Seconded. I like to slather steaks in english mustard. My partner and kids think I’m insane.
Another annual tradition for me is leftover Christmas ham, in white bread, with loads of english mustard, while sitting on my ass watching the cricket.
Not sure about BIFL, but I’m reasonably happy with my Merrell’s.
Men’s MOAB 3 GORE-TEX (Wide) Beluga Hiking Boot | Men’s Hiking | Merrell Australia https://www.merrellaustralia.com.au/products/moab-3-gtx-beluga
Haven’t tried them in snow, but they’ve handled mud, tropical rain storms and deep puddles just fine. Comfy for my wide feet. Recently changed the laces after about 15 months, other than that they’ve been durable.
Edit: Actually, I did wear them on a trip up into the mountains in Norway last year, so they did get a little bit of snow. Just some late season patches of stuff on the ground.
Australia has two public broadcasters: ABC and SBS. Both provide reasonably balanced reporting.
abc.net.au/news is the main one, similar in concept to the BBC. Officially they don’t support RSS feeds any longer, but they still exist and work. See https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/abc-news-australia-rss-feeds/
sbs.com.au/news is our “Special Broadcasting Service” and caters to our more multicultural and indigenous audiences in general, but their news is fairly solid, perhaps without the breadth and depth of the ABC. Their main RSS news feed is at https://www.sbs.com.au/news/feed and they have others. See https://feedsearch.dev/api/v1/search?result=true&url=sbs.com.au
+1 if it is a food tour. That’s my go-to for a new country.
(I’m talking about international travel mainly, although my process also works for longer domestic trips.)
My longer answer is “it depends on what sort of traveller you are and how long you’ve got.” Want to catch the main sights quickly? A hop on hop off bus loop can get you past the big ones with commentary in an hour or two and help you orient yourself in a new city, which can be a good way to fill a layover. For a longer visit, I like to start with a food tour, as you tend to pick up all sorts of local knowledge. For example, visiting Hanoi a few years ago we did a food tour on the first night there and our guide got us comfortable crossing the road on foot.
When we do a walking tour we look for the slightly oddball or themed ones because we’re not that much into mass market tourism and prefer to get more of a local experience that way. I find sites like Viator, GetYourGuide or WithLocals good places to start.
For longer stays in a single place I’ll research the main attractions and build an itinerary around those I want to visit. I’m old enough that I prefer buying some old fashioned guide books and starting there with highlighters and post-it notes before heading online to dive deeper. Mainly I value someone collating and editing the content and I find the blogs, forums and travel sites a little too hyper focused or promotional when I’m broad brushing at first. Sometimes I find gems that I add to the list.
I plot what I want to see on a map, then work out how and when based on transport links and proximity where appropriate. When we did a lap of France it started with a big old paper map pinned on the wall, when we did Singapore and Malaysia I used a list in Google maps.
Once I have the rough outline done I dive into the details online and build myself a detailed run sheet, with the hard points, like flights and hotels and booked tours, useful stuff, like currency and time conversions, reminders for things like e visa applications due, and pick lists of possibilities for filling up in between. About once a week or so I include a do nothing day.
I am not a sit on the beach doing nothing traveller, so that process works for me. I find if I don’t have at the very least a list of things to pick from then we tend to procrastinate and end up doing absolutely nothing, which to me always feels like a waste after paying for the airfare and accommodation. YMMV
This was fun! My suggestions are either themed around sleep or waking, and some are simply weird or discordant. All should be suitable for teenagers. Mostly older stuff that should jangle their brain a bit.
Something classical: Flight of the Bumblebee
A country earworm: Is this the way to Amarillo? by Tony Christie
Disco nonsense: Shake shake shake shake your booty by KC and the Sunshine Band
Punk chaos: 10% Weird by The Meanies
Thumping house: 74 is the new 24 by Giorgio Moroder
Japanese blues: Akita Ondo by George & Noriko
80s hard rock: All Fired Up by Fastway
Bluey’s Dad used to be the lead singer in an indie guitar band: Apartment by Custard
RnB: Back to Life by Soul II Soul
80s pop: Beat It by Michael Jackson
Rap: Body Movin by the Beastie Boys
Something French: Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand
80s metal: Come and Get It by Judas Priest
Scare them awake with some industrial noise: Come to Daddy by Aphex Twin
80s synth pop: Dreaming Of Me by Depeche Mode
Indie: Dreams by Beck
Reggae: Get Up Stand Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Naughties pop: Wake Up by Arandhna
Opinion seems to be that Ferrari failed in building an electric car that no-one wants to buy.
I wonder if they deliberately built something they know won’t be a success so they can point to that failure as pushback on regulations that would prevent them continuing to build traditional petrol cars.
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I’ll push the boundary somewhat and nominate bitters. I enjoy bourbon and bitters, as in an old fashioned without the sugar. Earlier this year I purchased some Orinoco bitters, which are spiced - think cumin and cardamom. I’ve been alternating the tropical fruit flavours of the more traditional Angostura with the Orinoco. I must get my hands on some citrus bitters too.