Traveling to Whistler

This week is the annual Grand Meetup, where all of Automattic comes together for a big, fun, exhausting week of building stronger bonds with each other. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since the last one.

As a company of almost 500 (there’s 467 of us here this week), we outgrew the resort we stayed at in Park City, Utah the past two years. We’re in Whistler, BC, Canada. It’s my first time on the west coast of Canada and the views are beautiful.

My flights went smoothly and landed ahead of schedule. During our descent into Vancouver our pilot made the announcement about weather conditions, local time, etc. He even apologized for landing 15 minutes early and chuckled to himself.

After flying into Vancouver airport it was time to find a big crowd of colleagues to wait for the bus. Then we all piled onto a tour bus and settled in for the 2-hour drive up the coast to our hotels in Whistler Village. About halfway we had a chance to pull over at a rest stop to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The scenic drive was really breathtaking.

Once we arrived and checked in it was time for food and relaxation after a long day of travel. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces at the welcome party. It was also overwhelming. Arrival day is always a reunion of sorts, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the week and meeting some new people (and there’s plenty I haven’t met yet).