The World's Most Insanely Luxurious Houses

1.Antilla, Mumbai - The first Billion dollar home

Mukesh Ambani, the fifth richest man in the world and head of the Mumbai based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries is estimated to be worth somewhere in the region of $43 billion. He is also the owner to-be of a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai that is to cost him colossal $2 billion! His wife Nita Ambani was staying in the Mandarin Oriental in New York and was so impressed with the interior Asian style decor that she wanted something similar for her to live in. What resulted from that is the world's largest and most expensive home ever. Every story in the Antilla's skyscraper home will be built to a different specification. The vast variation of materials to be used in its build has tremendously added to its overall cost. The meticulous planning that has gone into this architectural design is astounding and once the 27 -story tower is built it will certainly become a spectacular site for all eyes. Hirsch Bedner Associates are the designers behind this project. 

2. Updown Court, England - The most important private residence to be built in England since the 19th century ($150 million)

Updown Court is situated only 25 miles from London, and through a pair of large sophisticated iron gates, one can see a palatial construction of immense scale and beauty. The property, however, is best known for its price tag: more than 85 million British pounds (+$150 million U$, with 103 rooms, five swimming pools and 24-carat-gold leafing on the study's mosaic floor. There's a squash court, bowling alley, tennis court, 50-seat screening room, heated marble driveway and helipad. Eight limousines will fit in the underground garage. Then there are the neighbors, who include the queen (at Windsor Castle) and Elton John. It is listed with Savills and Hamptons International. So, even if your blood doesn't run blue, with enough green you can still live near—and like—royalty! 

3. Versailles, Florida - The largest family home ever built in the US

This 30 bedroom mansion boasts its own bowling alley, roller skating rink and Olympic sized swimming pool to make it the largest family home ever built in the US. Time share mogul David Siegel and his former beauty queen wife Jacqueline began building the huge estate three years ago. But with almost 18 months of work still to be carried out on the property they have put it on the market at $75m. Experts believe a further $25m needs to be spent before anyone can move in.

As well as 30 bedrooms the home would have 23 bathrooms with spectacular views over Lake Butler, about 20 miles from Orlando. The hand-built windows for the house cost more than £2m and other luxuries include a ballroom and a children's theatre. There is a garage with enough space for 20 cars, three swimming pools, a large boat house, formal gardens, and a one-story gatehouse with an apartment. There is also a baseball field, two tennis courts, a 60 foot by 120 foot Grand Hall with a 30-foot stained glass dome, two grand staircases, a 37 foot by 30 foot kitchen, 10 satellite kitchens, a two-story wine cellar and a rock grotto with three separate spas behind an 80-foot waterfall. All 23 full bathrooms have full-sized Jacuzzis, 160 tripled paned windows and Brazilian mahogany French-style doors that alone cost pds2.million.

The property was called Versailles as the entrance was modeled after the Palace of Versailles in France. 

4. Fleur De Lys, Beverly Hills – Mariah Carey's palace

For the woman with the most expensive pair of legs, it was only fair she also had one of the most expensive houses in the world. Mariah Carey apparently had no problem scraping together a nice down payment on this palace in Beverly Hills. The Fleur De Lys is among the world's most expensive estates with an asking price of $125 million. Maria Carey's new digs were built by a Texan billionaire on 5 acres; it is 41,000 square feet of pure diva luxury and will also be modeled after the most extravagant home of its time: the Palace of Versaille, the former home of Marie Antoinette. Surrounding the mansion are rolling lawns, ornamental gardens and mature trees, a 3,000-square-foot manager's house, staff quarters for 10 people, a spa and pool with a pavilion, a championshiptennis court, and a lavish garden folly. 

5. Hearst Mansion, Beverly Hill –The Godfather Mansion

This Beverly Hills mansion has been advertised for sale at $165m (£81.4m), making it one of the most expensive residential property listed in the US. The former home of US newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst has 29bedrooms, three swimming pools, tennis courts, its own cinema and a nightclub. He has decorated the property with statues brought north from his famous Hearst Castle in San Simeon and with life-size paintings of Davies. Mr. Hearst bought the H-shaped mansion in 1947 for about $120,000. In 2007, the estate's current owner, who bought it in 1976, put the home on the market for US$165 million. The home's buyer will have some notable neighbours, including Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and David and Victoria Beckham.

