London - The Inside Man premiere

Here we are, day 2 in London. The jetlag is wicked this time. Not being able to sleep on the plan on the way over really made the jet lag horrible this round. 

Today I didn't have anything special on the list. Tonight is The Inside Man premier, the reason I'm in London. That means I have all day to find something to do.

My first stop was to meet up with a colleague whom I've worked with but have never met. She's an Enterprise Customer Success Manager in the UK. We've worked on many projects together and it was a blast to meet her. 

As we sat and drank coffee we discovered we're both photographers and we both scrapbook! It's rare I run into a colleague that scrapbooks. It was a ton of fun to chat with her about scrapping and taking photos around London. She gave me a lot of ideas for shots, but none of them was I able to get to. 

After coffee with D, I headed off to Trafalgar Square. I remember seeing Trafalgar Square in 2007 when I visited London and remember thinking then that it'd be fun to wander around the square. It was very close to where I was staying so off I went. 

According to the Interwebs, the square is named to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar. I had to dig deep to remember what the battle of Trafalgar was about. The battle was during the Napoleonic Wars and was one of the largest British victories off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. 

The square has 4 corners to it and on each corner there's some statue. 3 of them are permanent and the 4th changes on a regular basis. The 4th plinth (that's what they call it) is called Antelope by Samson Kambalu. The bronze statue sculpture is of a preacher who was killed anti-colonialist uprising in Malawi. I am sure there's some type of symbolism here that I'm missing, but that's ok. I did really appreciate the sculpture though.

The middle of the square has a column dedicated to Horatio Nelson, a vice-admiral in the Battle of Trafalgar. Around that column are 4 lions. These were what I really wanted to see. Large cats! 

The four lions at the base of the Nelson column represent the heroism of Lord Nelson. I'm not really sure why I love finding large lion statues, but I do. We find them everywhere too and now I'm starting to think I should make this a "thing". 

Once I was done walking around the square, I decided that I needed food. I hadn't really eaten much the day before and I think the time zone messed up my appetite. I found this little deli down a small road off the square. I glanced at the menu and KNEW I was eating there. They had bacon sandwiches. MMM. Alison introduced me to bacon sandwiches (with brown sauce) in 2007 and I swear I've dreamt about them.

The jet lag was catching up to me and I figured I'd go back to the hotel and take a nap before the premier. I was slowing getting more and more anxious about the premier and I needed to just chill out. 

See, I have this anxiety about attending gatherings where I don't know anyone. I don't feel like I'm good with small talk and these situations always require small talk. You add having to speak to customers to that and you get a serious anxiety attack headed your way. 

The premier is a big deal at KnowBe4. The Inside Man series is a big deal at KB4. This is the 5th season and boy or boy is it getting good. You can see the trailers of the other seasons to get an idea of what the series is about. Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4 and now Season 5. The Twist & Shout team has really outdone themselves for Season 5. 

Now, I was a huge skeptic when I came onboard to KB4. I thought, "Really? A mini series on security training. Give me a break." Turns out, I was wrong. They did such a good job with the writing and you learn and don't even know that you learn things. 

I binged Season 4 right before I left so I was ready to see Season 5. I also wanted to meet some of the actors. I wasn't really sure I'd get a chance to, but since I was hosting a customer I was in the VIP section and I knew the actors would show up there. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I got to the premier early and wanted to meet a few other colleagues. I also feel like getting to gatherings early puts me in a position of "belonging" there and it's easier to talk to people who are coming to me instead of me coming to them. I know, it's crazy. 

So, I have my customers I'm hosting and we head to the VIP lounge. I chatted with them a bit and was chatting with a few other customer success managers there when suddenly I see the main character Mark heading right towards us. He and another main character, Fiona, stopped right in our group and started chatting. Fiona eventually moved off but Mark hung out with us and chatted for a good 15 minutes. His first comment to me was he was "amazed" that I flew all the way from Seattle. He asked about the time difference, the length of the flight and whether I was on UK time yet. He said he's seen photos of Seattle and thinks it'd be nice to visit. Of course, I told him I'd be happy to show him around. Ahem. 

Mark and Fiona selfie.
I probably should have learned their real names.

The other thing I he said that really made me smile. He said he was really learning a lot about security. When he took this role he had no idea about security and what that means, but after 5 seasons he now knows to not pick up any random USB and put it in his computer. I love that the cast is learning security stuff.

After I chatted with him, I was on the look out for my new favorite character Violet. She's Mark's sister in the series and gets introduced to us in season 3 I think. Anyhow, she's a spitfire and a bit of a rebel and for some reason I love her character. I barged my way into the circle she was in and asked for a quick selfie with her. 

My new favorite character Violet

Then it was off to the theater to watch season 5. I got to sit in the VIP section too and there was popcorn and candy at each seat! 

Season 5 was amazing. It really was done so very well and the storyline is getting more and more interesting. There's a death in Season 5 and I found myself crying over this darn show. 

Once the show was over, I just left. I didn't want to hang out and do any more talking or go to any "after" parties. Not that I was invited or there were going to be any after parties. But I was sure if I ran into KB4 people I'd be asked to go and I was really tired. 

Besides I needed to get sleep because I was meeting up with Alison tomorrow and we were going to do the Hop on Hop off bus. And I needed to be awake and alert to enjoy the bus trip.