Flying Boats, Champagne Wishes, and Caviar Dreams

When the America’s Cup traveled to San Francisco in 2013, it sought to connect the storied contest with the commoner. The water’s edge, filled with tourists as always, were amazed at the flying boats. But it proved to be a lose-lose for the partners.

The City failed to receive the promised return, and the America’s Cup Event Authority struggled to operate within the expensive and politically complicated climate.

The Event has found a new partner in Bermuda which has invested heavily in the event, and their future. The island territory is hoping the America’s Cup is the catalyst to fire up its lagging economic engine, with tourism being the much sought after high octane fuel.

Given the allure and glamorous history of the America’s Cup, what with Louis Vuitton and Moët & Chandon as prominent sponsors, it is fitting that Bermuda has been deemed the world’s most expensive country to live in by MoveHub, a company dedicated to helping people move abroad.

MoveHub based its assessment on a range of costs, such as the price of groceries, transport, bills, restaurants and how much renting somewhere to live is. These figures are then compiled into an index, using the notoriously expensive city of New York as a benchmark.

New York was given an index score of 100, and countries were then ranked based on this. So a country with a score higher than 100 is more expensive than New York, while below signals that it is cheaper.

As a reference point, the average score for the United Kingdom was 51.03, making it the 29th most expensive country in which to live. Not sure if this is good or bad given the strong challenge that is poised by Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR team.

Get your American Express Centurion Card ready… here are the top five:

5. Singapore — 76.57: According to the blog Singapore Life News, the average cost of a pint of beer in the city-state is over ten dollars.

4. Iceland — 80.47: Cut off from the rest of Europe and with very little fertile ground, Iceland is forced to import much of its food, pushing up costs.

3. Hong Kong — 81.93: Hong Kong is notoriously expensive, and with space at a premium in the incredibly crowded city, apartments are usually both tiny and pricey.

2. Switzerland — 90.68: Switzerland frequently tops lists of the best places on earth to live thanks to great infrastructure, healthcare and a clean environment. However, all this comes at a price and it is the most expensive place in Europe to live.

1. Bermuda — 126.34: The Atlantic Ocean tax haven of Bermuda is officially the most expensive nation on earth, with the country’s capital Hamilton also the most expensive individual city on the planet.

Bring on those flying boats, champagne wishes, and caviar dreams.

Source: The Independent