6. Acqua Liana, Florida – The most luxurious eco mansion

Frank McKinney, known as the real estate “artist,” has built a 15,000-square-foot “eco-mansion.” Is that possible? I am not sure whether to look in awe at all the sleek green that money can buy, or to recoil from the notion that 15,000 feet of excess is environmentally friendly. Inspired by trips to Bali, Fiji, Tahiti and Hawaii, the three-story, 15,000-square-foot, 7-bedroom, 11-bath mansion features floating sun terraces, a waterfall spa with a fire feature in the water and an arched aquarium wet bar. Green features inside the one-off mansion include enough solar panels to cover a basketball court generating enough energy for two or three average-size homes. A water system that collects enough run-off water to fill the average swimming pool every 14 days and environmentally conscious lighting reduces electricity consumption by 70 per cent. There is enough reclaimed wood to save 10.5 acres of Brazilian rain forest. 

But, still, do the words “green” and “mansion” go together?

7. Villa Leopolda, France – The mansion that caused a man to lose a 75 million deposit

The magnificent $750 million Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer was built for King Leopold II of Belgium in 1902. The estate is so big that it requires 50 full time gardeners. The grounds cover 20 acres of garden and visitors can stroll amongst 1,200 olive, orange, lemon and cypress trees. In 2008, owner Lily Safra (wife of the deceased Syrian (Lebanon-born) businessman Edmond Safra), a famous Jewish philanthropist, decided to sell it. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov intended to buy it. After making a ten per cent down-payment, he then backed out of the sale after the global credit crunch hit. But a court in Nice later ruled that he had to forfeit the $75 million deposit he put down for the mansion. Prokhorov had signed a sales agreement for the Villa, and French law stipulates that purchasers lose their deposits if they pull out after such an agreement has been executed. But don't feel sorry for the guy, he is still worth a cool $17.85 billion. 

8.The Manor, Los Angeles – Aaron Spelling dream house

His wife Cindy dubbed Aaron Spelling's 56,000-square-foot LA mansion “The Manor”. Built for him in 1991 it has 123 rooms for his family to choose from. Nothing was spared in the creation of this home, with an indoor skating rink, multiple pools, three kitchens, sports courts, private orchard, and a bowling alley. Not happy with the “norm” for these mansions, there are also more unusual additions, such as a doll museum, a room used exclusively for wrapping presents and an entire floor dedicated to closet space. In 2007 Candy Spelling, estranged mother of Tori Spelling, decided that her 57,000 square foot mansion was just a tad bit large for her and her pooch and decided to sell it and turned the mansion into the most expensive estate (in terms of current listings) at that time. 

9.The Manalapan Residence – the ultimate oceanfront estate home

Set upon 5.5 acres, with 520 feet fronting direct Atlantic Ocean-to-Intracoastal waterway property, The Manalapan Residence triumphantly blends Old World elegance and classicism with 21st century facilities. Some of the amenities of this 3-story ‘beach house' includes 67,672 square feet, 14 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, 18 car garage, 6,140 sq. ft. master bedroom suite, movie theatre, casino and club room with aquarium wet bar, gymnasium with beauty salon, shark tank, 2 elevators, bowling alley, tennis court and a go cart track. Do you still need more reasons to believe this is the greatest mansion if you want to live in front of the ocean? The only bad thing is its price tag of $135 million.

10.Barbie Malibu Mansion – a life-size mansion inspired by Barbie's dream house

In honor of Barbie's 50th birthday celebration, interior decorator extraordinaire, Jonathan Adler, decked out a real-life 3,500-square-foot pad overlooking the Pacific Ocean to look like the blond doll's outrageous home. He lined Barbie's bedroom with wall-to-wall pink carpeting emblazoned with her initial. The closet is filled with 50 pairs of pink peep-toe heels while her kitchen is stocked with cupcake-making ingredients. An in-house museum features 25 vintage Barbie dolls on display. In the garage? A pink Volkswagen New Beetle with a motorized pop-up vanity in the trunk. Adler's favorite furnishings are hanging in the living room: an original Andy Warhol portrait of Barbie valued at over $200,000 and a chandelier — designed by "Project Runway" contestant Chris March — that's made up of over 30 blond wigs and took more than 60 hours to craft. He also admires a one-of-a-kind black-and-white wall mirror created with 64 dolls. The house is perched on a cliff in Malibu overlooking the ocean. It's a fantasyland for anyone.

