TLDR – Rode the scooter to Oracle to take a tour.
To get out of the house, preview the new commute and meet new people I went for a scooter ride to Oracles campus north of the river in the Docklands at the East Point Business Park. I was not sure what to expect. I knew the park was a bunch of different business and that Oracle has a presence here, but the group I’m joining was small, maybe 20-30 people.
Turns out Oracle has a 6 building campus with over 2000 employees. Some of the buildings are recently redone in the same style as Microsoft with natural woods and automated fixtures and swanky cafeterias. The building my group is currently in older and about to be redone. Before I start or shortly afterward the group will move to a new building while the one we’re in now is refurbished.
Getting there
By car, the map says it’s 35 minutes drive, by transit it’s about an hour 10 minutes with a 1 to 1.7km walk depending on what you take for the last bit. I opted for none of those routes and made up my own. I took the LUAS to Charlemont station and scootered along the canal into the docklands over the Samuel Beckett bridge around The Point, down east wall road, over another bridge to the business park.
Touring around the place
GPS told me I was not at Oracle yet but I saw a sign on a building and figure this must be the place. Walked into the lobby with scooter in hand and asked to see my new manager. The gal was not sure how to help me. Lucky for me someone was entering the lobby from inside the building as I arrived. He overheard who I was asking for and introduced himself as my manager.
We walked by four more Oracle buildings and entered a freshly remodeled building with a recently reopened cafeteria super similar to Microsoft’s cafe where had a coffee and chatted a bit. After coffee we took a tour of the office space, I met a bunch of people I’ll work with then it was time to leave them to work and head home.
Getting home
Getting home I took a different route down Talbots street toward the spire and the LUAS. At Marlborough station, I saw the LUAS towards bridges glen departing. The next one was not for another 15 minutes. Thinking I’m fast on the scooter and the LAUS is slow I figured I can catch this train.; Off I went. Missed it at the next stop due to stop lights. Taped it as it went by at Trinity. At Stephens green, I had to wait for 2 minutes for the LUAS to catch up to me.
From there it was the normal ride home off at Glen Carin and down the hill home. Look about an hour and 5 to get home. Much longer commute than a 15-minute jog. I think it will only be about 45-minute bike ride along the water once I get a bike and can start riding into work.