India

A little over a year ago Garmin bought an Italian company called Navionics.  They make marine maps like we do and were one of our biggest competitors.  We have been working for the last year to merge the best of both companies.  About three weeks ago, I found out that I was going to Hyderabad, India to visit the Navionics office where their maps are produced.  Getting to know the people there and learn how their production works will be key to our future efforts in Olathe.

I was to travel with my boss, who has been there once before, and we were meeting up with some others from Olathe and Italy when we got there. We left on January 26th (right after the Pinewood Derby) and got home last night, February 3rd at about midnight.  The trip itself was a huge success and quite eye-opening for me.  But the journey was GRUELING!  It was about 32 hours of travel...each way! 

Our route went from KC to Chicago to London to Hyderabad.  It was snowing in Chicago, but our flight left more or less on time.  The flight to London was ok, and we arrived at Heathrow around lunchtime on Sunday.

The flight from London to Hyderabad was about 10hrs long.  We arrived at 5AM on Monday morning and made it to the hotel around 7:30AM.  We were supposed to head to the office in the afternoon, so we had breakfast and got a few hours of sleep before lunch.

This was the view from my room.  It was winter, but temps were in the upper 70's and 80's all week.  We didn't get to spend much time outside but it felt nice when we did.  The haze was present most of the time.  The air quality in Hyderabad is pretty bad.  It always seemed dusty or smokey.

The view from the balcony at the office shows how much construction is going on.  Hyderabad is the IT/Technology capital of India.  The growth happening there is astonishing.  Wherever you go the horizon is littered with big building under construction.  It seemed like every company you have ever heard of has an office in Hyderabad.  Subsequently, Hyderabad is economically much better off than other parts of India.

We spent M-F in the office working through our agenda.  We met with our Italian friends, toured the cartography department, and formed plans for the future.  We ate lunch in the office every day.  They had Italian food catered in...  On Saturday the plan was to do some exploring in the morning and then attend the yearly office party.  But, we ended up working Saturday morning so I didn't get to do any sightseeing.  Maybe next time?

The traffic was pretty insane.  I thought Taiwan was nuts, but this was even crazier.  Cars, bikes, and pedestrians everywhere.  People pulling out from all angles and motorcycles everywhere.  They also drive on the left side of the road.

One of my favorite bands!

Friday night traffic

Hard to tell but there were 4 people on that motorcycle.  I saw that a few times.

From KC to Hyderabad!  

We spent Saturday morning in the office.  Our VP of Engineering was in town for a tour and the India team gave presentations of what we had been learning about all week.

The party was kind of a big deal.  There was apparently going to be a lot of dancing and team in India had been practicing all week.  In hindsight, I am honored to have been there.  Everyone we worked with and met was extremely nice.  The whole office seemed like one big family and that was only reinforced as the night unfolded (you'll see).  

They had a big setup outside on the lawn at the convention center.  When it started to get dark we headed inside. 

That is Paolo on the left.  He is one of the Italians.  He works closely with the team in India and has been there many times.

Lots of colors!

This is Mike Weigers, our VP of Engineering.  He came to town to tour the office, but he also plays in a band, and they were performing at the party.  I don't have any pictures, but we were ALL treated like celebrities.  All night folks were coming up to us asking to take selfies or get their pictures with us.  I guess that is what it feels like to be famous?  :)

Here's the band getting started.  The rest of us were welcomed as "various dignitaries from Garmin."  That was pretty neat.  I've never been a "dignitary" before.

Party Time!

Gopal, the head of the development team, spoke about the accomplishments for the year...

...and I snuck my own selfie with Mike and Ed, who are both VP's. :)

The theme of the party was "Bollywood" and the idea is that the managers (or their kids) are the entertainment.  Lots of Indian music and dance performances.  It was VERY loud with a great light show.  They went all out.

This little guy was dancing his feet off.

The band came back for halftime and kids flooded the stage to take selfies with them while they were playing.

The entertainment was great!

There's Gopal!

By the end of the night, there were a ton of people dancing on stage.  The party was quite the shindig, and like I said before, I was honored to have been a part of it.  They have a great team with great families.  

After the party we went out for dinner and then back to the hotel.  It was late and we had to leave at 4AM for the airport.  The flights back went fine, but it was again quite grueling.  We left early Sunday morning, traveled for 32hrs, and got back late Sunday night.  I slept some and watched a bunch of movies.  We missed the Superbowl, but as it turns out, we didn't miss much.  I may go back to India again at some point and I think I am going to Italy sometime in the next few months.

But, before all that, we are taking a family vacation to the Florida Keys next week.  We leave on February 14th and will spend 5 days in the Keys and Miami area.  Should be fun!

See ya,

Ryan