Adopted from Sources

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Most Interesting Places in College

There's a lot more to finding the best place to go to college than just whether a school is considered the best at something. College is a time to find yourself, to enjoy your youth, to make mistakes and learn outside of the classroom, so you might as well go somewhere interesting.

With that in mind, We are going to name the most interesting places to go to college. This list includes small and large colleges, public and private, Ivy League and liberal arts schools.

The list is not ranked in any order and is entirely subjective. What might be interesting to one person could be boring to the next, so each school included brings its own unique qualities that make it interesting.

Sometimes you just want to know where you're going to have a good time and this list should help.

Check out the most interesting colleges and universities in the list below, and head to the comments section to chime in on what school you find the most interesting.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

UW-Madison is sort of a hidden gem in the Midwest. It's a party school, named the "sexiest" school in the country, throws an epic party that the administration hates, and has alum Anders Holm of "Workaholics" fame as the commencement speaker. Speaking of comedy, The Onion was founded there in 1988. Not to mention, with big sports programs and a diverse population you get everything else a flagship university usually comes with. If anything, the only downside would be the snow. But when that happens, you just gather everyone for an EPIC snowball fight.

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

The Twin Cities were cool before cool became hip, it's official. But being one of the coldest areas, it makes those hip beards and flannels more practical. There's actually a great music scene in the Twin Cities; it gave birth to Prince, Bob Dylan, Motion City Soundtrack and The Hold Steady, among others. Add in a great collection of record stores, unique restaurants and solid alt-news sourcess, it's crazy to think all of this can be found in the same place a big state university -- with a killer hockey program -- is at.

University of California-Berkeley

Cal is a state school that is often considered as good or better than many elite private and Ivy League schools. It has big football and basketball programs. It's in the beautiful Bay Area. Plus, there's all the protests. That whole Occupy movement in 2011? Cal students used the "Occupy" tag two years earlier in 2009 when they staged sit ins on campus like it was the 1960's. When Cal isn't consumed by protest, faculty are winning awards in nearly every field.

University of Iowa

Iowa may be best known currently as the top party school in the nation, which was only further boldened thanks to "Vodka Samm." Business Insider called it the No. 2 school on their "Most Fun" list. But it's also a campus that will have the rare privilege throughout 2015 to have virtually every presidential candidate on campus. In 2007, it was totally normal to walk to English class while spotting then-Senator Barack Obama giving a speech. Add in a med school, a law school, Ashton Kutcher stopping by wrestling matches, some wild football tailgating and a sweet outdoor pedestrian mall, and you have a surprisingly fun time in flyover country.

Cooper Union

Cooper Union is a historic, yet small, arts and engineering college in lower Manhattan. Abe Lincoln gave one of his most important speeches at the school in 1860, and around the corner from the campus is a bar that has a chair Lincoln once sat in. Cooper Union has less than 1,000 students, and currently no one pays a tuition bill. That could change soon, however, with a recent decision to begin charging tuition in fall 2014. Which leads to what makes this school so interesting: a large amount of students have been protesting, continuously for two months in some cases and incorporating art in their activism. Being creative types, they devised unique ways to keep their protests moving, like creating a pizza pulley system.

University of Colorado at Boulder

CU-Boulder is where you're most likely to encounter deadly wildlife on your way to class (mountain lion or bear, anyone?). It also has thousands of students attempting to gather on campus smoking pot every year for an annual smokeout -- although theadministration does their best to try to squash that. Boulder is a beautiful city within the greater Denver area, near amazing mountains and parks and a short drive from fantastic skiing. And if it weren't for this university, the world may never have known"South Park" or 3OH!3.

