For our 10th annual editors’ choice awards, we picked 43 transformative properties—and vetted each one with a hotel stay.

Our search took us from Anguilla to Australia, from India to Italy.

In Florida, we followed the cool crowd to the Miami Beach Edition, the latest scene-maker in Mid-Beach. The party begins in the lobby, with its all-white billiards table, and overflows into a nightclub, a bowling alley, a Jean-Georges restaurant, even a skating rink.

In Portugal, the arrival of Sublime Comporta opens up a stretch of coastline that’s been a longtime getaway for Lisbon’s smartest families. The husband-and-wife owners make guests feel like instant insiders, pointing out the best beaches and arranging scenic horseback rides.

These remarkable newcomers are a reminder that a great hotel can be a destination unto itself. They provide not just a place to rest your head but also an entire rationale to get on a plane and explore someplace new.

Click here to see the best new hotels »

Hotel Pricing Key
$ Less than $200
$$ $200 to $350
$$$ $350 to $500
$$$$ $500 to $1,000
$$$$$ More than $1,000

Edited by Jennifer Flowers, Nikki Ekstein, and Kate Appleton.

Written by Richard Alleman, Tom Austin, Inbal Baum, Mary Bemis, Jeffries Blackerby, Jane H. Broughton, Stephen Duncan, Nikki Ekstein, Amy Farley, Jennifer Flowers, Peter J. Frank, Jacqueline C. Gifford, Katie James, Brooke Porter Katz, Sam Knight, Justin Lancy, Julie Earle Levine, Annemarie Luck, Nathan Lump, Shane Mitchell, Cynthia Rosenfeld, Adrian Sandiford, Daniel Scheffler, Andrew Sessa, Michael Snyder, Joshua David Stein, Laura Teusink, Rima Suqi, and Valerie Waterhouse.

Read more on Travel + Leisure:

• It List: The Best New Hotels 
• World's Coolest New Tourist Attractions 2015 
• Best Places to Travel in 2015
• World's Most Romantic Hotels
• Europe's Best Winter Getaways

Style Setter: Waldorf Astoria, Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s most sumptuous hotel is a newcomer disguised as a grande dame, tucked into six 17th- and 18th-century patrician houses on posh Herengracht canal.

A hand-​carved, Louis XIV–style staircase in the lobby sets a regal tone, but the 93 rooms take a more understated approach, with sleek marble fireplaces and subtle touches of the city’s famous Delft blue. Nods to tradition aside, these are no old-fashioned accommodations: the Vault Bar draws a fashionable crowd each night for what might be the city’s best martini. 

waldorfastoria.com. $$$

Far-Flung Fantasy: Cape Weligama, Sri Lanka

Five years since the end of a decades-long civil war, Sri Lanka is gaining its footing as a leisure destination, and luxury hotels are arriving to meet the demand.

The most resplendent among them is Cape Weligama, a cluster of 40 terra-cotta-roofed bungalows, each with its own frangipani-filled private garden, on a secluded stretch of southern coastline. From here, immersive trips to scenic tea plantations, Buddhist ruins, and rain forest leopard habitats are all within easy reach, and the 16th-century fortified city of Galle is just 16 miles away.

capeweligama.com. $$$$

Design Star: El Blok, Vieques, Puerto Rico

The term design hotel gets tossed around indiscriminately these days, so it’s refreshing when a property truly merits the distinction. Such is the case at El Blok, the Caribbean’s most stylish new lodgings, on the quiet Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

The materials—colorful cement tiles, rubber-and-concrete lamps from Dutch designer Renate Vos, a 25-foot single piece of almond wood that forms the bar—show off the gorgeous imperfection of the handmade, while perforated concrete louvers shield guest rooms from the afternoon sun and create Matisse-like shadows on the floors. Downstairs, the curves and ovals of the reception area intuitively lead guests to the bar, which faces the beach across the street and flows into the lively open-air restaurant, headed by Jose Enrique, Puerto Rico’s star chef.

 elblok.com. $$

There are 25 people who sit on the European Central Bank's governing council. The big players, like ECB President Mario Draghi and Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, are well-known. But there are dozens of other council members whose views have a huge impact on the central bank's decisions. 

We've judged each member's importance on a scale of 1-5 (based on things such as the size of the country they represent and whether they sit on the executive board) and presented them in order from the most hawkish to the most dovish. ITC Markets and Credit Suisse produced similar rankings in the past.

