When an ex told me his new method of contraception was strange ball-squeezing underwear that looks like a medieval torture device, I have to admit that I was somewhat satisfied. We had parted ways on less than friendly terms.

I was of course confused as to why, when we caught up several years later, he felt compelled to talk to me about his birth control methods with his new girlfriend, but at least it led me to the quirky discovery of the “slip chauffant” or “heated briefs”, an obscure method of contraception developed by a French doctor. They push the…

There are few things more frustrating as a writer than sitting down at your computer and being unable to find an idea for what to write about. You circle around social media, fingers ready but mind blank, feeling utterly useless. This has been one of those weeks. It wasn’t that I didn’t have time to write, or that the words weren’t flowing, it was just that as hard as I tried I could not find inspiration anywhere.

Maybe it is because the sun is starting to shine, and all my ideas involve trips to the beach and walks through daffodils…

Some of the consequences of being sexually assaulted were predictable. I’m jumpier now, sometimes I leap a foot into the air when someone touches my arm unexpectedly or takes me by surprise as they round the corner. Then there are those times when I’m in bed with someone I really want to be in bed with but for some reason my every cell ignites with fear, or I start crying, and I have no answer when he asks me what is wrong.

My relationship with my body changed too. I’m no longer quite at home in my home. It is…

A friend from my coworking space exchanged a few hours work helping a local ski shop with its spreadsheets for an entire season of free snowboard rentals. Another stayed for free in four-star hotels across Portugal in exchange for managing their social media platforms. A third works from the Coworking space for free in exchange for taking beautiful photos of the community that the Coworking can use for its advertising.

That is respectively around 500$, 1000$ and 200$ saved.

Young freelancers often hear that they should never accept unpaid work for “exposure” and I agree with that 100%. Accepting to…

I miss sleepy mornings after long overnight bus rides, arriving in a new city and drinking sweet coffee as I wander around unfamiliar streets. I miss arriving in hostels and meeting ten different people from 15 different countries. I miss driving a scooter around shady jungle roads, the feeling of sand in suncream as you rub it on your already burned body at the beach, drinking tea with locals as they tell you about their lives so far from yours and yet so similar.

I miss traveling, and I’m not alone. Coronavirus destroyed many people's plans for vacations, backpacking trips…

“Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from,” — Mae West

I’m not gonna tell men not to be protective, because lovers should be protective of each other, regardless of gender. It’s just that the way men have been taught to be protective is infantilising and can go against women’s actual interests. Too often, it presumes what is best for women without asking them, or by openly going against their requests. Too often, protection looks either like control or a technique of imposing guilt on women so that they control themselves.

Because while love…

They emerged looking pale but healthy, and with smiles as warming as the sun on their faces. Fifteen French volunteers spent 40 days in a cave in an experiment to see how humans adapt to the absence of markers of time. By the end, they were reluctant to leave. “It was like pressing pause,” said Marina Lançon, who told The Guardian she would happily have spent a few more days down there. She planned to wait a few more days before looking at her smartphone to avoid a “brutal” return to everyday life.

The digital nomad lifestyle is about finding a balance between traveling and working so that you can still earn enough money but still see more of a place than your hotel room and coworking spaces.

This may seem like a challenge at first, but as you adjust to changing location and working on the road, you will see that coordinating working and traveling is enriching on both ends. Traveling inspires you, keeps you motivated, and prevents you from falling into a dull routine. Working keeps you connected, gives you a project to work on, and finances your amazing experiences.

That…