Some stay home for the holidays, while others prefer to flee for a little trip away. This year, instead of leaving cold weather behind for tropical vacations on the beach, we're envisioning an escape to a charming countryside oasis — specifically, one that mirrors Iris Simpkins' (played by the luminous Kate Winslet) abode in seasonal film favorite, The Holiday. For those unfamiliar with this VIP piece of festive movie gold, Winslet's character lives in a cozy cottage that's nestled into the picturesque English countryside and swaps home with L.A.-living Cameron Diaz's character over the holidays.

Since we can't actually home swap with Winslet IRL, we turned to Airbnb for the next best thing — or, the next 17 best things — that met our The Holiday's Rosehill Cottage criteria. After hunting through hundreds of listings across the country (and the world), we pulled out the best bookings that covered some, if not all, of the following checklist: exposed wooden beams, working fireplaces, stone walls, floor to ceiling bookshelves, slanted roofs, baths, and an overall air of festive-whimsy.

So if you're feeling restless during the holidays, scroll on to plan your ideal seasonal escape — whether that's a boho Tennessee bungalow or an underground Washington State earth house. Each Airbnb rental ahead is filled with its own dose of unique charm, from Parisian riverside apartments to real-life English countryside cottages...The only thing we can't promise is a surprise visit from Jude Law.

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It's easy to assume that the cool girl you see standing at the crosswalk with a chic cream-colored turtleneck and the most stunning hair color — a deep mahogany at the roots that spills into shiny, sun-kissed caramel colors through the ends — spends more than your paycheck at the coolest L.A. salon every eight weeks. Must be nice, you think.

But as it turns out, winter-perfect, rich, dimensional color that beautifully blends dark roots with buttery bright highlights is fully achievable for the normal girl who's just looking to freshen up her color for party season — even if the time or cash flow to keep it up come January 1 isn't in the cards. All you need to do is add a mid-light.

What's A Mid-Light?
Coined by Mèche salon celebrity colorist Matt Rez — the man behind Sienna Miller's new butterscotch blonde — the en vogue coloring technique is not reliant upon a new highlight or lowlight, rather adding a shade that falls in the middle of the two. You can think of the mid-light as a bridge color: A third shade that falls somewhere between any lingering light ends and naturally-dark roots.

The delicate foiling technique of mid-lighting differs from balayage because the color begins at the root, as opposed to being painted from the mid-shaft through the ends. "The mid-light is a blending shade," Rez explains. "It can be incorporated through any hair texture or color — redheads, brunettes, dirty blondes — to naturally transition the overall color to a lighter or darker shade."

"It’s all about weaving in that connecting, in-between shade," he explains. "Adding a mid-light will softly blend a fading summer highlight into those deeper lowlights in your hair. The result is this rich, dimensional color that grows out beautifully without any harsh demarkation lines at the root."

What To Ask For
Sure, it might seem like a economical idea to ask your colorist to apply a solid, darker shade over your old highlights, but that's actually going to require more frequent touch-ups and offer a lot less of that full-bodied dimension. Instead, when you opt for the mid-light, that third shade will seamlessly blend your tips with your roots so your hair can grow out with ease.

"One of the biggest mistakes people make when they transition their color to a darker shade is going solid, with a single lowlight shade," Rez explains of what not to do. "Hair is multi-dimensional, so you need a third, or forth, or fifth tone to give subtle dimension, or the resulting color is going to come across stripe-y. It's all about the color chemistry, finding the right blend across your natural shade, darkest tone, and lightest tone."

The (Low) Maintenance Plan
Rez tells us that the best part about the mid-light shading technique is that it allows you to go longer between appointments — up to six months. Like most colorists, Rez recommends a gentle, sulfate-free routine to help keep your color rich and shiny during this time, favoring brands like Ouai or Kristin Ess.

He also recommends steering clear of protein-packed conditioners, which can cause breakage if overused, and to incorporate a color-extending mask every couple of washes. Here's to getting squeezed into your colorist this Thanksgiving holiday so you're set for the rest of the year — and beyond.

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Gift guide season is one of our favorites. For editors, it offers us the chance to dream while also filling out our own personal gift lists. Which we're grateful for because whether we realize it or not, it's easy to fall into the same gift-buying routine. Unless someone's hinted at exactly what they wants, we hit up the same stores (usually on Black Friday) and buy the same safe presents in lieu of the unique. Say sayonara to that routine because this year, it’s time to flex those creative muscles.

Gift-giving should be low-lift, high reward for both you and the person on the receiving end — and it shouldn't take tons of time, hemming, or hawing. To remove the stress from the equation and help put the magic back in, we’ve rounded up an easy-to-follow A to Z guide that offers a little something for everyone. Here's 26 goodies that'll make anyone smile.

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This is the time of year for celebrating friends, family, and faith; for helping others in need. But let's be real: It's also the time for shopping. And when it comes to beauty, Bath & Body Works ushers in the season with a nostalgia-filled wonderland — complete with holiday scents, sparkly bath bombs, and the epicenter of major deals. We're talking about the brand's Black Friday throwdown of course, so let's get into it.

Starting when stores open on Thursday (the majority will be open on Thanksgiving day) through Friday at 9 a.m. ET, the brand is resurrecting its most-requested fragrance, Forever Red, and offering every product in the lineup for $4.95 while supplies last. If the pomegranate, apple, and vanilla rum scent isn't your jam, you can stock up on anything else you please, as the entire store (including body care, candles, gift sets, and accessories) is discounted for a buy three, get three free-for-all. Important to note: The deals won't start until 4:30 p.m. ET for online shoppers, so we suggest hopping out for "cranberry sauce" earlier that afternoon.

On Friday only, you can also combine unlimited coupons in one transaction (which means you can stack as many discounted dollar amounts and free items, as long as what's purchased qualifies for each coupon.) Finally, the store is offering a product-filled tote bag (valued at $115) for $30 with a $30 purchase.

Got all that? Given that the stores are stocked with hundreds of products and more than 75 holiday scents alone, there's a lot to navigate here. Check out the finds we'd make a beeline for, ahead.

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“It was an unforgettable nightmare,” says Donna Beegle. In 2015, she and her family were attempting to travel in coach class from Houston to Portland on a United flight. Midway through, they were removed from the aircraft by police. The reason? The pilot “didn’t feel safe” flying with Beegle’s then-15-year-old daughter, Juliette, who has autism.

Juliette was experiencing low blood sugar that day. Like many people with autism, she has some specific sensory issues, one of which being that she only eats hot food. The family hadn’t been able to get her anything prior to the flight, and when they politely asked if they might be able to purchase one of the extra hot meals being served to first class passengers, they were repeatedly told no by crew members. Over the course of about an hour, Juliette began crying and was visibly agitated. Eventually, Beegle says, they were given some rice from one of the meals.

After that, Juliette was able to calm down, and by the time the plane made an emergency landing in Utah, she had settled quietly into a movie. “My husband and I both turned to each other thinking, oh my gosh, somebody probably had a heart attack or something,” Beegle remembers. But suddenly, the paramedics arrived at their aisle. Beegle explained the situation and said that Juliette was fine now. “[The paramedic] rolled his eyes and he said, ‘Oh my God, another over-reactive flight attendant.’”

That should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. The police were summoned. About ten minutes later, Beegle and her family were removed from the plane. They were eventually rebooked on a Delta flight. Beegle says both she and Juliette were “crushed” by in the incident and the lack of compassion displayed by United staff. They initially filed charges against the airline, but after the National Autism Society got involved and used the incident to broker with the airline for a staff training on how to better interact with people with developmental disabilities, they dropped all charges. Nevertheless, the interaction haunts them. “I cried and cried. I cried for the ignorance toward my daughter. It just broke my heart,” Beegle says.

This is just one entry on an ever-growing list of people who have been shamed, discriminated against, and otherwise wronged by major corporate airlines. There was the passenger who was violently dragged off an overbooked United flight, the dog who died on another flight by the same carrier after its owners were forced by staff to store it in an overhead bin, and the family with a toddler that was kicked off a Southwest flight because the child wouldn’t stop crying. A flight attendant reportedly instructed the two-year-old to “shut up.” All of these instances occurred in just the past year. This month, a passenger on a Delta flight sat in dog poop that had somehow been left in his seat from a service animal on a previous flight.

These stories and videos often go viral, followed by a brief period of outrage. We talk of boycotting. Sometimes there’s a lawsuit. (It’s usually settled out of court.) But rarely does any meaningful, lasting change occur. A few days or weeks pass, and there’s another ugly confrontation. Another child or animal or person with disabilities is mistreated. Another pile of dog shit, metaphorical or otherwise, waits atop a seat. The specifics may change, but the moral of the story does not: flying sucks.

Even if you’ve never personally experienced anything quite as dramatic as the Beegles did, air travel is, for many of us, a necessary inconvenience at best. If you have family members that live in different parts of the country or world, or have a job that requires you to visit different places regularly, you really don’t have much of a choice but to fly. Plus, traveling is fun and enriching. It expands our minds, fosters acceptance, and helps us to grow as human beings. But these days it feels like there are a lot of reasons to be wary of getting on a plane. There are the often inexplicable delays, which according to the Department of Transportation, happen on 15% of flights. There are the tiny seats, which have shrunken up to four inches over the past two decades, even as Americans themselves have gotten larger.