Doves are typically members who often want more monetary easing from the central bank. They're usually the first in favour of interest rate cuts and more positive about the beneficial potential of quantitative easing (QE), which means buying up government bonds to try and boost the economy.

Hawks are the opposite. They're more sceptical of QE and typically favour higher interest rates and often express concerns about financial instability caused by easy money. These are the policymakers who typically focus on supply-side remedies to make economies more competitive, and are more critical of the impact of loose monetary policy.

HAWK: Jens Weidmann — Bundesbank

Importance: 5/5

This will hardly surprise anyone who watches the ECB. Weidmann is Europe's most hawkish prominent monetary policy maker. 

Here are some of his recent comments:

On the ECB's QE: "I regard this decision with scepticism"

On QE again:

I thought that there was no urgent need for this measure - not least because government bond purchases are not a monetary policy instrument like our policy rates, for instance.

Central banks are not magicians. And they have no wand to make all our wishes come true. In particular, it is fanciful to believe that monetary policy tools can sustainably lift the growth potential of an economy or permanently create new jobs. These goals can only be achieved through structural reforms.

As the representative of Europe's largest economy, Weidmann has an over-sized impact, and he's among the most influential members of the governing council.

HAWK: Yves Mersch — ECB Executive Board

Importance: 4/5

In 2013, Mersch expressed "considerable uncertainty" over negative deposit rates (which were eventually brought in) and added that "a low-interest-rate environment may in principle spur an underpricing of certain risks, support the emergence of asset price bubbles, or provide incentives to delay certain adjustments in bank balance sheets with the risk of zombie-banking."

He was very negative about QE back in 2013, and hadn't much changed his views by the end of 2014. According to CNBC, in November here's what he said:

"Easing of monetary policy cannot work effectively when the European economy is structurally not in good shape," Mersch said in a speech at an annual banking conference in Frankfurt.

"I would feel a lot better if those politically responsible clearly committed to lowering the risk for the ECB," he said, referring to commitments for lower sovereign debt, closer fiscal and economic integration and structural reforms.

Even though he's on the executive board, Mersch is quite a forthright hawk.

HAWK: Klaas Knot — Netherlands Bank

Importance: 4/5

Klaas Knot is a monetary economist, he's worked at the IMF and the Dutch finance ministry, and he's definitely on the very hawkish end of the ECB spectrum. 

Knot said he would only support QE if national central banks took their own risk, which is seen by some economists as something that weakens the scheme. 

He said there wasn't much more the ECB could do (in 2011!) and raised fears that loose monetary policy would create financial bubbles as recently as October.

He's not as vocal or powerful as Weidmann, but no doubt: He's a solid hawk. 

This week, Britain’s Kennel Club released a press statement that the Pembroke Welsh Corgi — the internet's favorite dog— is “at risk of disappearing from our parks and streets.”

The breed was official listed as “vulnerable” after only 274 Corgis were registered with the Kennel Club in 2014, a 16% drop from the previous year. To get on the list, breed registrations must dip below 300 registrations with the association.

Everyone collectively freaked out.

This is not the first time the Corgi has been considered threatened. In 2013, the Kennel Club also put Corgis on its “vulnerable native breeds” list. Back then, only 241 Pembroke Welsh Corgis were registered in 2012.

The Kennel Club blamed the breeds’ association with the elderly on its decline in popularity, particularly their most famous fan Queen Elizabeth, who has owned more than 30 corgis throughout her reign. 

Ironically, a recent Sunday Express article reported that the Queen will not be getting any new corgis since she fears tripping over them.

But while it does not look good for the Pembroke Welsh Corgi's popularity in England, rest assured that the opposite is true here in the US.

“Unlike the UK, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi continues to be very popular in the United States,” Hillary Prim, the Public Relations Director for the American Kennel Club, told Business Insider. “Its happy, agreeable nature and adaptability have perhaps played a role in the breed staying consistent at the 24th most popular spot in the US over the past decade (plus or minus a spot or two from time to time).”

The American Kennel Club told us that over 5,000 corgis were registered in the US in 2013 (2014 figures are not yet available), which does not even take into account Corgi mixed-breeds or dogs not voluntarily registered with the organization.

