurant called Rusiko (rusiko.pl). It was delicious! This is Chris's millefeuille puff pastry.

Streets of Warsaw

Saturday, September 23

Being the first day with nothing I specifically needed to do, Saturday I slept in a fair bit, aided by the blackout curtains in my hotel room. Once I woke, I started getting prepared to go for a run. It was rainy, so I waited to see if that would subside. I started a small load of laundry as well to wash some underwear and T-shirts.

Doing laundry at Platinum Residence in Warsaw

At Platinum Residence in Warsaw

Meanwhile I tried to get my running pack together and see if I could comfortably carry my new used smaller Nikon, the Z7ii. I experimented with two Peak Design straps, a wrist strap and a standard strap called the Leash. I opted to go with the regular strap connected to the tripod adapter and one side. It worked out OK, but was not particularly comfortable. By the end of the run I had put the camera in my bag, which was also not very comfortable. But I’m glad I brought it to get some pictures.

Streets of Warsaw

Saturday it rained a bit before and during my run. The snails here are pretty cool!

Streets of Warsaw

I made a stop at one of the two cemeteries I passed, Cmentarz Wojskowy (Powązki Wojskowe). It seemed to house many soldiers from the last world war, as well as many people who died recently. I didn’t translate all the signs, but it was interesting to see some QR codes scattered around.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

I detoured through a cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy, Powązki Wojskowe) along my run in Warsaw Saturday.

Then I passed through a couple parks winding my way back. One was a hilltop with a broad down slope (Kopiec Moczydlowski) that seems to be used for relaxing in the summer or maybe snow activities in winter.

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Was waiting for the rain to stop but just decided to go, a little awkward running with my camera and eventually put it in my pack. Stopped in a cemetery and walked around, so... that's why the pace is lacking. :-) Ran in the Merrell shoes because I didn't want to slip too much

Once I got back from the run, I cooked the leftovers I had frozen from dinner Monday. It turned out pretty decent!

Saturday evening I cooked the frozen leftovers from my fish dinner Monday night.

Then Saturday night I went out with my friend from Brussels. We went to a gay bar called Instytut.bar first, and then checked out a local sauna called Heaven. Both places, even the bar, required you to ring a video doorbell at an unmarked door and be buzzed in. It was a pretty interesting experience. The bar was not too packed, with about two dozen people at first. I had a couple whiskey cokes, and my friend mostly had beers. Then we got another drink at the sauna before trying the heat. I was a bit disappointed to find they did not have pools, hot or cold. I had hoped to dip into cold water between sessions in the sauna, but alas.

Saturday night I met a friend to check out a local gay bar, Instytut.bar, and then a sauna, Heaven.

Sunday, September 24

Sunday I decided not to run again but rather to walk, and I went toward a park where there was going to be a free Chopin concert at 16.00, performed by Karol Radziwonowicz. According to [the website](https://www.lazienki-krolewskie.pl/en/wydarzenia/koncert-chopinowski:

The Chopin Concerts, which in collaboration with the Royal Łazienki have been organised by the Stołeczna Estrada cultural institution and the Fryderyk Chopin Society, are one of the oldest music events in the capital city and its cultural landmark.

Warsaw from my 17th floor hotel room at Platinum Residence Tower B in Warsaw

Warsaw from my 17th floor hotel room at Platinum Residence Tower B in Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

I heard from a friend there would be a free Chopin concert at the big park, so I ventured over there Sunday. It turned out to be the last such concert of the summer, so it was good timing. Koncerty Chopinowskie w Łazienkach Królewskich.

After the concert ended at about 17:00, I wandered back via a different route and again passed through a few parks.

Palace on the Isle (Pałac na Wyspie), dating from the 18th century

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

I got home a bit after dark, and decided to have a quick meal from the convenience store Zabka. I got two meals but ate one, and then had a protein bar and four snack bars from work. Whoops.

Sunday walk

Monday, September 25

Monday I went for a 12.5mi run along Vistula river. I decided to go light and not bring the Nikon this time and make due with my Pixel phone. Before I left, I heated the second meal from Zabka, some spaghetti and sauce.

Running along the River Vistula in Warsaw

Running along the River Vistula in Warsaw

Running along the River Vistula in Warsaw

Running along the River Vistula in Warsaw

While out on a run along the River Vistula, I came upon something called Park Linowy (The Rope Park). I had to look it up later, the website is parklinowywarszawa.pl and apparently you are supposed to pay up to 60 Zloty depending on the height.

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Streets of Warsaw

Monday run along Vistula River

After the run, I washed up and walked over to the office around 19:15 and got my last dinner there. I didn’t see any colleagues I knew, or many people at all. I guess people leave earlier Mondays, if they come at all.

The Google office at The Warsaw Hub

I did a little prepacking when I got home and slept around 01:00.

Tuesday, September 26

Well, all that’s left is the journey home now. I rose at 09:00 and washed up. My bags packed down about the same, despite having a lot more snacks to bring home, as well as a brick from the street.

All packed up and ready to leave Platinum Residence hotel

I checked out of hotel at 10:15, walked about 15 minutes to the 175 bus stop, paid by app and went to airport. The bus was very hot, and I was sweating almost immediately, so I stood outside for 10 minutes upon arrival to try to dry off before going in.

The cumulative GPS tracklogs from my walks and runs in Warsaw this week, as shown on my CityStrides Lifemap.

The trip home was pretty smooth. I first had a very small flight to Munich where I was the only person in the first row.

Lufthansa flight 1613 from Warsaw (WAW) to Munich (MUC)

Lufthansa flight 1613 from Warsaw (WAW) to Munich (MUC)

Lufthansa flight 1613 from Warsaw (WAW) to Munich (MUC)

Then I got to experience another carrier’s business class, Lufthansa, and the attendants were very attentive and even spent significant time getting to know each passenger at the start of the flight.

Lufthansa flight 458 from Munich (MUC) to San Francisco (SFO)

California mountains from Lufthansa flight 458 from Munich (MUC) to San Francisco (SFO)

California mountains from Lufthansa flight 458 from Munich (MUC) to San Francisco (SFO)

There was talk from Nikita several times about how we’ll “need to come back”. I doubt that will happen, but I’d be open to it. There’s only a couple of months left before I get laid off, though, so we’ll see.

And that’s about it!