“The industry could make flying more comfortable, that meaning the bigger seats bigger with more legroom,” says Annette, a flight attendant with an unnamed carrier who asked that we not use her last name. “That would make it better for the passengers and the flight attendants. That would reduce revenue for the company and drastically increase airfares. We probably will never see this.”

The worst part, though, is that “you have to take whatever they give you because they can just take you off, and so you people put up with things they wouldn't normally put up with,” says Beegle. “When you're on a plane, you have no power."

The fact that we’re able to move people and objects from one place to another through the air is, if you think about it, very impressive. It’s safe to say air travel ranks pretty high within the canon of human achievement. But the evolution of flying from something absurdly rarefied to something increasingly akin to an airborne dictatorship leaves a lot of room for inquiry into why things are the way the are, what made them that way, and how they need to change.

There’s a constant push-pull within the airline industry that makes it feel like as soon as one thing gets better, another gets worse. For example, while an increasing number of planes have TV screens and charging ports, flights are still regularly delayed and overbooked. It’s the same with airports: While there are healthier food options and more electrical outlets, TSA security is time-consuming and seems to randomly change requirements based on which airport you’re in and even who happens to be on duty that day. There are many Band-Aids, but few opportunities to get at the larger issues of air travel, some of which have been festering below the surface for decades.

Kelsey Myers, a new mom who was traveling in May of this year, was attempting to board an already-delayed American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Chicago when she was told she’d have to check a bag containing her breast pump, even though she’d checked the rules on American’s website before the flight and the pump and its accoutrements had not been an issue when she had gone through her TSA screening that day.

It didn’t matter. The man in charge of boarding the flight was unfamiliar with all of this, and he wasn’t about to take Myers’ word for it. After an increasingly heated exchange, she requested he call his supervisor, who arrived on the scene seemingly uninterested in her side of the story.

“You’d think if it was a supervisor, they would know the rules, but also, if you are coming into a situation, that you would ask both parties involved what's going on,” she remembers.

After more heated back-and-forth, she gave up and said she’d check the bag with the breast pump equipment in it, despite the fact that she needed it, and later observed there was plenty of room in the overhead bins. But that wasn’t the end of it.

He asked her: "'do you have extra breast pump stuff in your luggage too?'" Myers recalls. "And I was like, actually I do have pumps in there. And then that's when she responded with: ‘uh, lady, how many boobs do you have?’”

Perhaps you’ve heard stories from your parents or grandparents about the golden days of air travel. In the 1950s and ‘60s, flying was a glamorous affair worth getting dressed up for. So-called “flying boats” glided through the sky as well-heeled passengers sipped stiff cocktails from the comfort of their plush, roomy seats. “Air hostesses” were, in a way, the equivalent of today’s Instagram influencers — young, beautiful, well-travelled and even better dressed. People smoked and socialized and ate three-course meals from 35,000 feet. It was like a cocktail party in the sky, and the sentimentality over this era is well-established in everything from Chrissy Teigen’s 2017 birthday party to a Pan Am-themed restaurant in Los Angeles, which for $300 a head recreates the experience of flying in the ‘50s.

But for all the storied glitz and glamour, flying was also prohibitively expensive, a luxury only afforded to the upper class. “The full fare was probably the equivalent of a secretary’s monthly salary,” according to Guillaume de Syon, Ph.D, a professor of history at Albright College. “Very few people could afford it.” And those pretty young airline staffers faced sexism and discrimination, forced to, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, meet job requirements like being unmarried, maintaining a maximum weight of 135 pounds, and wearing a “well-fitted girdle” at all times.

Competition between airlines to make flying more accessible began in the late ‘60s, De Syon says. The proliferation of fanjets enabled planes that could both fly faster and carry more passengers. Propeller planes faded away, and airlines began flying to a wider range of destinations.

A deregulation act passed in 1978 dissolved the Civil Aeronautics Board, which had strictly regulated airlines as a public utility, including disallowing them to sell tickets below a certain price point, and only approving one or two carriers to fly on a given route. For years, the government had hoped to curtail competition between airlines through these regulations.

Suddenly, it was a free market — meaning carriers could more or less fly where they wanted, charge what they wanted, and serve passengers how they wanted. The pomp and circumstance didn’t immediately disappear, but many in the industry see this as the beginning of the end for flying’s glamorous days. By the early 1980s, ultra low-cost airlines had sprung up everywhere, and others had to struggle to compete.

Deregulation also led to the shrinking of seats, which have been whittled down over the years from 18 to just 16 inches wide. The “pitch” of the seat, which accounts for legroom, has shrunk from 35 to 31 inches on average in coach class. Some seats, on budget airlines like Frontier and Spirit, have pitches that go as low as 28 inches. Meanwhile, American men and women are both significantly heavier on average than they were in 1960. Consumer advocates have been arguing against the so-called “incredible shrinking airline seat” for years, but earlier this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration rejected a rule that would have imposed a minimum size restriction on seats, arguing that seat size has no impact on passenger safety.

This isn’t to say that deregulation was a bad thing. Without it, the vast majority of people would probably not be able to afford to fly today. But by the time four planes were hijacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001, the experience of flying was already trending toward the unpleasant. Then—quite literally overnight—there was an extreme tightening of security measures, which extended from the substantial pre-boarding procedures we’ve grown accustomed to today (shoes off, laptops out, pockets empty, etc.) to heightened levels of caution from staffers when dealing with passengers aboard the aircrafts themselves.

There was also a sudden, drastic reduction in passenger demand. According to the International Air Transport Association, airlines experienced a $22 billion revenue drop between 2000 and 2001. That led to a government bailout of several airlines, lest the whole American air travel system effectively collapse.

In an effort to recoup funds lost after the attacks, airlines began charging extra for things like checked luggage, and even as their profit margins have corrected, those fees have mysteriously stuck around. A joint study by IdeaWorks Company and Cartrawler revealed that in 2017, global airline carriers took home a whopping $82 billion from these kinds of fees, with $57 billion of that going to US-based carriers.

“It’s a bit of a cliche, but 9/11 took away the innocence of flying — the sense that you could go and, for example, meet your party at the plane in United States. There were some very civilized elements that still existed in the US that were gone after that,” de Syon says.

Meanwhile, in the past decade, mega-mergers of airlines have led to decreased competition, which means pricier flights and increasingly lackluster customer service. “You have four airlines that control over 80 percent of traffic [in the US],” explains Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare, a company that curates deals on flights and hotels. “So the fact that each of those airlines has effectively divided up the country by city and there's only a handful of cities with really, really good competition has essentially made it more difficult for people to find a cheaper ticket there.”

The so-called “big four” that Seaney refers to are American, United, Delta, and Southwest, and it’s estimated that nine out of ten domestic flights are operated by one of those carriers. If you wanted to boycott one of these airlines, but you still want to visit your parents without defaulting on your student loan, the logistics are not in your favor.

From the perspective of flight attendants, it’s passenger behavior that is at the root of the problem.

“We are to de-escalate when we can, and assume we are being videoed. If I am unable to de-escalate, I would leave and have a flying partner step in. She may have a totally different approach that works. We do not want any confrontations onboard,” explains Annette, the flight attendant. She says that within the company she works for, there have been numerous conversations about how to minimize these type of flare-ups between employees and passengers. And that the first priority is to focus on safety, not comfort.

Annette cites factors like sleep deprivation, stress, and excessive consumption of alcohol as common reasons why some passengers become aggravated on and around airplanes, and take their anger out on them. The high cost of airport food and parking, hassles they may have experienced getting through TSA, and confusion navigating the concourse can also rev up passengers, she explains. None of these are factors the airlines themselves have much control over, but, flight attendants bare the brunt of the complaints, she says. “A passenger finally finds their gate, and they hustle to get onboard, find their seat, and put their bag in the overhead compartment. Just as they think they get to relax, here I come, asking them to put their tray table up.”

And yet, it’s likely none of this will ever get fixed. Because even in an era where everything from feminine hygiene products to money transfers have been “disrupted” by eagle-eyed innovators, no Elon Musk-type has really emerged with big promises to do it all better. The closest is Richard Branson, whose beloved airline Virgin was absorbed and then retired by Alaska Airlines in 2017 following a struggle for profitability. Branson referred to the watering down and eventual termination of the brand as a “castration.” Because Virgin was a US-registered airline, Branson and his foreign businesses were unable to control voting interests during the acquisition

“It was a long and hard journey but in the end you are the best consumer airline in America. You invented concepts like ‘moodlighting’ and ‘on-demand food,’ you reinvented cabin amenities from seat-to-seat chat to Netflix in the sky. You chose warm and soothing pink to purple moodlighting that transitions based on outside light,” Branson wrote in a farewell letter to the airline. “You proved it is possible to run a business with a strategy that does not rely on low fares and a dominant position alone: you attracted premium flyers with a fun and beautiful guest experience."