“The UK cited breed misconceptions as a factor in the breed’s decline, and this is conceivable,” Prim told us. “To the naked eye, the Corgi’s short legs and sturdy body may lead you to think he is a low-energy couch potato. In fact, Corgis are happy, energetic, active dogs that make great pets for a diverse range of owners, particularly those who can keep him moving.”

Long live the Corgi.

SEE ALSO: Here are the 4 new breeds of dogs

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's Life on Facebook!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's Proof That Humans Are Much Lazier Than Dogs

We first saw the Lexus RC F at the 2014 New York Auto Show. 

Now you can buy one.

Along with design cues borrowed from the Lexus LFA supercar (which "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson called "senbleedingsational") the new RC F coupe possessed a ton of power, and even decent fuel economy. 

It's got two doors and four seats, but all the fun is reserved for the driver, who gets to control a newly designed 5.0-liter V8 engine with rear-wheel drive.

Between the RC F and the RC350 — which debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2013 and was the star of its own commercial during the 2015 Super Bowl — Lexus expects to sell 1,400 cars each month.

[An earlier version of this post was written by Alex Davies.]

Under the hood is an all-new 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 engine. It pumps out 450 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque.

It's the first Lexus engine to combine two technologies, the Atkinson and Otto cycles, to reap the advantages of each.

Atkinson gives better fuel economy at cruising speeds; Otto delivers improved performance at higher rpm.

Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year, which means there is even more pressure to find that perfect date night spot. 

To help you find a place that will impress your date, our friends at The Infatuation put together a list of the best date night spots in Chicago.

Whether you’re craving authentic Neapolitan pizza or incredible hand-crafted cocktails, these are 10 of the best places to eat on Valentine’s. 

Try the chocolate espresso torte cake at Davanti Enoteca.

1359 West Taylor Street

Davanti Enoteca may be a chain (with 5 locations) but certainly doesn’t feel like one. The small Italian restaurant has a casual but romantic atmosphere, and great menu options for date nights.  

The special Valentine’s Day tasting menu has a chocolate espresso cake and comes with a bottle of Prosecco. 

Order amazing ‘garden-to-glass’ cocktails at Homestead on the Roof.

Homestead on the Roof, located above Roots Pizza in the Ukrainian Village, is a farm-to-table restaurant that serves fresh seasonal ingredients in its American-style dinner menu.

The restaurant is best to visit when the weather is nice since they have an amazing outdoor patio that has an organic garden, but the indoor heated seating is also quite cozy. 

Known for its amazing ‘garden-to-glass’ cocktails and friendly wait staff, Homestead will not disappoint on a date night. 

Have a cozy dinner date at Brendan Sodikoff’s Cocello.

354 W. Hubbard St. 

Celebrated restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff’s latest venture, named Cocello, is a ‘boutique Italian’ spot that is a perfect place to “see and be seen.” The restaurant is “the kind of place a modern day Rat Pack would hang,” writes The Infatuation's Sam Faye.

The spot is dimly lit with dark wood, crystal chandeliers, brick walls, and big brown leather booths — which makes it a perfect spot for cozying up to your Valentine’s date. 

Lidia Bersani is known for her lavish luxury designs. But this one is really out to sea.

She's taken her talents for gold, filigree, and meticulous soft edges to the boating world, and has created the La Belle luxury yacht. She's calling it the world's first yacht designed for women, and there's plenty of evidence to back up her claim.

Gone are the "macho" hallmarks of yachting like pool tables and beer kegs. In their place is a spa and beauty room.

Bersani told The Daily Mail she doesn't yet have a price for the concept, but "it will be not cheap."

Read more about the La Belle at Bersani's website.

Most yachts aren't created with with a woman's wants in mind, but the La Belle isn't most yachts.

Designer Lidia Bersani told Business Insider, "that the lifestyle of a businesswoman who wants to enjoy a pampered and feminine environment is not yet catered for in the often macho designed megayachts of this world." With its gold and ivory exterior detailing, there's no mistaking that this superyacht has a more feminine touch to it.

That doesn't mean it falls short on luxury however. If built, the yacht will feature a spa room, a snow room, a jacuzzi, library, and even a theatre. "No pool table or beer kegs," says Bersani.

In a northern section of Hong Kong there once stood one of the most densely populated places on earth.

