20 Years; 20 Places: No.13 Bermuda

I am picking 20 Places and 20 Charlton Players to celebrate 20 years of this Blog. No pecking order, just those that were memorable.

Number 13 on my list of 20 Places, well it had to feature, is the tiny, often quirky but always idyllic island of Bermuda.

I remember when I got my first business trip to Bermuda, I was a little awestricken. It’s an awe-inspiring place. Looking out of the airplane window coming into land all one can see is ocean, and with the descent the swell of the water comes closer and closer, but then suddenly like an iceberg, is a narrow collection of islands. The colour of the iceberg though is British racing green.

Of course we left Bermuda in August 2023, but I do miss living on a postcard because that is what everyday felt like. We were ready for our next chapter as a family, but we miss its melting pot of people and particularly the many lifelong friends we made on the island.

A salad bowl of old England charm with American influences, Bermuda fits into a cozy 20.6 square miles, and is only a mile wide at its widest point. It’s easy to forget, unless you spend a lot of time on the water that Bermuda is actually made up of 181 island, most of which are uninhabited but 8 are connected by bridges and causeways.

We moved to this Atlantic outpost, a financial markets hub, from Chicago in 2008 with a 5-year plan, but stayed for 15. It can do that to you. We gained a daughter and a dog along the way plus many wonderful memories.

As Mark Twain said: “You go to heaven if you want – I’d rather stay here in Bermuda.” 

Bermuda. Home from 2008 to 2023.