Nadia

Warm is a problem, I run hot on planes. But the jaw-bracing idea makes sense in a way the donut never did.

The LX is rated 3.2-11.3 kg and carries a 10-year warranty. Your 6.5 kg sits comfortably mid-range, which is the whole point - cheap arms quote a maximum that assumes a perfectly centred, perfectly balanced load, and then sag at about 60% of it. If you're near the top of a budget arm's rated range you get exactly the overnight droop you're describing.

And the smallest one is always the carrier with the metal sizer at the gate. The ones that measure are the ones that charge.

I bought a bundle first because it was on sale and within a year I had replaced the microphone, the headphones and the cables, and kept only the interface. So the bundle cost me the bundle plus the three replacements, and the saving was imaginary. Buy three things properly rather than seven things adequately, and buy them one at a time so you find out what actually limits you.

Nine years on the same pot, no upgrade, no intention. It does not make espresso and if you go in expecting espresso you will be disappointed by the lack of crema and the different body, it makes strong concentrated coffee, which from what you describe is exactly what you want. Induction is the one thing to check: the classic aluminium ones are not magnetic, so you either need the steel-bottomed induction version or an adapter disc on the hob.

Boots and gloves first is not what I expected, I had jacket at the top of the list. Why that order?

Mine had a foam sheet in the back pocket which I now suspect is not armour at all.

No, and I would change it today. On separate tickets you have to collect your checked bag, clear immigration and customs if you are arriving internationally, walk to departures, check in again with a different airline, and go back through security. Fifty five minutes is not enough for the immigration queue alone at most large airports.

The part that makes it worse than it looks is that nobody owes you anything when it fails. Two tickets means airline one's job ended when they landed you. Airline two will call you a no show and the fare is gone, so you are buying a walk up ticket the next morning plus a hotel.

If you cannot rebook onto one ticket, put at least four hours between them for an international arrival, or fly the next morning deliberately and sleep somewhere.

I took the shop shifts and they wrecked me, which is worth saying out loud. Standing for five hours after a full day at a desk is a completely different kind of tired from doing two more hours of the work you already do. I lasted five months and my day job visibly dipped in month three. Whichever you pick, try four weeks before you commit to a rota you cannot get out of.

Also watch refunds. If you return something before the window closes, the refund usually comes off your qualifying total and people get caught out by that in the last week.

Do something together instead of talking about talking. We read the same short article each week and argue about it. Removes the 'so, what shall we discuss' problem entirely, and that dead two minutes at the start is what actually kills these.

I moved my desk about 40cm off the wall, feeling ridiculous the entire time because the room is small and it now looks stupid. The low mids improved immediately and audibly, and the first mix I did afterwards translated to the car without any of the usual corrections. Zero pounds spent. Try it before you buy foam.

Also do the sweeps at ear height with the mic exactly where your head goes, not somewhere approximate. It matters more than people expect.

Standing at lights is the counterexample though. Mesh is brilliant while moving and identical to everything else when stationary in traffic.

Three cities in twelve days is fine, but you've got three hotel changes and each one costs you the better part of a day. I'd give Tokyo four nights, Kanazawa two, Kyoto five and accept a slow day. Also plan around the light, mid-November it's properly dark by around five, so gardens and anything outdoors need to be morning and early afternoon, and your evenings will be indoors whether you planned it or not.

Two smaller things while you are renewing. Blank pages matter in some places, typically one or two facing pages, and a passport that is technically valid but nearly full has caused people problems. And if you have a visa or an electronic travel authorisation tied to the old passport number, renewing may mean redoing it, so check that before you assume the renewal solves everything.

Mine did not work out financially and I would still do it again, which I think is the honest answer for a lot of people. I spent slightly more than I would have at home and I got two years I think about constantly. If your case for going rests on it being cheaper, you may be disappointed; if the money merely needs to be a wash, it very probably will be.

The rule to internalise from this, and everyone learns it the same expensive way: never transfer speculatively. Get the booking to the point where the only thing missing is the points, then transfer. If your programme allows a courtesy hold on an award, take the hold first.

Also know your transfer times before you need them. Some pairs are instant, some take one to three business days, and a few are unpredictable at weekends. Twenty hours is long enough for anything popular to disappear.

Automate the transfer on payday and cap the spending account. Willpower is not a plan when you're working seventy hours.

Check who you are writing to. Operations managers at mid sized companies is a description of a job title, not of a person with a budget and a burning problem. The best cold email I ever sent went to people who had publicly complained about the exact thing my tool fixed, in forums and job adverts. Twelve emails, five replies, two customers.

Adding the disagreement to that. Even the good chemistry writers are mostly extrapolating from in-vitro work on hair swatches, because that's what exists. Combing force on a tress in a lab is a real measurement and it is not the same as your hair after a week of humidity, sweat and a bike helmet.

So I'd say read them for mechanism: why a cationic conditioner sticks to damaged hair, why oil-soluble things reach the follicle: and don't expect them to predict outcomes on your head. Mechanism generalises. Results don't.

Behind me rather than around the mic is the opposite of everything the product photos show.

Was my backup plan. Good to know it is not a mad one.

Splitting at the halfway city found two seats within ten minutes of each other. Twelve euros more and I am not flying. Thank you.

Whichever you pick, build in one deliberately empty day around day five or six. Not a rest day in the sense of doing nothing, just a day with nothing booked. Every long trip I have taken without one turned brittle exactly at that point, and the first argument is usually about a train.