From the 1950s until 1994, over 33,000 people lived and worked in Kowloon Walled City, a massive complex of 300 interconnected buildings that took up a city block.

Caught between China and the British-run Hong Kong government, the city was essentially lawless, equally known for its opium dens and organized crime as its dentists' offices. 

Photographer Greg Girard spent years investigating and documenting the strange place before it was demolished. Girard collaborated with Ian Lambot, another photographer, on a book about Kowloon, titled "City of Darkness Revisited," available here.

Girard has shared a number of photos from the project here, and you can check out the rest at the book's website.

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, an area in northern Hong Kong. What began as a Chinese military fort evolved into a squatters' village comprising a mass of 300 interconnected high-rise buildings.

The city began as a low-rise squatter village during the early 20th century. After World War II, Hong Kong experienced a massive influx of Chinese immigrants. This led to a lack of housing in the city. In response, entrepreneurs and those with "squatter's rights" in Kowloon built high rise buildings on the space to capitalize on the housing demand.

At its peak, more than 33,000 people lived in the 6.4-acre city. It was considered by many to be the most densely populated place on earth.

The Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG is one of the most powerful, rugged, and luxurious off-roaders to ever hit the market.

For the vast majority of the G-Wagon's clients, the battle-tested Benz is way more truck than they will ever need. However, for certain customers, there's a need for extra layers of protection. That's where the armored-vehicle specialists at Inkas Group come into play.

For a cool million bucks, the Toronto-based firm will gladly build a customized, armored limousine that will make even the most paranoid despot feel secure.

The "standard" Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG is insane. It's a 5,600-pound, military-grade off-roader that can reach 60 mph in 5.3 seconds.

Mercedes has even built a monstrous 6X6 version. But if you require a bit more heavy metal ...

... Inkas, the maker of this Huron armored personnel carrier, can help you out.

Salary potential shouldn't be the sole thing that attracts you to a major in college; things like passion, interest, and aptitude should also be considered. But it's still nice to know which degrees pay off the fastest.  

Payscale, the creator of the world's largest compensation database, recently looked at the starting pay for millions of professionals and sorted the results by college major.

1. Petroleum Engineering

Median starting pay: $102,300

Median mid-career pay: $176,300

% change from starting to mid-career: +72%

2. Chemical Engineering

Median starting pay: $69,600

Median mid-career pay: $116,700

% change from starting to mid-career: +68%

3. Computer Engineering

Median starting pay: $67,300

Median mid-career pay: $108,600

% change from starting to mid-career: +61%

Perhaps no debate in the US has been as heated in the past decade as the one over control of the US-Mexico border. At the center of the argument are cities like Brownsville, Texas, which is so close to nearby Mexican cities that local residents can see them from their backyards.

Unlike many other towns in Texas, Brownsville and Mexico are divided by a natural border — the Rio Grande. While many might think that this would make building a border fence simpler, it has had the opposite effect.

A decades-old treaty with Mexico prohibits building in the Rio Grande floodplain, forcing the US government to build its border fence more than a mile north of the river, effectively cutting into thousands of acres of property owned by Americans.

A house in front of the border fence at the US-Mexico border in Brownsville:

Depending on where you live, you could end up on  the "Mexican" side of the border, even though you are still in the US. Many Texans had their property split in half by the fence or, worse, seized by the government.

Crystal Ibarra, 23, lives in a house facing the border fence, which she can see from her backyard.

Even with the border fence, the divide between Mexico and the US can be hazy. Here is a sign in Spanish on the US side of the border in Brownsville.

The border fence is 18 feet high and made of steel and concrete; it cost American taxpayers $6.5 million per mile. In the Rio Grande Valley there are 54 miles of border fence broken up into 18 sections.

Here's what the fence looks like up close:

The border fence is anything but seamless. There are mile-long gaps in the fence, which the government says it plans to close with 15-foot gates, with keypads and codes for each landowner. 

The border fence has been criticized as an ineffective deterrent that jeopardizes the health of not only those seeking illegal entry but also entire animal habitats. The border fence prevents numerous species from reaching watering holes and following migration patterns.

Proponents say it funnels would-be illegal immigrants toward the few openings in the fence, like this entry point at the border crossing in Brownsville.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'Dog Whisperer' Cesar Millan Reveals How He Made It In America After Jumping The Border

There are too many apps in the App Store to notice when each one goes on sale.