There are several companies, including FareCompare, Hopper, and Hipmunk, who purport to make finding a deal on flights easier. And, hey, when you’re paying something like $200 (as opposed to $500) for a flight, maybe you’re less likely to be annoyed when the seat is small and the food is bad and it’s delayed an hour and a half.

But when it comes to actually revamping the experience of flying, that’s easier said than done, apparently even for someone with the resources, vision, and business acumen of Richard Branson. As you might imagine, it costs a lot to run an airline. There are countless regulations and tons of red tape to navigate. And it’s almost impossible to compete with industry behemoths like American and United, even as they continue to bungle interactions with passengers. While most airlines do undoubtedly want to create better PR for themselves, there’s little financial reason for them to make real, substantive changes. For a country that so values competition and choice, we have very little of it.

A 2016 survey by Airlines for America shows that, for all we like to complain, more people are flying than ever before. As Annette revealed, the biggest thing on carrier’s minds isn’t how to make flying more pleasant, or even how to cut down on heated altercations between their staff and passengers, but simply how to squeeze more people onto aircrafts to meet this demand (and, yes, turn a profit).

Thatcher A. Stone, a prominent aviation lawyer who has argued cases for people discriminated against or harmed by airlines, thinks there are accessible solutions: “If they gave you a box of chocolates, a pair of earplugs and either a toy for a kid or a newspaper for an adult as you walked on the airplane or as you left the gate… [Passengers would] have a sugar high from the chocolates. They’d plug their earphones in and they wouldn't bother anybody. They’d listen instead of talk, and then they’d read and watch, the kids would play with the toy. But [the airlines are] not smart enough to do that, which is unfortunate.”

To be fair, certain airlines are taking small steps in that direction: Delta, which already offers complimentary beer and wine on all international flights, recently revealed that it’s testing out offering three-course meals and gratis champagne in economy class on flights between Portland and Tokyo. American has decided to allow early boarding for people with nut allergies, giving them time to properly sterilize their seat and tray table. These small comforts probably won’t do a lot to mitigate the stress felt by people regularly victimized by racial profiling, sizeism, and other types of discrimination that still run rampant on planes, in airports, and during TSA screenings. And they also won’t fix the problem of delayed flights and insensitive staffers and insulting $75 vouchers. But they are, at least, an acknowledgment on the parts of airlines that a lot of people are pissed off — and that if there is, for example, the ever-looming threat of accidentally sitting in dog poop (or something like that), they have every right to be.

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Sometimes when you see a 20% off sale, you think: Eh, I'll be fine skipping this one because how much am I really saving. That is, unless we're talking about Glossier. Emily Weiss and Co. only post sales once a year, so this is your only chance to refill your Boy Brow and Lash Slick mascara for the cheap. And that's as good a reason as any to throw all your sale hesitation (and hard-earned cash) out the pale-pink penthouse showroom window.

From Black Friday through Cyber Monday — Friday, November 23 to Monday, November 26 — Glossier will be offering its only sale of the year. The deal: 20% off everything, both in stores and online.

This only happens once a year, so we suggest stocking up on everything you need for yourself, your little sister's stocking, and your best friend's Secret Santa gift while you can walk away with some savings. If you're not sure where to begin, scroll through to see our seven Glossier must-haves.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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If it's your job to bring the wine to this year's Thanksgiving celebration, consider yourself lucky. Yes, choosing a few bottles of wine that will satisfy all the guests at your gathering seems like a daunting task. You'll want options that appeal to many different palettes, compliment a slew of different dishes, and, perhaps most importantly, the bottles should be affordable enough that you'll still have money left over for Black Friday shopping. That's a lot to ask of just a few bottles, but it turns out, wines that tick all those boxes aren't all that hard to find.

To prove it, we asked wine educators, wine directors, and sommeliers for their best Thanksgiving recommendations. Each of their selections is under $12 and will bring a little something special to dinner. If providing the wine wasn't the Thanksgiving responsibility you wanted to get stuck with, ahead you'll find over 15 bottles to help you see that you got one of the better tasks. No cooking, no expensive ingredients, and no sourcing a gluten-free pie for you this year.

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After working stints in marketing for Essence magazine, sales for Turner Broadcast, and social media at MTV, Michelle Dalzon decided to do something about the lack of what she felt like was a central place where conscious-minded shoppers could support Black-owned brands. Enter theBOM (Black-owned market), an Instagram-based pop-up concept Dalzon created in 2016 with the purpose “to support and grown Black-owned businesses by connecting them with their intended consumers.” Its mission, plain and simple, is to “increase the circulation of the Black dollar by creating a destination where people can shop conveniently with Black brands they love.”

No reindeer games at @ourbomdotcom’s anniversary weekend. Doing it again TODAY 2-7pm! — Shoutout to @muehlederofficial #blackowned 😘 and makeup by @_richkiss 😘

A post shared by Michelle Dalzon (@michelledalzon) on Dec 17, 2017 at 8:55am PST

Dalzon curates the brands on theBOM’s Instagram and then offers her followers the chance to shop IRL at pop-ups throughout the year. “A directory isn’t tangible, you can’t interact with it," Dalzon tells Refinery29. “I wanted to create an experience that you walk away from feeling nourished. It really inspires people,” she explains. “I read alarming stats about Black commerce in general; for instance, Black people have over 1.2 trillion dollars in buying power but only two cents of every dollar goes back into Black-owned businesses. I wanted to makes sure these business got their due as well as their coin.”

Social media is, of course, a huge part of her company's DNA. “I follow a lot of the brands and I’ve found [that] birds of the small business vendor community tend to flock together, so I’ll get recommendations for other vendors as well. My base is primarily things I have already shopped and can vouch for their quality,” she explains. “I feel like, a lot of times with Black-owned brands, there are these myths about them — they’re low on quality, they don’t exist, or they’re too expensive, and I wanted to be sure that I dispelled those myths at theBOM by having a variety of different price ranges but also quality products that actually told a story.”

And Dalzon is just the person to bring this vision to life. As she tells Refinery29, “every position I’ve had up until this point has lead me to this point and being a brand marketer, I know what it takes to make something look visually appealing but also telling a really good story for Black-owned brands on a platform that is outside of the norm.” Once Dalzon moves the experience “offline” to the pop-up space, theBOM creates an individualized booth for each brand within the space.

“It’s very important for me to build community. I think that’s why this year, I’m stepping back from doing so many pop-ups to focus on the consumer, the shopper, and the vendor. Those are my clients, and I really want to serve them to the best of my ability. We are social media-first because that's where the community is.”

Dalzon’s next pop-up is happening Saturday, November 24 in Brooklyn (click here for tickets), and in the preparation, follow theBOM on Instagram and watch the video below for a peek inside her last offering.

The Black community has over $1 trillion in buying power💰but only 2 cents of every Black dollar goes back into the community. 💸 That's why "the BOM" — a bi-annual pop-up market for and by Black people — is so important.

A post shared by Unbothered (@r29unbothered) on Jan 2, 2018 at 3:18pm PST

This story was originally published January 2, 2018.

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We're pretty confident when we say the things in the many, many gift guides we're publishing this year aren't just for women. We know plenty of people who'd get a kick out of a bonsai forest growing kit, a leather iPhone case — hell, even these light-up chopsticks — regardless of their gender. But for every bra set and tube of mascara we've put into a gift guide, the slideshow ahead should give you ideas for those on your shopping list who prefer things on the other end of the spectrum.

And trust us when we say there’s something for everyone. We’ve got presents for your uncle, your brother, your father, and your half-cousin twice-removed — and, lest we not forget your S.O., your work bro, wingman, and best friend who has an uncanny ability to pick the best spot for dinner. What's more, we're also catering to those whose style is influenced by their respective coasts, meaning we didn't forget you surfers out there, too.

Click through to see what we’ve got on our lists, from a shaving kit all the way to cashmere goodies they'll want to wear to sleep.

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‘Tis almost the season for holiday festivities, family commitments, travel plans, and gift giving, all of which can lead to plenty of stress on both you and your bank account. Fortunately, Amazon is making it easy for you to save, while still getting your holiday shopping done.

Well ahead of the usual post-TurkeyDay rush, the online retailer has released their early Black Friday deals with sales and discounts on everything from electronics and toys and every foodie’s favorite items – kitchen necessities.

From sleek and stainless steel coffee makers to blenders, roaster ovens, trendy Instant Pots, and air fryers, we’ve rounded up the best of Amazon’s Black Friday kitchen deals to help you shop smarter, not harder this season. And we promise not to judge if you throw an extra one of any of these into the cart for yourself either.

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We've heard the warning before: "Winter is coming." In fact, we heard it for about seven seasons of Game of Thrones. Still, not once during Jon Snow's defense against the White Walkers did we see him ready his skin for the inevitably harsh winds and icy climate past the Wall. Luckily, we're planning on being far more prepared this winter than Snow was.

It's time to face the facts: The moment the seasons change — from a moderately crisp fall to brick-cold winter — your skin suffers first. "As temperatures fall and the air gets drier, your skin pays the price," says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD. In frigid conditions the skin is less able to protect itself. "This can lead to cracks in the outer layer of skin, loss of hydration, and ultimately, inflammation," he says.