University of Southern California

To start, it's in Los Angeles. Maybe not in the best neighborhood, but still. It's one of the larger private schools, so it offers an atmosphere usually reserved for flagship universities -- like a big football culture and enrollment topping 30,000. Dr. Dre is starting his own school there. It has one of the most diverse student bodies. A ton of movies and TV shows were filmed on campus: "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," "D2: Mighty Ducks II," "Forrest Gump," "The Graduate," "Legally Blonde (1 & 2)," "Matilda," "Young Frankenstein," "The Office," "The OC" and "Saved by the Bell," to name a few. And sometimes Will Ferrell randomly shows up on campus.

Brown University

Brown: the wildcard of the Ivy League. A school that hosts "sex week," "Nudity in the Upspace," the "Naked Donut Run" and the "Sex Power God" party. The photo here shows students demanding their university pay taxes it's not legally required to do. There are so many unique personalities at Brown, Pixar makes sure to go recruiting regularly on campus. So what if Brown doesn't have anywhere close to as many alumni in the White House as Harvard and Yale? Those schools are snooze-fests in comparison.

Drake University

Another school in Iowa, which will be sure to play host to a number of candidates in 2015 trying to be the next president of the United States. Yes, there are other early primary states, but none get as much attention as Iowa. And since this school is in the state capital -- Des Moines -- and has a law school, so you're going to have a lot more happening around politics here. But if politics isn't your thing, and you dream of working for Better Homes & Gardens, then lucky for you this school has connections with its publisher, Meredith, headquartered only a few miles from campus. One of the other biggest benefits is that Des Moines is a small pond where one can quickly become a big fish. The region is right in the middle of a burgeoning Silicon Prairie for anyone with a great idea for an app. For entertainment, it's a lot cheaper getting a drink or nice dinner compared to big cities like Chicago or New York. (Don't be surprised when you find bars offering two whiskey-sodas for $3.) There's plenty of delicious Jimmy John's spots nearby, and the university hosts an annual event calledthe Drake Relays that turns into a massive party.

Vassar College

A lot of private colleges have a history of first being all-male, then going co-ed in the 20th century. Vassar was all-female and coeducated in 1969, and today is one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country. FDR was once a Vassar trustee. Today, it's full of weirdness as one of the most hipster schools in the nation. As Unigo put it, "Beyond your usual a capella groups and dance teams, though, Vassar's clubs include juggling troupes, all-female theater collectives, erotic journals, and punk music enthusiasts -- these are the kind of niche activities that should appeal to any student who felt alienated in high school because of an interest no one else shared." There's even a quidditch team! Which fits with the Roman Gothic architecture.

The University of Texas at Austin

If you're a Longhorn, you've got a major football team, your president is constantly in a major political fight, your school is the center of a major Supreme Court case and sometimes conservative students try to hold demonstrations around that issue with bake sales that the administration considers "deplorable." Besides all that, you're in Austin, and have a front-row seat to the SXSW festival and constant block parties. Keep Austin Weird, UT.

New York University

When celebs get bored, sometimes they go to NYU, like the Olsen twins or James Franco. Or at least you can catch celebrities walking around the campus. It's hard to get much more interesting than going to school in Greenwich Village. Instead of hitting up a frat rager or a kegger at some kid's decrepit party house, students here go to hip loft and warehouse parties. It's a school where your part time job might be an internship at a major magazine or TV network, maybe working for a late-night TV show. After class you can take a stroll down Broadway and go shopping at stores that aren't located anywhere else in the country. On the weekend, head to the middle of campus and join the massive pillow fight in the same spot where people spend their nights playing acoustic guitars and bongos for change.

Sarah Lawrence College

In most classes at Sarah Lawrence, there will never be more than 15 students. There are no required courses, traditional exams are mostly tossed out the window, and their faculty advisors are referred to as "dons." The school bucked the trend of kowtowing to college rankings, but still gets considered one of the best. It has international programs in four countries, including Cuba.

University of Alabama

When you go to a powerhouse football school, it's usually way more exciting as a fan than say, being a fan of the Redskins while living in Washington, D.C. If you're dressed in boat shoes and Vineyard Vines, you're in good company with a school that's very supportive of its Greek system. Although that system was still desegregating in 2013. Not exactly the best thing to be known for, but it was definitely an interesting time on campus for people fighting for equality, like those in the Mallet Assembly.

University of Pittsburgh

Where else can you study in the second tallest academic building in the world that looks like Hogwarts on the inside and sometimes gets lit up in pretty colors? The city is gorgeous and hosts one of the most "hipster" zip codes.

