In a recent poll, reports International Living, New Zealand ranked ahead of Canada, Australia, France, the United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, China and the U.S. in a survey of British expatriates who were asked to name the most preferable country for relocation.

Of the 2,000 Britons surveyed, 86% say their lives are better than before they moved and 92% say they are happier, despite the poor economy. The émigrés say the combination of affordable real estate prices, agreeable tax system, and natural environment make New Zealand the best country in which to relocate.

Conducted by NatWest International, which provides global banking services.

And I’ll agree with them.

After visiting 24 countries, one of the few places I’ve found where I’d move to in a heartbeat would be Devonport, New Zealand. (The other two being Kyoto, Japan, and Nice on the Mediterranean coast of France.)

Not only does Devonport resemble Sausalito, California, it is across from Auckland in the same way Sausalito is across from San Francisco. And Devonport has some of the intellectual sensibilities of Berkeley. We found five bookshops, a library, a few pubs, a couple of excellent restaurants, and chic clothing stores withing a four block radius of the ferryboat landing.

We also stayed in one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever been in . . . The Hotel Majestic on the waterfront. I’m sure winters are brutal, so you grab books from the shops, cuddle up next to the fireplace and read.