So, how do you combat the sort of climate that leaves your skin dull, dehydrated, and defeated? You need a major skin-care upgrade. Both Dr. Zeichner and dermatologist Jennifer MacGregor, MD, suggest using thicker moisturizers equipped to protect the skin's barrier. Another skin saver? Kinder, gentler cleansers that hydrate (rather than harsh exfoliating or foam formulations), since skin irritation can increase along with dryness in colder weather.

Finally, an effort to hyper-hydrate and soothe the skin should never come at the cost of ditching daily sun protection. Sure, you may not be seeing as much of the sun, but UVA rays — the aging and cancer-causing ones that penetrate through windows and clouds, and into the deepest layer of skin — are still kicking, all day, every day.

As you continue to battle the elements, here’s how to keep your skin glowing.

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Your Official Guide To The Best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Beauty Sales

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Most years, we shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday on an impulse. For most of November, you think, I should skip shopping this year — you know, save some money. Then the day after Thanksgiving hits. You're laying in bed, still stuffed with turkey (or tofurkey, if that's more your thing), and open your inbox to an email that says [insert your favorite store here] is offering 75% off everything. Any rational person would hit Add to Cart as fast as their fingers will allow, right?

Still, no matter how good of a deal you got , you can't help but wonder how much more you could have saved had you been able to map out a shopping strategy ahead of time. Luckily, we have your plan: a list of all the beauty brands and big-box retailers (think Amazon and Target) that will be offering can't-miss deals over Black Friday weekend.

Read on to see the most legit 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday beauty deals — from a free Sisley Black Rose face mask (as in, $0 when it's normally $162) to a once in a lifetime Diptyque candle offer — and be sure to keep this guide handy; We'll be updating the list as we learn more.

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Whether you're blessed with naturally voluminous lashes or not, a set of lengthy or dramatic falsies can add a ton of glamour to any makeup look in a matter of seconds. But despite the growing number of people adding false lashes to their beauty routines, the common misconception surrounding them is that they're difficult to apply or look too obvious.

There are, however, lots of different types of false lashes that can be tailored to exactly what you're looking for, whether it's something super-natural or the total opposite. It's all about picking the right pair and knowing how to apply them. Wondering where to start? We've rounded up the best false lashes and a few tips on how to wear 'em, ahead.

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Aside from the awkward family debates dripping in political tension at the dinner table, there are plenty of things to look forward to in the next month, like cozy candles, festive cocktails, and Netflix finally dropping the sequel to A Christmas Prince. But even better than all that: it's gift set season at Sephora.

During the holiday season, retailers roll out a ton of new gift sets that include three, four, even five products inside that make paying the higher price tag totally worth it. Even better, sometimes the sets are discounted so, essentially, you're getting some products for free. Sure, the products are a smaller, TSA-friendly size, but when it comes to the jet-setters or commitment-phobes in your life, they'll never have a shortage of product options to choose from.

Ahead, 11 beauty gift sets that'll satisfy everyone on your list this year.

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Your Official Guide To The Best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Beauty Sales

Black Friday is a shopping day dedicated to holiday sales that annually take place the day after Thanksgiving. But lately, the once day-long celebration has grown into a week-long event — an event that retailers are christening, "Black Friday Week." Mega site Amazon is at the forefront of alleviating our shopping-associated stress by turning the former fierce and frenzied store holiday into a more palatable and gradual, at-home affair with a boatload of early deal drops.

In addition to sales on popular tech gear and essential kitchen gadgets, Amazon is also currently offering an impressive lineup of discounted home buys — with up to 40% off a wide selection of goods, including items from cult-favorite brand exclusives like Rivet and Stone & Beam. The slashed-price finds range from big-ticket furniture to artful area rugs, rustic coffee tables, stylish ottomans with secret storage, mattresses, unique decor pieces, and much more.

No need to put your shoes on, just sit down and check out the best of Amazon's Black Friday Week home buys available ahead. This year, we're staying home post-Turkey Day and shopping in slippers while the sales continue to simmer on through November 23.

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Pete Davidson has a history of imprinting the women in his life onto his body, for better or for worse. Last December, over a year after the fateful 2016 election, he got Hillary Clinton tattooed on his arm; this year, Davidson spent the majority of his summer rubbing Aquaphor on his body for Ariana Grande -inspired ink. And just today, at exactly 3:12 a.m., he added another famous woman to his collection: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

This might come as a shock to some Davidson fans, since just last month the comedian made it clear how he felt about getting more impulsive tattoos — especially ones dedicated to females. While co-hosting the comedy show Judd & Pete for America with Judd Apatow, Davidson referred to his recent breakup, and the multiple removal appointments he'd have to sit through. "I'm fucking 0 for 2 in the tattoo [department]. Yeah, I'm afraid to get my mom tattooed on me, that's how bad it is," Davidson told the crowd, joking that he's spent so much time covering up ink of past flames — Cazzie David and Grande — that he won't be quite as "stupid" (his words, not ours) the next time around.

Well, that lasted about a month, because now he's got the "Notorious" RBG's face tattooed on his right shoulder. On the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, Davidson and co-star Chris Redd paid homage to RBG's work on the Supreme Court and how she's the "one lady holding the whole damn thing together." Evidently, Davidson left inspired — so much so that he ran to tattoo artist Jon Mesa in the wee hours of the morning to get Ginsburg's likeness permanently etched into his skin.

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#notoriousrbg #liveforever

A post shared by Dave Sirus (Brick Stone) (@davesirus) on Nov 21, 2018 at 1:25am PST

The previous women may have taught Davidson love, patience, and pain, but we think this one gon' last. Why? If a couple of fractured ribs can't keep RBG down, then Davidson's love certainly won't.

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On Wednesday, Dolce & Gabbana was forced to abruptly cancel plans for a multimillion dollar, one-hour runway show in Shanghai, China – after designer Stefano Gabbana allegedly posted racist remarks on his personal Instagram, causing China's biggest celebrities to pull out of attending the show, WWD is reporting.

Diet Prada, the fashion industry's watchdog Instagram account, caught the since-deleted posts in which Gabbana appears to say “From now on in all the interview [sp] that I will do international I will say that the country of [series of poop emojis] is China” and “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia,” the trade paper noted.

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As @dolcegabbana prepares to mount their next runway show in Shanghai this coming evening (7:30PM) and the rest of Instagram fawns over what’s sure to be an overly lavish “love letter” to China, we’ll be wondering if we’ll see chopsticks as hair ornaments, take-out boxes as purses, or even kimonos misappropriated as Chinese costume. Time will tell. For now, we’ll let y’all simmer on this DM between Stefano and Dieter @michaelatranova (chronology is reversed in slides). Word has it that they’re still in the process of model casting (over 200 Asian girls scheduled)...wouldn’t let them walk the show if we were their agents lol. Also, curious what the Chinese government will think of their country being called shit basically...especially considering how strict they are on who to allow to enter the country on work visas based on a thorough social media background checks. • #DGTheGreatShow #DGlovesChina #runway #fashionshow #cancelled #racism #dolceandgabbana #altamoda #rtw #dgmillennials #stefanogabbana #shanghai #chinese #china #wtf #dumb #lame #asianmodel #asian #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Nov 20, 2018 at 7:05pm PST

Both Gabbana and the brand have each posted apologies on their respective accounts claiming the designer was hacked. "My Instagram account has been hacked. My legal office is working on this. I love China and the Chinese Culture. I’m so sorry for what happened," Gabbana wrote on his personal page. “Our Instagram account has been hacked. So has the account of Stefano Gabbana," the Italian fashion house posted on Wednesday. "Our legal office is urgently investigating. We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorized posts. We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China."

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#DGlovesChina ? More like #DGdesperateforthatChineseRMB lol. In a bid to further appeal to luxury's covetable Chinese consumers, @dolcegabbana released some hella offensive “instructional” videos on the usage of chopsticks. Pandering at it's finest, but taken up a notch by painting their target demographic as a tired and false stereotype of a people lacking refinement/culture to understand how to eat foreign foods and an over-the-top embellishment of cliché ambient music, comical pronunciations of foreign names/words, and Chinese subtitles (English added by us), which begs the question—who is this video actually for? It attempts to target China, but instead mocks them with a parodied vision of what modern China is not...a gag for amusement. Dolce & Gabbana have already removed the videos from their Chinese social media channels, but not Instagram. Stefano Gabbana has been on a much-needed social media cleanse (up until November 2nd), so maybe he kept himself busy by meddling with the marketing department for this series. Who wants to bet the XL cannoli “size” innuendos were his idea? Lmao. • #dolceandgabbana #altamoda #rtw #dgmillennials #stefanogabbana #shanghai #chinese #italian #cannoli #meme #wtf #dumb #lame #chopsticks #foodie #tutorial #cuisine #italianfood #asianmodel #asian #chinesefood #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Nov 19, 2018 at 6:39am PST

The issue here is that the debacle stemmed from a series of social media posts teasing the runway show, in which an Asian model attempts to eat various Italian foods with a pair of chopsticks. The videos were hashtagged #DGLovesChina. According to Jing Daily, a site dedicated to reporting on China's luxury market, the videos depicted Chinese culture in an outdated and racist way. The posts drew such criticism so quickly, the fashion label deleted them from its Weibo (a Chinese social platform) but they remain on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, according to WWD.