Arizona State University

Every time we hear about things happening at Arizona State, we wish we would've gone there for school. Just look at the fun Daniel Tosh had visiting there! It's a party school, with big basketball, football and other sports programs, but it's not far from taking a quick vacay to Los Angeles, or Las Vegas if you ever want to leave the campus. It's one of the largest public universities by enrollment. And if you go here, you can count David Spade and Temple Grandin as fellow alumni.

Harvard University

If it happens at Harvard, it's news. Seriously, where else would it be such major news that a bunch of students cheated? One of the oldest higher education institutions in the country, it has produced more U.S. presidents and Nobel Prize winners than any other school by far. Frequently ranked one of the top schools in the country, and indeed, the world. Plus, from "Legally Blonde" to "The Social Network," it's a school that ends up in the movies a lot.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT is a world-renowned university at the cutting edge in a number of fields and its students are always inventing unique things. Fraternity brothers have one of the fanciest beer pong tables we've ever seen, the university is creating affordable 3D printers, grad students figured out how to turn Play-Doh and bananas into controllers, they figured out how to get all the ketchup out of a bottle and Fran Drescher dates faculty members who claim to have invented email. That's only the start of what the minds of MIT come up with. If we tried to list them all, we'd never finish. And if there's some way to ever get bored with all of that, the university is down the street from Harvard (which co-invented edX with MIT) and across the river from the wonderful city of Boston.

University of California-Santa Barbara

There's something about UC-Santa Barbara that seems to make everyone there so chill. If they weren't, we doubt the YouTube channel whatever would be doing so well. It's a party school, but still considered a Public Ivy. Champions of men's soccer and water polo. It's got an athletic student body, a very stinky flower, and all of this next to the Pacific Ocean. What could be better than a top ranked university on a campus with its own beach?

Adopted from Sources

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World’s 10 rudest countries for travelers

Travel search site Skyscanner recently released a list of the world’s rudest nations for visitors, naming the countries whose smiley and friendly natives are apparently confined to their promotional videos.

The result, which lists 34 countries, is based on Skyscanner’s online poll, which received more than 1,200 responses from Europe, North America and Australia.

France, the champion of impoliteness. La Belle France was declared the champion of impoliteness, garnering nearly 20 percent of the total votes. French people are known for “their abrupt and curt nature,” especially while facing foreign tourists, Edinburgh-based Skyscanner told International Business Times. 

Russia took second place with 16.6 percent of the votes, followed by the United Kingdom (10.4 percent), Germany (9.93 percent) and a puzzingly labeled “Others” (miscellaneous countries).

China (4.3 percent) ranked sixth on the list, leading Asia. Language barriers and cultural differences are the main causes China-based etiquette expert Lawrence Lo (卢浩研) pointed out that language barriers and cultural differences are the two major players behind the ranking.

“The French are very protective of their language, and customers can get different responses for ordering in French or in another language,” said Lo.

Yi Bao, Skyscanner marketing manager for China, gave an example to back the "culture difference" theory.

According to Yi, though queuing is a social norm in the West, it’s not a common behavior for Chinese people, “so [it] could be interpreted as being rude [by international travelers.]”

The personality of hospitality staff is another contributing factor. Lo said many restaurants’ waiting staff in Chinese cities are usually young women from rural areas, and that the Chinese are naturally more shy than Westerners.

“[These waitresses] don’t have the confidence or language skill to handle foreign travelers. Sometimes, they’d rather avoid them,” said Lo. “On the other hand, a lot of French waiters have worked in this position their whole life, so they have a superiority complex in front of travelers.” Lo also said the result of the survey depended on what type of travelers were voting.  "For many backpackers, challenges in language and culture actually form part of the fun of traveling," said Lo.

Here are the 10 rudest countries on Skyscanner’s list:

1. France
2. Russia
3. United Kingdom
4. Germany
5. Others
6. China
7. United States
8. Spain
9. Italy
10. Poland

The countries voted least rude were:

25. Japan
26. Denmark
27. Canada
28. New Zealand
29. Indonesia
30. Portugal
31. Thailand
32. The Philippines
33. Caribbean region
34. Brazil

Adopted from CNN travel

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