1 post tagged “new york”

Recently, I've been working my arse off getting a USD1,000,000 proposal ready for National Grid - the document being completed 5am the morning it was due. The proposal we pulled together went really well, and so we were then asked to present our ideas at a joint UK/US pitch in New York.

Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I jumped at the opportunity to join the pitch team, both because it was something I had not done before, and because it enabled me to get work to pay for a trip to the big apple. After some lengthy negotiations, I also managed to convince Korina to let me pay for her trip as her 30th birthday present (which she had when we were over in the US).

So we flew over on the Friday after work, arriving at some ungodly hour in the morning. Fuelled by copious amounts of New York coffee, we were able to arise (somewhat) refreshed on the Saturday morning, and set off for a spot of sightseeing:

 

Thankfully, as we arrived at the Empire State building on Saturday afternoon, the teeming rain started to break. By the time we had negotiated yet another lengthy cue and airport style security check, the weather was clear and we were treated to an awesome view of the New York skyline from Brooklyn to Ney Jersey. We got to the top of the Empire State around dusk, meaning that we got to see the view in both daytime and at night.

 

We had been told that the meatpacking district was "the" location to go out on the town, so after a quick rest and change back at the hotel, we then headed uptown for some dinner and drinks (thanks to my giant expense claim!). Although we were expecting the dress code to be quite formal, as it was close to Halloween, there were people in all sorts of strange getups...

 

 

 

It turns out that switch hitting espresso martinis with champagne is the perfect solution for any tiredness you may be feeling!

Luckily, the rest of the trip the weather turned out cool and clear. This meant on the Sunday we could explore some areas of New York that would have entailed getting drenched the day before:

 

I had to work the rest of the week on the National Grid pitch, but Korina was able to entertain herself shopping and doing further sightseeing. She headed home on the Tuesday night, with our pitch being on the Wednesday morning - it went really well, and we find out next week whether we were successful or not. Our team celebrated by walking back along the Brooklyn bridge.

And now that I have finally finished this post (computer crashing three times in the process), I'll now see if the bloody thing is going to save...