Twilight Honor

13/07/2022

I took the train to Antwerp, Belgium – here’s my guide to the city

In the final leg of our odyssey to celebrate 50 years of Interrail, we explore a city that’s seriously hip, but also caters for those who are just beer-curious

13/07/2022

Three-quarters of UK adults can’t read a map – here’s how to get better!

A study by Ordnance Survey to coincide with National Map Reading Week paints a sorry picture of our navigation skills. But there are ways to improve …

A study by Ordnance Survey to coincide with National Map Reading Week paints a sorry picture of our navigation skills. But there are ways to improve …

13/07/2022

Tell us about your favourite outdoor pool for the chance to win a £200 holiday voucher!

Where will you be cooling down as the mercury rises? The best tip wins a voucher for a Sawday’s stay

Where will you be cooling down as the mercury rises? The best tip wins a voucher for a Sawday’s stay

04/07/2022

The little pony that built Newfoundland

If Newfoundland seems like a world removed from Canada, stepping foot onto Change Islands is something else entirely.

04/07/2022

The people making films above the 60th parallel

Two Yellowknife residents are using one-of-a-kind technology to connect communities separated by thousands of kilometres of ice and snow.

04/07/2022

A tempestuous isle of 1,000 shipwrecks

Between 500 and 1,000 shipwrecks were recorded around Quebec’s isolated Magdalen Islands – and the descendants of the resilient survivors live to tell their stories.

04/07/2022

The bread that changed how the Irish eat breakfast!

French refugees brought a version of this bread to Ireland centuries ago – and in one Irish city it’s become such a staple, residents are referred to by its name.

20/06/2022

How a Pair of $95 Shoes Changed My Life

I've always been a tomboy when it comes to clothing. Growing up, I would routinely wind up in the boy's section of the store, and every chance I could get, I'd steal shirts from my older brothers. They were exceedingly comfier than anything I owned, and for me, comfort was always paramount. So when a male friend recently showed me a new pair of sneakers he bought and dubbed them "the most comfortable shoes ever," I was immediately intrigued.

The first thing I noticed was the absence of a logo. The design was minimalist and clean, with chunky laces slightly resembling Kanye West's Yeezys, and the material was curiously made of merino wool. I peered inside the shoe and noted the label: Allbirds. After some light Googling, I discovered that one of the San Francisco-based brand's co-founders, Tim Brown, hails from New Zealand, which explains the wool (if there's one thing New Zealand is known for, it's sheep).

"The footwear industry largely ignores natural materials," Brown told me over the phone recently. "We saw an opportunity to marry that with sleek design, and that led us to wool." Here's the thing about wool—specifically merino wool: Not only does it regulate temperature and wick moisture—it minimizes odor, rendering shoe deodorizer permanently irrelevant, as if it's really effective anyway. Oh, and if they get dirty? Allbirds are machine-washable.