44 h. ago All Fours by Miranda July audiobook review – the frank, sexy novel everyone’s been talking about

The author’s hypnotic reading evokes the desires and existential crisis of a 45-year-old woman on a wild road trip In the second novel by writer, actor and film-maker Miranda July, a nameless Los Angeles-based artist who has had success “in several mediums” leaves behind her husband, Harris, and their young child, Sam, to drive across America. She is due at a meeting in New York and has decided to get there via a leisurely road trip. But what starts off as a fleeting break from the mundanity of marriage and motherhood turns into a wild and wonderfully odd unravelling. Just half an hour into her journey, she impulsively leaves the freeway and checks into a scruffy motel. There she is electrified by a younger car hire worker who has “a Huckleberry Finn/Gilbert Blythe look that I used to flip out over as a teenager.” After the two lock eyes while he squeegees her windscreen (not a euphemism), she decides to pursue him in an unusually chaste love affair.All Fours – which has been shortl...

Culture

49 h. ago Scotland’s NC500 declared the ultimate road trip for families

Now that the weather’s warming up and families are starting to plan getaways around the UK, interest in road trips is on the rise – with searches for “the best UK road trips” up by 21% in the past six months.1 Its clear families are on the lookout for the perfect adventure this year.

Politics

67 h. ago Inside the world of ‘skimpies’: the barmaids in bras who pour pints in Australia’s mining towns

Most skimpy bars have signs that say ‘no photos of the girls’ – but photographer M Ellen Burns earned the women’s trust to capture what their life is really likeGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailNot long after M Ellen Burns arrived in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, the state’s borders closed to the rest of Australia and the world for the first time in history. The photographer had been on a road trip from the Blue Mountains to visit her partner’s parents in WA when Covid-19 first began to spread; now she was well and truly stuck. She found work shooting for the town’s tourist board, but a chance meeting with a local barmaid introduced her to the other jewels in Kalgoorlie’s crown: skimpy bars.Burns photographed several skimpies at work between 2021 and 2023 with their full consent Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham review – what a brilliantly daft road trip, bab!

The comic’s love for his home town leads him on this charming and wacky odyssey to find ‘his people’ across the pond. Brummies of the world unite!Joe Lycett is on a mission to visit every one of the 17 Birminghams in the US and the one in Canada too. Why? Because he is a native of the UK’s own Birmingham, and he wants to see if there is any shared identifiable vibe and to foster a sense of togetherness among the scattered Brummies. Also, as he says, he has a pressing need to make a travelogue for Sky “and if anyone can do it, it’s Frank Sk– it’s me”. There is also a Birmingham on the moon (a remnant of an impact crater – save your jokes, please, that’s Joe’s department) and one in Belgium. But “we don’t have a lunar budget and I’m not going to Belgium,” says Lycett, so off he sets round the US in a tour bus suitably decked out in Cat Deeley and Alison Hammond scatter cushions. They both hail from Birmingham in the UK. This is not difficult, people. Do try to keep up.Joe has a sheaf ...

Politics

7 d. ago Boredom strikes just 43 minutes into a family road trip, according to research

A poll of 1,500 regular road-tripping parents of kids under 16 found 52 per cent are planning on taking a long trip of more than 150 miles in their car this Easter weekend.

Events

8 d. ago A road trip to Lambeau Field: my search for the magic of the NFL draft | Emma John

Why are a quarter of a million people set to descend on Green Bay? I went to Wisconsin to find out I’ve just got back from a road trip in Wisconsin. The upper Midwest is not an obvious destination for a spring break, certainly not in early April. As my plane circled above Milwaukee, the brown and leafless landscape warned me I’d travelled back in time to midwinter.It was too cold to brave the beaches – the Lake Michigan shore was covered in snow and ice – but the bars at least were convivial. This is often the case in Wisconsin, the state with the highest alcohol consumption per capita. Many of my fellow drinkers were keen to point out that they were responsible for nearly all the brandy sold in the US (as a collective, not individually). Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago 'Jaw dropping' Highlands road trip named among world's top places to visit before you die

The route made the list for its breathtaking journey through Scotland, praised by Big 7 Travel as “an adventure to remember.”

Events

2 w. ago 'Are we there yet?' Top 20 most common family road trip frustrations

Constant cries of "Are we there yet?", frequent toilet stops – and poor mobile signal are some of the biggest irritations on family road trips.

Politics

3 w. ago South Africa's Garden Route: is this the ultimate road trip to do with kids?

Could a family trip to South Africa be the perfect escape from London’s gloomy weather?

Politics

3 w. ago Antiques Road Trip's Raj Bisram reveals what really goes on behind the scenes of BBC show

Raj Bisram revealed all about Antique Road Trip's classic cars that 'always break down,' the bond between the cast and crew, and what the stars talk about in hotel bars after a long day on the road

Culture

4 w. ago BBC Antiques Road Trip expert left reeling as 'rare' item suffers major blow

Antiques Road Trip expert Irita Marriott was left speechless after spotting one item that she thought was "too good to be true".

Politics

4 w. ago Smiling King Charles makes public appearance after hospital stay

Sources say side-effects from cancer treatment were ‘minor bump’ in the road, and Italy trip expected to go aheadKing Charles smiled and waved at well-wishers as he was seen in public for the first time since it was revealed he had been in hospital over side-effects from his cancer treatment.Charles, 76, left Clarence House in London on Friday morning in a black Audi to travel to his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, it is understood. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago BBC Antiques Road Trip expert 'bans' star from buying 'creepy' item for one reason

Antiques Road Trip expert Roo Irvine was forced to ban an item from the BBC show after Joanna Page branded the item 'creepy'

Politics

4 w. ago Scots woman who beat cancer after mum died from disease stars in campaign with celebrity stars

Brave mum-of-two Amy Addison is in remission from breast cancer after undergoing surgery and treatment. The 43-year-old from Elgin has told how she first discovered a lump on her breast whilst on a road trip across America in 2023.

Events