Luckily we've collected the best iPhone apps on sale at this very moment so you don't have to. From charming puzzle games like Blek to apps designed to keep your iPhone from getting lost, you're bound to find a good deal on something new.

Just remember these deals could end at any time, so act quick!

Fall asleep to the sound of a peaceful beach with Sunny.

Sunny is a sleep aid app featuring six beach scenes with peaceful sounds recorded in stereoscopic 3D for your headphones. The 3D audio makes it sound like you're really there, and the app plugs into Apple's Health app to track your sleep (if you want).

Price:Free (usually $1.99)

Blek is a serene puzzle game where creativity is rewarded.

Blek is both simple and beautiful. The goal is to draw a line that manages to intersect the colored dots while avoiding the black ones.

Price:$0.99 (usually $2.99)

Find your new favorite filter with Shift.

Shift lets you create photo filters from scratch, with easy-to-use tools like sliders to customize your filter's color and texture.

Price:Free (usually $0.99)

Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of the romantic holiday, we've decided to crown the French military and political leader Napoléon Bonaparte’s letters to his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais the most romantic in all of history.

They met in 1795 when the young General Napoléon was 26 and Joséphine (or Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie) was 32. He was enraptured with her, and she became his mistress shortly thereafter. They married a year later in 1796.

Their love was tumultuous and passionate, jealous and all-consuming — especially on Napoléon's end. He would often write his “adorable Joséphine” when he was away on a campaign, sometimes as soon as he had gotten off his horse.

Here’s one of his most passionate early letters to his wife [translated by Henry Fuljambe Hall in 1901 from the original French]:

Marmirolo, July 17, 1796

I got your letter, my beloved; it has filled my heart with joy. I am grateful to you for the trouble you have taken to send me news; your health should be better to-day — I am sure you are cured. I urge your strongly to ride, which cannot fail to do your good. 

Ever since I left you, I have been sad. I am only happy when by your side. Ceaselessly I recall your kisses, your tears, your enchanting jealousy; and the charms of the incomparable Joséphine keep constantly alight a bright and burning flame in my heart and senses. When, free from every worry, from all business, shall I spend all my moments by your side, to have nothing to do but to love you, and to prove it to you? I shall send your horse, but I am hoping that you will soon be able to rejoin me. I thought I loved you some days ago; but, since I saw you, I feel that I love you even a thousand times more. Ever since I have known you, I worship you more every day; which proves who false is the maxim of La Bruyère that “Love comes all at once.” Everything in nature has a regular course, and different degrees of growth. 

Ah! pray let me see some of your faults; be less beautiful, less gracious, less tender, and, especially less kind; above all never be jealous, never weep; your tears madden me, fire my blood. Be sure that it is no longer possible for me to have a thought except for you, or an idea of which you shall not be the judge. 

Have a good rest. Haste to get well. Come and join me, so that, at least, before dying, we could say — “We were happy for so many days!!”

Millions of kisses, and even to Fortuné, in spite of his naughtiness.

Bonaparte

Napoléon wrote numerous letters to Joséphine, some of which were quite sexually explicit. “A kiss on your heart, and one much lower down, much lower,” he wrote in 1796. “How happy I would be if I could assist you at your undressing, the little firm white breast, the adorable face, the hair tied up in a scarf a la creole,” he wrote a few months later.

But their epic relationship was tumultuous and riddled with jealousy. Napoléon would often accuse Joséphine of no longer loving him and not caring enough to write him constantly. His letters range from sweepingly romantic to telling her how much he hates her, sometimes in the same letter:

I don’t love you an atom; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a good for nothing, very ungraceful, very tactless, very tatterdemalion. 

[…]

I hope that before long I shall clasp you in my arms, and cover you with a million kisses as burning as if under the equator.

Despite their separate affairs with other lovers, Napoléon crowned Joséphine Empress of the French in 1804. But because she was unable to give him the heir he so desperately wanted, Napoléon divorced Joséphine five years after her coronation.

Yet even after their separation and Napoléon's remarriage to an Austrian princess, he still insisted Joséphine keep her titles of empress. "It is my will that she retain the rank and title of empress, and especially that she never doubt my sentiments, and that she ever hold me as her best and dearest friend."

Joséphine died of pneumonia in 1814. Her name was Napoléon's last word on his death bed in St. Helena in 1821: "France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine”.

