Introduction

Similarly to the past couple of years, as an Oracle ACE Pro, I’m very fortunate to be able to get a complimentary ticket to Oracle AI World (formerly Oracle CloudWorld). Again, with my employer Version 1 covering travel, accommodation and time, for which I am very grateful, I was all set to attend Oracle AI World 2025.

This year is slightly different in that, as we now have a New York City (NYC) office and I had some client engagements, I stopped off at our NYC office and met with customers. I had four days in NYC, which I have condensed into this blog for those who are interested.

The Flight to New York

Tuesday, 7th October (later than last year) and the journey begins! All packed and ready to leave Manchester for NYC and Las Vegas for OAW25 😎

Not so gruellingly long flights, as I get to stop over at NYC this time! Starting from Manchester Airport.

The first flight is a 7-hour flight to New York via Aer Lingus instead of my usual Virgin Atlantic.

Landed in New York, now for immigration, which I was a little bit worried about as I was stopping off in NYC for a few days instead of going straight to Las Vegas, but I had my ESTA and a letter from my employer, so it should be all fine. And it was, I was literally 30 seconds at the immigration booth, got my stamp, and was on my way. I guess having been so many times now to the US and left, I’m very low risk!

My stayover at New York

As NYC is 5 hours behind UK time, it wasn’t yet time for bed, so I thought I’d have a walk to Times Square and absorb the atmosphere. I’ve only been to NYC once before, back in 2011 with my wife, so I thought I’d make the most of it and go, not knowing I’d pass it so many times in the coming days!

First day at the office, but stopped off for breakfast as the hotel didn’t offer breakfast. I’m on a new healthy eating regime, so I had sourdough bread, a couple of lightly boiled eggs and tea, which I was able to get at a mall restaurant.

As my office is very close to Times Square, I will pass it every day to get to the office, going past the Nasdaq stock exchange!

Here is my office within WeWork. As we’re only a small team in the US compared to the UK and Ireland, we only have a small serviced office within WeWork, which works really well and puts us in the heart of NYC!

My desk for the next few days, can’t complain 😎

After a day’s work, I decided to go to a comedy show for the evening and managed to get tickets in Times Square.

The comedy show was at Broadway Comedy Club, which had an underground vibe and seemed to be for new comedians to start off at. There were 10 acts including the host; they were short acts lasting only 5 minutes or so. The host was pretty funny and probably one of the best. I kept getting picked on as I voluntarily chose to sit in the front row. I was the guy with the Oracle Red Bull Racing top on, and was told I was the “boring one, who just goes to the office and wears a work top to a comedy club” 😂. Overall, I don’t want to be harsh on the comedians as they are trying to make themselves, but I didn’t laugh too much, only when it was personal when picked on. One of the comedians was asking why I was taking photos; I said, “for my blog!” He said, “Oh right, are you saying all the comedians are crap?!? They are, but I can’t say that.” That did make me chuckle, and he kept coming back to me and said, “Put that in your blog” 😂. I’d give them 6 out of 10, taking into consideration the cost of the ticket and the 2-drink minimum requirement. Not bad, but there are better places, as I found out later on.

Walking back to the hotel, I noticed all the carts you see around NYC, serving up street food and mostly halal. It’s a shame I never got to try one of them.

Next day, I was visiting a client in New Jersey (NJ), the neighbouring state to New York. So I walked down to Penn Station in NYC, passing The New York Times.

Caught two trains, one in NYC and one in NJ.

Here is the client’s nice, plush office in NJ, where I met my colleague Sonia to meet the client.

On the way back to the hotel, I noticed the Microsoft NYC office.

After getting back to the hotel and getting changed, I decided to go to Broadway to see a show. I was recommended a few shows by colleagues, but they weren’t too appealing. So after having a look at what was on, I noticed Stranger Things, a Netflix series which I am into, so I decided to see this 😁

The show was overall brilliant, it was a prequel to the series. The special effects were amazing! There’s one thing seeing them on TV and knowing it’s special effects and CGI, but there’s another seeing them in real life. I still can’t understand how some of them were done, they were that good! And the main character, he was really good. My only issue was that the story was a bit light and dragged on a bit. But that could just be theatre shows. I’d give it a solid 9/10, most would probably give it 10/10, it’s that good.

Next day, back in the office, but at lunchtime I needed to go and do Friday prayers as a Muslim. There was a mosque less than 15 minutes away, so I walked over. It seemed like a warehouse where all the halal food carts are kept overnight, but it served a dual purpose, a mosque upstairs, and for Friday prayers, the warehouse floor was used as extra space. There were a good few hundred in attendance.

My son wanted a comic book from NYC. He cleverly looked up my location and found a comic store, then told me to go there. He’s only 11! These kids these days are well versed with technology, which is a good thing, I guess. I bought him 2 comic books, which will keep him happy.

After a day’s work in the office, my colleague Phil and I decided to go for a quick bite to eat at German Doner Kebab and then head over to a comedy show.

Prior to leaving the office, we were trying to find tickets. Phil had tried the places he knew were good, but they weren’t available. So after a quick Google search, I found Comedy Village, which was highly rated on Google Reviews. So we thought we’d try this one seeing as it still had tickets available.

It was well worth the gamble, as it was really good. The host, Paula Leon, was great, really engaged the audience and made us laugh. It was hard trying to get photos of all the comedians here compared to the other place, so unfortunately I managed to capture only a few. But there were 8 acts including the host. By and large, they were all good, with only one a little flat, but things picked up with the other acts. In particular, 2 or 3 had me in stitches. It was a much posher place, a high-quality establishment with good up-and-coming talent. I’d give it 9 out of 10. Well worth the money, so if you’re in NYC, give it a shot.

I even got to meet Paula and some of the comedians after the show outside and got a sneaky photo in.

Saturday was the final day in NYC, so before catching my flight to Las Vegas, I thought I’d go for a walk in Central Park. Because every other day, once back from the office, it was dark. So I got to go in the day; however, sod’s law, it was raining, but that didn’t deter me. I went to a few popular spots, including the fountain that is mistaken as the fountain in the series Friends, but actually isn’t, as the fountain in the opening credits is in California, on the back lot of the Warner Bros studio, as explained here.

The Flight to Las Vegas

Pretty eventful, as I got to the airport, checked my bag in, and went to my gate. Here is the Delta aircraft that will take me to Las Vegas.

Just before landing, I could see the Las Vegas Strip, from left to right, starting with MGM Grand in green, all the way to The Strat, the building with the tallest observation tower on the right.

Finally in Las Vegas, and as it was a connecting flight from Manchester, I was able to get an earlier flight than normal and arrive early evening rather than quite late in the evening.

My place for the week is my usual spot, the Sahara Hotel, which is at the end of the Monorail (southbound). I’ve always chosen it to keep the cost down, as the central Strip hotels are expensive. I went for my standard tier, but managed to get an upgrade to the more modern tower in the hotel than my usual room type.

Tomorrow will be exploring Las Vegas and preparing for AI World by getting my agenda finalised!

You can view my day 1 here.

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Thanks

Zed DBA (Zahid Anwar)