Just a little over a month since jetting off to Porto for WCEU 2022, I was off traveling again on a work trip, this time to Athens, Greece, with my team.

As we work remotely the rest of the year, being able to meetup in real life with colleagues and have time to get to know them individually is valuable, and allows us to get to know the personality behind the Slack avatar or Zoom box.

A week in Athens was just enough, we had 3 full days of work and 2 sightseeing days to get to know Athens, not quite enough time to get to see the Greek island of Santorini, but perhaps that will be a future family holiday to look forward to!

I am not a big eater when I am away from home, but the Greek food is good, amazing fresh salads, wraps, olive pate and meat cut to perfection! The Stanley Hotel where we stayed had an amazing roof top restaurant, with a pool and breathtaking views of Athens and the Acropolis. It was our favorite down time hangout spot to break up the work day, and for after work cocktails and trivia night!

Work days during team meetups are filled with learning, sharing knowledge, team building and lots of laughter. Each day my goal was to learn something new about my job and learn something new about my colleagues. In the 3 and a half years I’ve been at Automattic, this was only my second team meetup, the first one being in Gdańsk, Poland, the team had been split while I was away on maternity leave and new members had joined, but it still offered the same friendly atmosphere helping me to feel comfortable begin away from home.

The main sightseeing to be done in Athens is the Acropolis, everyone says get there earlier, and yes, they mean it. We arrived as a group of 7, at around 11am, just as 5 cruise ships were heading up the hill. There we long queues and the place was packed… but it was worth it! It’s an amazing historical place, beautiful views and the sun burn was worth it.

Travel for me since Covid comes with some anxiety, maybe it’s due to getting older, mummy guilt for leaving the two little ones at home, or just a general OMG people moments. However, I do appreciate the chance to travel to new places with my job and team meetups will remain to be a highlight of the year, no matter where we travel!