Until quite recently the area known as Silicon Valley was largely agricultural land. These days it is home to a vast quantity of silicon. Much of this silicon is inside computers and thus the area has more than its fair share of 'High Tech' companies.

At the heart of Silicon Valley is San Jose. Given its status as the 11th largest city in the USA you'd think that there'd be plenty to do here. You would be amazed to discover just how wide of the mark your assumption was. It would almost be worth visiting the place simply to be staggered at how few venues there are in which to 'have a good time', whatever your idea of a 'good time' is, unless it is to drive around, work or hang out in what is essentially an over-grown business park. One favourite comment regarding San Jose was from Mark Phillipousis who was asked, on winning the Sybase Open in San Jose, what he was going to do to celebrate. His reply was something along the lines of, 'I don't know, what is there to do in San Jose? The place is a bit dead isn't it?'

Perhaps I'm being a little unfair in suggesting that Silicon Valley is all bad. It is well situated for making trips to parts of the country that are a little more deserving of attention. An hour's drive to the north will take you to San Francisco. A few hours to the east will take you to Yosemite, for whatever it is people do in Yosemite; or Tahoe, for skiing. To the south there's Monterey, where you can sample some of their world famous Monterey Bay Calamari (what do you mean you've never heard of it?) or play golf at the nearby Pebble Beach. To the west there's an incredible amount of water - really there's an awful lot of the stuff there - right next to some of the most stunning coastline you're ever likely to see.

If, despite best efforts to persuade you otherwise, you do decide to pay a visit to the area, you could do far better than to use the curiously named San Jose International Airport. Why, you may be wondering, is that a curious name? Well, the airport is 'international' in the sense that from it you can only fly to somewhere else within America. Aside from this obvious flaw in the name, the place is also insanely busy due to the vast number of people desperate to leave.