Today we made our first visit to Silicon Valley, visiting Laura again, this time at her workplace, as chief of staff to the chief executive officer of eBay.

Ergo, an ex-collegian is the brains behind the most powerful man in one of the most powerful companies on the internet.

We began in the conference room, stretching out on $600 dollar a piece ergonomic chairs, thinking about the more effervescent joys of capitalism, as well as hearing all about the economic growth phenomenon that is eBay. In little over a decade, the company has grown from a man (Pierre Omniyada) typing through the shadows of his study to a multi-billion dollar marketplace with traffic so urgent that they sell on average a Ford mustang every 26 seconds.

We then got a tour of the new building from Bob, possibly the only man in America to perfect, or even understand the subtle art of sarcasm.

The new eBay building is in fact the most environmentally sustainable in Silicon Valley, with a lot of its power generated by state of the art fuel cells and rooftops swathed with solar panels.

Everything about the building’s design is angled toward saving energy – from the shape to the position in terms of the setting sun – and the floors named after elements (sun, earth, air) to the conference rooms called ''carbon footprint'' and ''emissions'' make sure of a constant requiem for both employees and visitors that global warming is a real issue that we face, and one that, taking eBay’s example, we should fight with a vehement tenacity.

We then drove to the airport where Laura was waiting for us again, although this time when she talked her voice was killed by the roar of engines of the company private jet.

She was to fly to Minnesota that afternoon, and we were lucky enough to get a tour of the company jet, which needless to say was mind-blowing.

Upon leaving we were all transfixed on the future in a sort of ''possibility trance'': what if, what if, what if.