Sheila Livingston, a new colleague at b5media, posted the 10 things she misses about Silicon Valley. I, too, love the Silicon Valley but I also love the Bay Area as a whole. Perfect time to reminisce about my trip back last month!

  1. Family and Friends - My side of the family and most of my closest friends are in the U.S. Almost everyone is closer to California than to London.
  2. The sunshine - London weather is incredibly moody; sunshine one minute, cloudy the next, then massive downpour. I don’t particularly mind but it sure makes planning outings difficult.
  3. Convenient shopping - Malls, Walmart, Target,…. Oh, I’ve said it all before.
  4. The prices - Everything in the U.S. feels like half price or cheaper now that I live in London. Moaned about this already too.
  5. Cars - Yes, those gas guzzling monsters are evil but they make for a cushy ride. Back to buses, subway trains, and my own two feet now.
  6. The feeling of power - The San Francisco Bay Area is a hopping place. The Silicon Valley is even more so. I can feel the energy of brain cells zipping around when I’m there. Love it!
  7. The restaurants - My favorite restaurant this time back was Tomatina - fresh and tasty.
  8. Oriental grocery stores - Woohoo! Milpitas Square is the place to be. We stocked up on Chinese bakery goods, soursop juice, and Korean seaweed.
  9. The wide roads and freeways - London roadways are already narrow but with cars parked willy nilly, you have barely enough room to squeeze through. If another car comes down from the opposite direction, somebody’s got to give and back-up. We’ve stared down a few already. Nervewracking.
  10. Being part of a community - Culturally and socially, I feel much more comfortable in the Bay Area. I spent my formative years there (5th grade through college) and identify with the general ethos of the place. It’s where I thought I’d spend the rest of my life after four years in Baltimore. I guess I’ll have to settle with trying to maintain a Bay Area state of mind.