France, the army, the head of the army, Joséphine.

To read more on their relationship, check out "The Letters of Napoleon to Josephine."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What Happened When A Bunch Of Young Boys Were Told To Hit A Girl

Forget horse racing and bourbon distilleries. Next time you go to Louisville, bring your bicycle and head underground to the world's largest indoor bike park, which officially opened Monday.

The Mega Underground Bike Park is located in an old limestone mine 100 feet below ground. It's the latest addition to Louisville's Mega Cavern, a massive entertainment complex where you can ride zip lines, swing from aerial ropes, and take historic tram rides, in addition to partaking in other activities.

There's over 320,000 square feet of space, 45 trails, jump lines, pump tracks, dual slalom, BMX, cross country, and singletrack, and it's 60 degrees year-round. Eventually there will be a bike rental. A four-hour pass is $24 and helmets are required.

The owners said they had to cover 320,000 square feet of floor with dirt.

This is what the jumps looked like early on. This photos shows about 5% of the bike park.

A worker smooths out one of the many berms.

Surfing Australia has released the finalist entries for the 2014 ‘Nikon Surf Photo of the Year’ award.

The 2015 Australian Surfing Awards will be held in Manly tomorrow evening.

Photographers including Brodie McCabe, Ed Sloane, Ray Collins, Mark Onorari and Peter ‘Joli’ Wilson submitted images.

Photographer: Andrew Chisholm. Dancing With The Devil - Marti Paridisi.

Photographer: Brodie McCabe. Your Curve - "These two dolphins where playing out in the deeper ocean for some time. As a set of waves came through, they followed the swell toward the shore, racing each other for the key position. As the wave started breaking, one pulled off the back so as not to drop in on the other."

Photographer: Andrew Chisholm. Giant Among Giants - Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania.

It's no news that men and women tend to manage and invest their money differently.

A new report from robo-adviser SigFig, however, sheds some light on exactly how differently that is.

By analyzing the portfolios of over 750,000 retail investors, SigFig highlighted patterns pertaining to risk, returns, and even favorite brokerages and company stocks. 

Scroll down to see the findings in 10 simple charts.

SigFig found that the median net returns of women, who are stereotypically more conservative with their money than men, outpaced male investors' returns in 2014.

On top of earning more in returns, women were also less likely to lose money from their investments.

SigFig theorizes that this loss might be influenced by the fact that men tend to be more active with their portfolios.

On Tuesday, Brian Williams was suspended for six months as anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News."

The network's announcement comes after Williams was forced to apologize for and recant his story about being on board a helicopter forced down by RPG fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Before Williams' news career was called into question last week, the 55-year-old was known as America's most trusted anchor.

Brian Williams' unlikely road to fame >

Until last week, Williams was known as the Emmy-winning anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News." But TV news was initially an industry in which Williams struggled to enter after he dropped out of college.

Recently earning a $10 million annual salary, Williams went bankrupt in his early 20s after "a failed experiment in local news."

It wasn't until a news director in Washington, D.C., took a chance on Williams that he resumed his on-air career years later.

MediabistroTV spoke to Williams about his big break and success after failure.

As Williams grew up in New Jersey, it was "very clear all along that I had to work, I had to support myself. I was working a series of jobs and I had an epiphany [after dropping out of George Washington University] that I had to at least try something that I always wanted to try."

"My late mother always used to say about people on local news in New York, 'I think you could do better than some of these people.' I don't know what she based that on, but I loaded up what few belongings I had and moved to Pittsburg, Kansas."

"I worked at a small television station for 13 months and started making $168 a week for a seven-day work week."

The London School of Economics is regarded as one of the leading educational institutions in the United Kingdom.

The school, which will celebrate its 120th birthday this year, has produced at least 32 world leaders and 14 Nobel Prize winners.

From world-renowned economists to successful musicians, these are the school's most successful alumni who are still living. 

Billionaire investor George Soros moved to London from native Hungary in 1947. After graduating from LSE in 1952, he moved to the US where he opened Soros Fund Management. Soros currently ranks among the 30 richest people in the world, according to Bloomberg's billionaires index.

Source: Georgesoros.com

Mick Jagger was studying at LSE when he began playing with the Rolling Stones in 1961. At first, he played with the Stones just on weekends and attended classes during the week, but he ultimately dropped out to pursue his music career.