This isn't the first time Dolce & Gabbana has come under fire for controversial opinions. Gabbana has publicly and very proudly supported Melania Trump, chastising detractors with a #Boycott T-shirt, and then there was that time the brand tried to sell a "slave sandal" for $2,395.

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Welcome to Away Game, a Refinery29 series where we tag along as real millennial women embark on trips around the world and track their travel expenses down to the last cent. Here, we offer a detailed, intimate account of when, where, and how our peers spend their vacation days and disposable income: all the meals, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises.

This week's travel diary: A 32-year-old life insurance underwriter spends 20 days on a solo adventure, touring Croatia.

Open to tracking your travel expenses during an upcoming trip? Email us at traveldiary@refinery29.com.

Age: 32
Occupation: Life Insurance Underwriter
Salary: $70,500
Travel Companions: None
Hometown: Herndon VA (Washington DC Suburbs)
Trip Location: Croatia

Annual # Of Vacation Days: I accrue a total of 4 weeks/year and rolled over 3 weeks from 2017.
Trip Length: 3 weeks

Transportation: I flew from Washington Dulles to Zagreb, with a layover in Frankfurt (same on return). Within Croatia I flew from Zagreb to Dubrovnik.
Flights: D.C. to Zagreb: $1075 (This included extra charges for Economy Plus seating.)
Zagreb to Dubrovnik: $77

Total: $1,152

Accommodations: I was city-hopping a lot so I stayed in a variety of hotels and Airbnbs. I am not a fan of hostels or shared accommodations, am willing to pay for good location, and the hotel stays included breakfast so this is where I spent the most. Total cost of accommodations was $1772.

2 nights in Zagreb hotel: $178
5 nights in hotel in LaPad neighborhood of Dubrovnik: $481
2 nights in Split Airbnb: $121
3 nights in Hvar Airbnb: $188
2 nights in Split hotel: $249
5 nights in Zagreb hotel: $555

Total: $1,772

Pre-vacation spending: Croatian language audio course: $54.95
I thought it would be a good idea to try to learn some of the native language before I went, and I had a $40 off coupon code for a Pimsleur course. It was surprisingly easy to learn enough to speak conversationally and ask directions, but I rarely actually needed to since most people I cam in contact with spoke perfect English.

Post-vacation spending:
None. Thankfully my brother cat/house sat for free since he lives so close and was happy to live alone without his 3 roommates.

Day One

4 p.m. — I arrive in Zagreb and am out of the airport in less than 10 minutes since I didn’t check a bag and the airport is so tiny. I stop at an ATM to grab some cash and try to pull up the Uber app on my phone to get a car to my hotel. Despite having a connection I can't get the app to find my location, so I give up and grab a waiting taxi. The driver is really nice and chatty, telling me about all the areas we are passing during the 30-minute drive to the hotel. $30

5 p.m. — I check into my hotel and immediately shower and promptly fall asleep. Jet lag + travel grime is just the worst. I purposefully planned a day and a half in Zagreb just to adjust and relax, so I’m not missing anything by sleeping early, and I saved money being too tired to eat dinner.

Daily Total: $30

Day Two

7 a.m. — I wake up, get dressed, and head to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I fill up, making the most of the meal included in the price of my stay, and head out into the city.

10 a.m. — I’ve been wandering a while just looking around and getting the lay of the land, and am now headed to the Britanski Trg antique market. The actual square is smaller than I expected from the photos I’d seen, but the place is jam-packed with vendors. I walk around a bit and then grab a seat at a neighboring cafe, have a coffee, and people watch for a while. It’s a beautiful day so I decide to walk to the botanical gardens instead of taking the tram. The gardens are free to enter and are beautiful, so I spend a long time walking around. Jet lag starts to creep up on me again so I make my way back to the hotel for a nap. $2

6 p.m. — After my big breakfast I just snacked on a Kind bar I brought with me for lunch, so when I wake up after a 2 hour nap my stomach is growling. I leave the hotel and head up the street to a restaurant I’d read about called Heritage. It’s super small with only enough seating for about 6-8 people, and I grab the only open stool at the bar along the wall. I order a glass of white wine and some Croatian tapas, and when the server brings the food and wine over he points out what region of the country every ingredient is from on a map that’s hanging on the wall in front of me. It’s all delicious, and I’m glad I got there when I did because people are starting to come by and get upset that there are no seats available. When I finish I’m stuffed, and when I get the bill and figure out the cost in USD I’m shocked how much I got for so little. $9

7:30 p.m. — I walk over to Ban Jelačić Square and do some more people watching for a bit, before walking back to my hotel for the night. I’m still dragging and want to get plenty of sleep so I can hit Dubrovnik running tomorrow.

Daily Total: $11

Day 3

8 a.m. — I sleep in a bit today and head to breakfast. I fill up again and then go back to my room to pack up my things, check out, and get an Uber to the airport. $17

2 p.m. — I’ve landed in Dubrovnik and after a little difficulty finding my Uber driver, I’m on my way to my hotel. I’m staying in Lapad, which is an area filled with hotels and restaurants down a pedestrian walkway. My driver’s GPS tells him to drop me off in the parking lot behind a different hotel because it’s the closest a car can go, but I don’t have to drag my suitcase too far. I check-in to my hotel, get settled, and shower. $32.75

4 p.m. — I head out and hop on the #7 bus out to the Old City. When I get out at the Pile Gate there are so many people it's difficult to walk. I walk around for a few hours just taking in the sights, popping into stores, and looking around. I’m going to be in this city a while so I’m not in a rush, and don’t buy any souvenirs yet. $1.80

6:30 p.m. — I’ve been checking out restaurant menus as I walk around and I finally sit down at one and order a glass of white wine, and a pasta dish with figs. After dinner I walk around and window shop some more, and then head out the Pile Gate back to the bus stop. There are so many people I have to wait while 2 busses fill up before I actually get on one. $13.80

9 p.m. — I get back to Lapad and walk down to the beach to take in the view for a bit, and then head back to the hotel for the night.

Daily Total: $65.35

Day 4

8 a.m. — I wake up and go down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and then go catch the #7 bus back to the Pile Gate for a tour I booked for the day. I’m going on a Game of Thrones walking tour and am supposed to look for my guide in the square outside the gate holding a GoT flag, which isn’t super helpful because there are at least 3 of them. I eventually find the group and we set off. For 4 hours we walk all around the Old City and Fort Lovrijenac. I hit 10K steps in no time. The guide is great, not only showing stills from the show to compare to the buildings and sights we’re looking at, but also telling us a ton about the history of the city. I learned a lot more than I expected from a Game of Thrones -themed tour, and we covered a lot of ground. I chose to add on a trip to the Trsteno Arboretum so after the majority of the group departs, three of us get into a van with the tour guide and a driver and take a lovely 30 minute ride along the coast. There is no one else in the arboretum so we have the place to ourselves as we walk around checking out the filming location of many of the scenes that take place in the palace gardens in season 3 and 4 and learn a lot about the place’s interesting history. $148.60

5 p.m. — I’m dropped back at the Pile Gate entrance and I hop on a bus back to Lapad. I’m starving so I stop at the only fast food option near my hotel and grab a chicken wrap. Thankfully I carry a collapsible water bottle and Dubrovnik’s Old City has a few large public fountains, so I’m finding I don’t need to spend money on bottled water. $3.80

7 p.m. — I head down to the beach to hang out and read, and watch the sunset. I end up chatting with another solo traveler who was doing the same and we decide to go get a drink at a nearby bar. He picks up the tab and we agree to meet up tomorrow so I can buy lunch.

Daily Total: $152.41

Day 5

8 a.m. — Breakfast at the hotel again and off to the bus stop and back to Pile Gate. I walk to the entrance of the Mount Srd cable car and buy a one-way ticket. The view of the Old City and the Adriatic sea on the way up are stunning, and once I get to the top I spend some time taking in the view and snapping some pictures. Then I head to the Homeland War Museum and spend quite a while looking at the exhibits. It’s amazing to see the pictures and videos of the destruction in the Old City and think about just how recently the devastation occurred. Watching some of the videos brought me to tears. After the museum I take a leisurely hike down the mountain on a trail that zig-zags under the cable car route. $16.30

2 p.m. — I meet up with the guy I met the night before, for lunch. We share a pizza and have a couple beers each, and I pay. We walk around the city a bit and sit chatting at the docks. He leaves to meet a walking tour and I head to the modern art museum. I buy a ticket that also allows entrance to a few other museums I’ll visit later. $36.28

8 p.m. — Back to Lapad on the bus. I stop for dinner at a cafe whose outdoor tables have bench swings instead of chairs. I have a salad and some wine, and people watch while street cats crowd around begging for food. $14.70

Daily Total: $67.28

Day 6

6 a.m. — I’m up early for breakfast today. During my walking tour earlier in the week the guide mentioned that there were going to be four cruise ships in Dubrovnik today so the city would be packed. I decided not to be where the crowds are and booked a small-group tour of Montenegro on Viator. $53.85

7 a.m. — The minibus picks me up near the bus stop and after picking up a few more tourists we’re on our way. The guide is friendly and knowledgeable, and speaks Croatian, English, Spanish, and German fluently! We spend the day driving around the Bay of Kotor and stopping in Perast, Kotor, and Budva. The whole day I feel like someone dropped me in the middle of a postcard, it’s so beautiful.

