Siobhán Norton

Living on rice and beans while earning $250,000 just to retire early is the wrong way to live It sounds like a depressing existence to me - wishing your life away, denying yourself even the simplest pleasures Do you work …

How to spend a weekend in Zadar: when to visit the Croatian city and all the best places to eat Croatia-bound? Skip the queues and crowds of Dubrovnik and head for this less well-known historic port on the Dalmatian coast …

“We treat the wine like a baby,” says Jessica, as she fills a glass with precision. “We take care of everything.” Of course, parents can’t have favourites, but as I take a sip, I find myself immediately charmed by the …

The Costa del Sol has the dubious honour of being the location of my first ever teenage package holiday without the parents. Two weeks of lurid-green alcopops, full Englishes, bad karaoke, kissing unsuitable boys and general naffness. I wore too …

When’s the last time you really got away from it all? I wasn’t exactly offline on a visit to Croatia at the weekend, checking emails, posting to Instagram. But I stumbled upon a helpful reminder to unplug. “We don’t take …

“Sure who would I have to go to the cinema with?” If there’s one thing I struggled to buy about This Way Up, Channel 4’s new tragicomedy, it’s that funny, vivacious Aisling Bea, its Irish writer and star, has ever …

We all know the adverts. Woman, usually dressed in cream trousers or tennis whites, looking delighted to leap about the place with a cheesy grin, because “thanks to [sanitary brand], having my period doesn’t mean missing out”. Nice idea, but …

A friend once told me that her birthday treat is a night away in a hotel. “Lovely, so you and your partner can have a little getaway?” I asked. “Oh, no. He’s looking after the kids. I just want to …

It’s all about the long game at Alladale. While the 23,000-acre wilderness reserve looks incredibly wild to my urbanised eye, it’s only a baby as far as the grand plan is concerned. Almost a million trees have been planted here, …

I often wish I’d been alive to witness some of the great leaps humanity has taken, not least the Moon landing. The idea that families around the world gathered together, holding their breath as Neil Armstrong took his first steps …

It might surprise people who know me to learn that I’m a lapsed football fan. In school, I shouted for Liverpool and adored Phil Babb, and Jamie Redknapp, and Paul Ince. I even collected the damn Panini stickers. But I …

The stylish polished-wood studio tucked away on a back street in North London seems an unlikely spot for the workout branded among Hollywood’s toughest. There’s no terrifying Crossfit equipment here, no barbells or rigs or treadmills, just some dinky little …

The world of fitness can be an annoyingly chirpy one, increasingly saturated with 20-year-old former reality TV stars offering vague platitudes about “motivation Mondays” and “fitspo” – fitness inspiration. It’s a world Svava Sigbertsdottir has little patience with. “Argh, fitspo,” …

“If there is no challenge, there is no change!” I hear whoops and cheers from the semi-darkness, as 63 pairs of eyes gaze up at the candlelit altar. Everyone who is here is clearly intent on “becoming the change”, and …

In the early 90s, an advert aired on Irish television that quickly secured its place in the national identity. Some French visitors are out fishing while their hosts make dinner back at the house. Enter André, and between sidelong glances …

The comfort and safety of my messy desk in London is a world away from the front line on which the bravest journalists stand. Lyra McKee, an investigative reporter experienced in covering the fallout of violence in Northern Ireland, probably …

It used to be the ultimate in dodgy dining etiquette – who would want to emulate Wayne and Waynetta Slob or Homer Simpson? But these days, it’s much more socially acceptable to eat on the sofa, and not just for …

Seafarers are prone to superstition before a maiden voyage, but luckily the crew of the MSC Bellissima didn’t have to work out whether a blown-away marquee was a portent of doom at its naming ceremony in Southampton on Saturday night. …

When to go December to March is Rio’s high season – prices are at their highest between Christmas and New Year – but prices fall after Easter, the beaches are less crowded and the weather is still hot, if more …

Where I come from, the phrase “you’re looking well” has various meanings as you progress through life. In your teens, it’s the highest of compliments from a bashful beau, blushing to his temples as he stares fiercely at the ground. …