Source: Mickjagger.com

Sir David Attenborough enrolled at LSE in 1964, when he was already a broadcaster for BBC. He started a degree in anthropology through a part-time course, but decided to leave after two terms to become the director of BBC Two.

Source: The Guardian

There's good food everywhere, but some restaurants truly stand out as great.

To find the best restaurant each state has to offer, we sifted through our list of the Best Restaurants in America, The Daily Meal's 101 Best Restaurants in America list, James Beard award nominations, expert reviews, and local recommendations, paying particular attention to fine dining establishments.

Did we get your state right? Let us know in the comments. 

ALABAMA: Highlands Bar and Grill

Location: Birmingham

Chef: Frank and Pardis Stitt

Though they use French techniques, chefs Frank and Pardis Stitt still infuse southern comfort into every meal at Highlands Bar and Grill. The menu changes daily to incorporate seasonal ingredients, and the restaurant was a James Beard Outstanding Restaurants semifinalist, as well as one of OpenTable's top 100 restaurants for 2013.

ALASKA: Jens' Restaurant

Location: Anchorage

Chef: Jens Hansen

Consistently rated the top spot for seafood in Anchorage, Jens' Restaurant was named Best Overall, Best Ambiance, and Best Food, among others, by OpenTable. And not only are the ingredients fresh from the sea, but the menu is too — Chef Hansen updates the selection seasonally to incorporate regional specialties from his most recent travels.

For a more low-key experience, guests can stop by the adjacent wine bar, which features a full menu and over 40 different bottles of wine.

ARIZONA: Kai

Location: Chandler

Chef: Conor Favre

Kai— which means "seed" in the Pima language — serves up a winning combination of modern techniques and traditional Native American flavors. Two tasting menus are available for guests who want to try it all: "Short Story" for $135 and "Journey" for $225.

Kai took the No. 8 spot on OpenTable's Best Restaurants of America list for 2014 and is a AAA Five Diamond Award recipient. The restaurant also has near perfect scores on both Zagat (87/90) and OpenTable (4.9/5).

In nearly all of China it is illegal to own firearms. Punishment for possession ranges from three years in prison to the death penalty. But in the deep mountains of southwestern China there is an exception: the village of Basha.

Basha is the home of an ancient tribe of the Miao ethnic group. Mostly cut off from China’s modernization, the people of Basha live in stilted wooden houses near a river, and they are famed as China’s last tribe of gunmen.

Basha’s history with guns dates back hundreds of years to when the village people used them to guard their land from bears living in the nearby forest. For a long time, the villagers relied on guns to hunt for food in nearby forests.

Today, villagers no longer hunt but continue to practice marksmanship at shooting ranges. About 3,000 people still live in Basha, which comprises 400 wooden houses.

Tribe members make hunting rifles using materials from nearby cities. Here, Gun Laosheng, a Miao craftsman, makes part of a gun in his workshop.

The people of Basha have become a big attraction for Chinese tourists, who come to see the villagers perform folk shows and demonstrations of marksmanship. The shows, like this one, feature traditional music and dancing.

Here, Miao men fire their guns during a farewell ceremony for tourists.

The people of the Basha tribe still wear traditional clothing and unique hairstyles, which date to the Qing dynasty. Men carry seven items at all times: their gun, wine bottle, curved knife, tobacco pipe, gunpowder container, wallet, and flower bag. They wear traditional hair braids, which they believe is a symbol of masculinity.

Often, tourists will go to watch one of the Basha’s traditional ceremonies like the coming-of-age shaving ceremony that young boys partake in. During the ceremony, the tribe leader shaves off all of a boy’s hair with a sickle, leaving only the central part.

Boys in the village are trained from an early age to use firearms. This 10-year-old uses a knife to tamp down gunpowder before shooting practice. When boys turn 15, they receive a hunting rifle as a sign that they’ve become adults.

Each man is expected to maintain his gun. Here, Gun Yuangu uses a twig and engine oil to lubricate his gun at his house.

The villagers worship trees as gods. They believe their hair buns represent trees, while their purple clothes represent bark.

A tree is planted when a baby is born. Often the same tree is cut down when the person dies and is used as their coffin.

SEE ALSO: Behind The Borders Of The World's Unrecognized 'Breakaway Nations'

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