2 p.m. — Walking around the old city in Kotor I do some souvenir shopping. I buy a few brightly decorated ceramic bowls and a spoon rest since I recently broke the one I had in my kitchen. I also pick up a couple magnets, and a pair of pretty teal and white ceramic stud earrings. $56.16

4 p.m. — We have more time than is really necessary to walk around Budva on our own. The old city is small and the rest of the city is lots of shops and high-rises, so I just walk around the old city and grab late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant there. I have a glass of wine and some risotto before meeting the group again. It’s been a long day so I sleep most of the way back to Dubrovnik, waking up at border crossings to hand over my passport. $12.50

8:30 p.m. — I get dropped off at Lapad and am so thankful I don’t have to deal with the crowded busses at the Pile Gate tonight. I tip the guide and driver, and head back to the hotel because I. Am. Beat. $20

Daily Total: $142.51

Day 7

8 a.m. — Today is my last day in Dubrovnik. I have breakfast at the hotel and take the bus back to the Old City to walk the city walls. The entrance fee was included in the ticket for Fort Lovrijenac that was included in my tour earlier in the week. $1.80

11 a.m. — I walk around the Old City popping into a few small museums that are included with the ticket I bought to the art museum the other day, and I go shopping to get souvenirs I’ve been looking at all week. I get a magnet for myself and one for a friend, a pair of traditional filigree earrings in silver for myself and a gold pair for my mother, and some rose facial moisturizer from the oldest pharmacy in the city for a friend. The earrings and rose cream are very touristy purchases, but are also so typical of Dubrovnik that they are perfect reminders of my trip. $123.44

1 p.m. — I head to the docks on the other side of the Old City and hop on a boat to Lokrum island. The island has some nice hiking trails, a Game of Thrones exhibition center (the island was a filming location too), and amazing views. I spend the rest of my day exploring the island and trying very hard not to stop and pet all the adorable wild rabbits. They’re everywhere, and so are the peacocks. For lunch I snack on trail mix and fruit leather I brought from home. $6.14

8 p.m. — I take the bus back to Lapad and go to dinner at a cafe near the beach. A street cat sleeps next to me on a stone wall while I enjoy some prawn scampi — large whole prawns sauteed in tomato sauce and garlic — and it’s delicious. I also have two glasses of wine while I enjoy the view of the beach at sunset. $43.68

Daily Total: $173.26

Day 8

8 a.m. — I have breakfast at the hotel and pack up my things before jumping on the city bus to the bus station. Once there I buy a ticket and board a bus to Split. $20.97

5:30 p.m. — Traffic was heavy so the bus ride took nearly 6 hours, but the view along the coast for the whole drive was so beautiful I barely minded. I grabbed a hot dog at a rest stop on the way for lunch. I arrive in Split and walk to my Airbnb, which is only a half mile from the bus station. $1.53

8 p.m. — I’ve showered off the travel grime and head out to get something to eat. The old city area in Split is called Diocletian’s palace, and is the former vacation home of the emperor Diocletian. It’s packed with tourists, restaurants, and shops. I wander around checking out menus and pick a restaurant with a lamb dish that sounds really good, and has a great view of a plaza where lots of people are hanging out. It’s on the pricier side so I go without wine. Probably a good idea since I’m tired and haven’t eaten much, so I don’t need to be tipsy walking back to my Airbnb in a strange city. $26.84

Daily Total: $49.34

Day 9

9 a.m. — I leave my Airbnb and walk towards Diocletian’s Palace. On the way I stop at a market with vendors selling fruits and vegetables, and buy some fresh cherries that I eat for breakfast while sitting on a bench on the Riva with a view of the sea and boats. I walk around Diocletian’s Palace for an hour or so window shopping and getting lost down the narrow pathways. $2.30

12 p.m. — I go to Split’s gallery of fine arts and after that, Froggyland. Froggyland is a weird little tourist trap of a museum, but worth the visit and entrance fee. It houses the largest collection of taxidermied frogs, all posed in dioramas performing different activities. It was bizarre, but I kind of loved it. $15.30

2 p.m. — I grab a cheese pastry called a Börek from a bakery for lunch and eat it as I walk to the basement halls of Diocletian’s palace. This is another Game of Thrones filming location, but I’m not doing a tour and just plan on walking around myself. While I’m wandering the halls I run into a small GoT tour group and overhear the guide’s story about his experience as an extra in the fight scene where Barristan Selmy died, filmed in the hall where we were standing. $7.90

4 p.m. — I’m back at my Airbnb and pack a bag to go hang out at a nearby beach. I’m super pale and freckly and don’t fare well in the sun, so late afternoon or early evening is my ideal beach time. Bacvice beach is just under a mile from where I’m staying so I walk over and plotz on one of the few sand beaches in Croatia (most are rocky). I bring a book and my travel journal and spend a long time reading, writing, and relaxing before heading back.

9 p.m. — I go for dinner at a very busy restaurant just around the corner from my Airbnb. The place is packed and I’m told they don’t have space without a reservation, and the bar is too full for me to find a seat to eat there. As I go to leave a woman stops me and says she had a reservation for one and asks if I want to join her at the empty seat at her table. I jump at the chance and we have a great time. She was visiting from London with friends who just left that day, and her flight isn’t till the next morning. We share a bottle of wine and a traditional meat platter for two, and I can’t believe how lucky I was to be there at the same time as her! $40

Daily Total: $65.50

Day 10

9 a.m. — I have a few hours to kill before I have to check out of my Airbnb and catch a ferry, so I go back to the beach early today for a few hours. I bring the rest of my fresh cherries from yesterday and some trail mix for breakfast.

3 p.m. — After an hour on the ferry from Split, I’ve arrived on the island of Hvar. I make my way through Hvar town to the bus/taxi area where my Airbnb host is waiting to pick me up. The apartment is less than half a mile from the town but the driveway is up an incredibly steep hill, so they make a point to pick up guests in town and drive them up with their luggage, which is really nice. I get settled and have a shower cause it’s super hot out and I’m disgusting from dragging my luggage through Split and Hvar today. $6.12

6 p.m. — I walk down the hill and back into Hvar town for dinner. I skipped lunch in fear of getting sick on the ferry, so I’m famished. I walk around a bit and decide to stop at a restaurant with outdoor seating in a little square hidden between apartments. There are beautiful bougainvillea streaming from the apartment balconies around the tables, and it’s quiet away from the main street. I enjoy some fresh calamari, a salad, and a glass of wine. After dinner I get a gelato down in the main square and watch the sunset. $32

Daily Total: $38.12

Day 11

7 a.m. — I head out early because today I plan on hiking all day. I stop at a grocery store at the edge of Hvar town and grab a sandwich for lunch, a couple bananas, and box of what appear to be the Croatian version of Nutrigrain bars to eat for breakfast and snacks. $11.57

7 p.m. — I make it back to my Airbnb after a long day hiking. I went to the fortress atop a tall hill with beautiful views of Hvar town and the Pakleni islands, then walked just under 5 miles to an abandoned village called Malo Grablje. After wandering around there a bit I walked back to Hvar town and dragged myself up the hill to my Airbnb. I take a shower and plan to go into town for dinner but accidently fall asleep. When I wake up two hours later I can’t bear the thought of walking anywhere. I find a cabinet in the kitchen with a few half bags of pasta left by previous tourists, and some butter in the mini-fridge, so I make myself a bowl of buttered noodles for dinner and eat like a little kid.

Daily Total: $11.57

Day 12

9 a.m. — Today I book myself on a small group tour of the Pakleni islands. I have one of the bars I bought yesterday for breakfast as I wait to meet the boat in the Hvar town harbor. I booked the tour through Viator and it’s being run by a company called Amazing Hvar, a husband and wife duo who are so sweet and funny. There are seven of us on the tour: a couple from the UK, and mother and daughter from Canada, two cousins from the US, and me. $118.59

2 p.m. — After running into a pod of dolphins 15 minutes off the coast of Hvar, touring the amazing blue cave on the island Bisevo, hopping a few other islands, and eating sea urchin that our guide plucked from the ocean and pried open right in front of us, we’ve stopped at an island that has a few restaurants and a beach bar. We all end up at the same restaurant, and I share a table with the UK couple and American cousins. I order some risotto and a glass of wine, and our tour guides send glasses of sparkling wine to everyone. One of the Americans and I dominate the conversation for a little while after we discover we live within an hour of each other and are both big fans of the Washington Capitals. After we lament the fact that we haven’t been able to watch our boys playing in the Stanley Cup Finals while we’re traveling, we all head back to the boat. $22.96

6 p.m. — After the fantastic tour of the islands we get dropped off at the harbor in Hvar town. I walk back towards the parking/taxi area with the wife half of our guides and chat with her about the difficulties of owning a tourism business. They work 24/7 during the tourist season and it sounds incredibly stressful, but you’d never know from how well they ran the tour. I had so much fun with them and tell her so, thanking her profusely. I am a bit sunburnt, quite tired, and desperately want a shower so I decide to have dinner in and stop at the grocery store on the way out of town to pick up a sandwich and some fruit instead of going to a restaurant. $8.42

Daily Total: $149.97

Day 13

10 a.m. — I’m leaving Hvar today, but my ferry isn’t until the early afternoon so my Airbnb host has graciously offered to keep my luggage at the apartment after check-out and drive it down to the bus/taxi area just before my ferry. This is a huge help, and lets me plan on spending a few hours at the beach before I head back to Split. I pack a day-bag with some snacks and head down the hill to Hvar town. While walking past some cafes I swear I hear someone shouting my name and look around. I see the Canadian mother and daughter from my tour yesterday sitting at a table and waving at me. I make my way over and join them and we chat for a couple hours over coffee. $2.30

12 p.m. — We decide to move on to another cafe and grab lunch. My beach plans are clearly out the window now but I don’t mind at all. It was just a way to spend a few hours and I’d much rather do that while hanging out with these two ladies. We walk around until we settle on a cafe that serves quick sandwiches and salads. $6.90

2 p.m. — Before I know it it's time for me to meet my Airbnb host and pick up my luggage. I exchange phone numbers with the daughter so we can try to meet up when we’re both in Split in a few days. Unfortunately I wasn’t using WhatsApp and don’t think I put my number in her phone in the format for her to call/text a US number from Canada or abroad, so we never connect. $6.12

4 p.m. — I arrive back in Split and drag my luggage down the Riva and into Diocletian’s palace in search of my hotel. Thankfully I happened to walk past it while exploring Split in the days before I went to Hvar, otherwise it would’ve been difficult to find. It’s not far from one of the entrances to the palace but is up a few stairs in a corner that’s slightly away from the busy shops and restaurants. I check in and have a shower and a nap.

8 p.m. — My hotel has a dinner special in their restaurant for guests and I decide to take advantage because it’s so cheap, the restaurant gets good reviews on Trip Advisor, and the sample menu at check-in included a dish I’ve been meaning to try — Pašticada. The dish originates in the Dalmatian region, so I knew that Split was my last chance to really try it as I’d be leaving the coast soon. Dinner includes soup, main, and dessert for only 100 kuna (about $16), a price which seemed like a mistake since Split isn’t cheap. I order a nice glass of red wine and am told by the server that Pasticada isn’t an option on the hotel guest special menu that night. While I’m disappointed, I see the restaurant next door has it on their menu so I figure I’ll go there tomorrow and order something else tonight. When my main course comes, it’s Pašticada! It turns out the receptionist heard me being told I couldn’t have it. She went to the kitchen to tell the cook I’d mentioned wanting to try it, so they made an exception. I’m very thankful because it was DELICIOUS. It’s like a super rich and flavorful Croatian version of pot roast, but with better meat and a more involved recipe, and served with gnocchi. $23

Daily Total: $38.32

Day 14

8 a.m. — Today I’ve got an activity booked that I’ve really been looking forward to — I’m going ziplining in Omis, a town not far from Split that has a beautiful river gorge. I have breakfast at the hotel (included with my stay) and pack a day-bag with trail mix and a water bottle. I get picked up by a driver from the company I booked the activity through, Splitlicious. He tells me and the other people in the van to call him Dragon. He’s very friendly and has lived in the area his whole life so he points out places to go and makes suggestions as we may our way to Omis to check-in and pay for the excursion. $61

11 a.m. — With a group of about 10 other people and 2 guides, I’m driven halfway up a mountain and hike up the other half to the first of 8 ziplines. This first line is the longest at 700 meters long and 150 meters high, and even though we had a little training session on a practice line, I’m pretty nervous. As soon as my feet leave the platform the nerves go away because the view is amazing and it’s so much fun. Over the next couple hours my group mates and I zip back and forth across the gorge and trade phones and cameras so we can take pictures of each other coming and going. At the sixth line we’re allowed to use just one hand to operate the brake instead of two, so this is the only line where we can use a camera while we fly. I put my phone on my selfie-stick because I’m afraid I’ll drop it with the big bulky glove on my hand and I get an excellent video of the view as I fly parallel to the river gorge. At the end I make sure to tip the two guides. $15

6 p.m. I’m back in Split, freshly showered after getting so sweaty from hiking and ziplining in the hot sun, and head out to do some souvenir shopping. I stop in a typical tourist shop and grab a bunch of Croatian lavender mini soaps to bring back for my coworkers, and a couple magnets for myself. $30

8 p.m. I walk to a restaurant not far from the Airbnb I’d stayed in previously and have the black cuttlefish risotto, which is fantastic. After dinner I walk back to the Riva outside Diocletian’s palace, get a gelato, and watch street performers on a stage that’s been set up. There’s a stand-up comedian, and I’m actually able to understand about half of what he’s saying thanks to that language course. $15

Daily total: $121.00

Day 15:

9 a.m. — I wake up, pack my things, and head to the hotel restaurant for breakfast before checking out. I haul my luggage to the bus station and buy a ticket for a bus to Zagreb that leaves in an hour. $20.39

1 p.m. — The bus is about halfway to Zagreb and we stop for a quick break at a reststop. I grab a sausage wrapped in pastry for lunch. $1.53

4p.m. — I arrive at the Zagreb bus station, hop on the tram to Ban Jelačić Square, and walk half a block to my new hotel to check in. $0.61

6 p.m. — After getting settled and having a quick nap, I head out into the city. By complete chance I booked the end of my trip in Zagreb during an international street performance festival called Cest is d’best. There are little stages and performance spots all over the city, with the main stage being in the square just outside my hotel. I walk around for a few hours stopping to watch the various musicians, magicians, and dancers perform.

9 p.m. — I grab a bite to eat at a little fast-casual style place that serves pita sandwiches and salads. I have a falafel pita and sit at a table outside watching a musician play across the street at a festival performance spot. $5.37

Daily total: $27.90

Day 16

8a.m. — I wake up and have breakfast at the hotel (included in my stay) and as I leave I swing by the main Cest is d’best stage area in Ban Jelačić Square to grab a program with the performance schedule. I walk a few blocks to the funicular, which takes you on a 1-minute ride up a hill to the Upper Town, and head to the Museum of Broken Relationships. It’s a small museum that houses a collection of mementos that people have donated along with stories about their broken relationships and the item’s significance. This museum is at the top of a lot of suggested museum lists I came across in my planning, but I wasn’t sure I’d spend much time there. Surprisingly, I end up reading the whole story next to every single item in there, and some of them even make me cry a little. $9.19

11 a.m. — I dry my eyes and head the the Atelijer Meštrović, a small gallery showcasing the sculptures of Ivan Meštrović. I love sculpture and find myself very taken with the work displayed here, so even though it’s not large I’m there for quite a while. Still, it doesn’t feel like long before my stomach growls and I realize I should grab some lunch. $3.07

1:30 p.m. — There’s a nice looking restaurant up the block from the gallery and I manage to grab a table before the staff start turning people away. There are plenty of other tables open but just after my food comes I find out why they weren’t seating anyone else when a large tour group shows up. I have an amazing dish of chicken in some kind of tomato sauce with roasted potatoes and vegetables. $13.03

3 p.m. — I walk through the Upper Town back towards Ban Jelačić Square. On the way I stop in the jewelry store of local artist Ivana Bačura, because the enamel and silver jewelry in the window caught my eye. I like to buy jewelry when I travel because it’s easy to bring home, and every time I wear it it’s a reminder of my trip. I buy a small silver and green enamel pendant necklace, and set of earrings for a good friend. $76.65

8:30 p.m. — After wandering around and watching a few street performers, I go back to my hotel for a quick nap and then head back to the Upper Town for a “ghosts and dragons” tour with Secret Zagreb. I meet the guide and group of 7 other tourists and we set off for a couple hours of walking through the dark and mostly deserted streets, as well as a couple graveyards, while listening to creepy stories. It’s a lot of fun and the guide is very enthusiastic. After the tour I grab a cheese Börek from a bakery on the way down from the Upper Town and eat while watching the last street performer on the main stage that night. $16.10

Daily total: $118.04

Day 17

8 a.m. — I get up, have breakfast at the hotel, and head out to meet my tour guide for the day at a park a couple blocks from my hotel. I’ve booked a day-long tour in Slovenia through Viator and will be visiting the capital Ljubljana and Bled. When I get to the meeting spot there’s no one around except one guy and a small car where I expected a minibus typical of small-group tours. The guy asks if I’m A and introduces himself (we’ll call him K), explaining I’m the only one who booked the tour for that day so it’ll be just the two of us. I’m a little worried since I’m in a strange country and don’t know this man, and now am expected to spend all day with him driving around and visiting other cities. Also, this could be really awkward just trying to make conversation all day. He shows me his ID and despite my apprehension I actually get in the car. My worries dissipate a little when I remember that my mother is obsessively tracking my movements back home using an app, so I text and update her on the situation so she can pay extra attention today just in case. $188.81

10 a.m. — After driving with the guide for 2 hours my fears are completely gone. K is a lot of fun to talk to and keeps having to interrupt our casual conversation to remember to actually go through his tour guide script. I guessed that he was a child during the Croatian War of Independence, since we seem to be about the same age, and when I ask, he tells me a little about what his experience was like during that time, even though he mentions he doesn’t often talk about it with tour groups. We arrive in Ljubljana and he passes me off to a local guide while he parks the car. That guide takes me up a funicular to the castle and we walk around for about 45 minutes while she tells me about it’s history. When we go back down the funicular K is waiting, and the three of us walk around the town doing the typical tour thing for about an hour.

12p.m. — I’m given an hour on my own to get lunch and wander so I grab a bite to eat at a sausage shop that the Slovenian guide pointed out. Carniolan sausage is a pork sausage that originates in Slovenia and is a protected traditional specialty, so few people/companies are actually permitted to make it and sell the sausage with that name. I order a half sausage which comes sliced with a roll, grainy mustard, and horseradish. It’s very good and I inquire about how long the packaged sausage keeps because I’d love to bring some home to my brother, but the shop owner says it’d only be good out of refrigeration for a day or two. $4.45

2 p.m. — We arrive in Bled and K tells me about the history of the castle and town surrounding the lake as we walk around the castle grounds. The castle sits atop a tall hill overlooking a lake, which has a small island with a church on it. On a clear day the Alps are visible, but today is a bit cloudy. I walk around by myself for about 20 minutes taking in the views and checking out the castle’s little museum. After that we hop back in the car and drive down to the lake, where K points me towards a restaurant that serves a cream cake that Bled is famous for. I have more alone time so I go in and order a slice of cake, which I’m not thrilled with. It tastes good but it’s basically a lot of custard and some puff pastry, and I wonder how something so bland supposedly got so famous. After the cake I hit the tourist shops and buy some t-shirts with dragons to bring home to my friends’ kids. A handful of good friends all had baby boys within the past 2-3 years so I anticipate the dragons will be a hit. I also grab a magnet with a photograph of Bled so I can keep a picture at home of the beautiful view on a clear day. $51.35

7 p.m. — We arrive back in Zagreb and K gives me his contact info before we part ways. I had such a good day after being so worried at the beginning of it. Slovenia was beautiful and I’m glad I went on the tour. I walk back to my hotel and grab a sandwich from a bakery on the way for dinner. $1.83

Daily total: $246.44

Day 18

9 a.m. — I have breakfast at the hotel and hop on the tram to go to Zagreb’s contemporary art museum. There’s almost no one here and I browse nearly all alone in the massive building for a few hours. I spend a long time looking at one particular installation called “Women’s House” by Sanja Ivekovic. It consists of 21 plaster casts of women’s faces, all on top of pedestals with the woman’s story printed on the side. All the women were casted by the artist while living in shelters, and their stories of domestic abuse or going to the shelter after being abandoned by their families due to an HIV diagnosis are heartbreaking. I read every single one and have to find a restroom because I’ve run out of tissues. $6.13

2 p.m. — I buy a yummy tomato and zucchini sandwich from a bakery and eat it while watching some performers on the main Cest is d’best stage for a while. There’s a dance troupe, and then a guy who does some balancing acts. After that I walk to the Memorial Centre of the Rocket Attacks and tour the exhibits showing photographs, videos, and other artifacts of the bombing, including pieces of the actual rockets that hit the city. $1.15

8 p.m. I make a dinner reservation at a restaurant around the corner from my hotel that K recommended. On the drive back to Zagreb yesterday he insisted I make a list on my phone of his suggestions for things to eat and places to go, even though I told him I only have one more full day to spend in Zagreb. I’ve been instructed to try a traditional Croatian meal of Lamb Under a Bell, which is lamb, vegetables, and potatoes all cooked under a terra cotta dome with burning embers on top of it. This restaurant is fancy and eating here is the first time during this whole trip I’ve felt a little conspicuous at a table for one. I get over it eventually and the food is delicious. I have some white wine, the lamb, and a deconstructed version of a traditional Croatian dessert called Imotski rafioli. I text K afterward to thank him for the recommendation. $33.70

Daily total: $40.98

Day 19

8 a.m. — I booked a small-group tour to Plitvice Lakes National Park through Viator, and get picked up behind my hotel after breakfast. This time there’s 9 other people on the tour, not just me, and 4 of us are solo female travelers. There's an 18 year old from Norway, a 40-something from Japan, a 60-something from Northern CA, and me. $103.09

2 p.m. — It took about 3 hours to drive to the park because there was a lot of traffic, and it’s moderately crowded so the walk through it is slow going. That’s not a bad thing though, because it’s so beautiful there, so moving slowly gives us more time to look around and take pictures. The water is a beautiful turquoise color you’d never expect from inland lakes, it looks nearly the same as the Adriatic sea did. After walking around for a few hours we stop for a break at an area with restrooms and cafeteria-style restaurants. I have a sandwich and enjoy conversation with the solo ladies in the group and our guide, who is about my age and has extensive travel experience herself. She tells us about her recent solo trip volunteering in Jerusalem and we’re all in awe. $5.38

5 p.m. — We’ve taken a boat ride across the largest lake in the park and hiked back to the bus waiting for us on the other side. I stop in the gift shop before we leave and pick up a magnet. - $1.54

8 p.m. — I’m dropped off at my hotel and am super tired. I’m leaving for home early in the morning and need to get packed, so for dinner I walk a few blocks to a gelato shop K recommended. The tourist areas are flooded with them, but he said this one is the best and actually makes their own gelato instead of buying from big brands. He’s right, it’s amazing. I text him to say thanks for another recommendation and he laughs that I’m having gelato for dinner. $3.84

Daily total: $113.85

Day 20

5 a.m. — I’m up too early for breakfast at the hotel so I eat some trail mix in my room while I get ready, then go down to meet my Uber to the airport. $16.90

4 p.m. - I fly from Zagreb to Frankfurt, from Frankfurt to Dulles, and now I’m home. By some miracle the flight home from Frankfurt was fairly empty and I had an entire row to myself in Economy Plus. I was actually able to lay down and sleep a little, which I never manage while flying. Still, I’m super tired when I land and fall asleep in the car when my mom picks me up for the the 5 minute ride to my apartment. I go to sleep as soon as I get home and wake up to unpack a few hours later while I watch the Capitals win the Stanley Cup.

Daily total: $16.90

How did you prepare for this trip?
My former roommate had gone on a shorter trip to Croatia and other central European countries a year before with a group of friends, and had an insanely detailed google doc spreadsheet that he shared with me. I used the spreadsheet for some ideas, and scoured travel blogs and Pinterest. I also created my own Google Doc to keep track of costs, reservation details, and my itinerary.

When did you book your flight? Do you think you got a good deal?
I booked my flight 3 months before my trip, and compared to other prices at the time I felt I got a good deal. While I didn’t use any points/miles on to pay for this trip I’m pretty loyal to United’s frequent flyer program and have used program points/miles to pay for previous international round-trip flights. I used my United Mileage Plus card to buy the tickets to, from, and within Croatia, so I earned miles on the purchase in addition to the miles earned from the travel.

What was your favorite part of the trip?
I went on some fantastic small-group tours that were all booked through Viator. With Viator it’s not always clear who the tour operator will be when you book, but the reviews are helpful and I’ve never had an experience that wasn’t fantastic. My favorite tours were the Hvar islands boat tour, Plitvice Lakes trip from Zagreb, and my unintentionally private tour of Slovenia.

What was the best meal you ate while you were there?
Pašticada in Split.

What advice would you give someone who is traveling to the same location?
Be prepared, in high tourist season it’s very expensive and crazy crowded on the Croatian coast. If you’re going to Dubrovnik pay attention to the cruise schedule and try to avoid the days where there are lots of ships. I found out later that the day I arrived it was so crowded because there were 3 cruises docked, so I’m very glad I went to Montenegro the day there were 4.

Is there anything about your trip you would do differently in retrospect?
I might’ve researched hotels/Airbnbs a little longer to find something less expensive but still central.

Would you stay at your hotels/Airbnbs again?
Yes, especially the Hvar airbnb.

Would you recommend the locations you were staying in?
I thought all the locations I stayed in were perfect because they were pretty central. I certainly paid for the location though, so if you’re trying to save money and have the time to research it could be easy to find a decent place a little further out that isn’t an inconvenience.

Do you feel like you were there for the right length of time?
Sometimes I think I didn’t need to spend as much time as I did in each place, and I could’ve saved some money if my trip was a little shorter. Still, I don’t regret it because I was relaxed instead of trying to cram in everything I wanted to do.

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Even though our mothers and grandmothers arguably pioneered the sexual revolution, we're constantly inundated with think pieces on the love and sex lives of the 18-to-45 set. As a result, we know very little of how these women are getting it on and how their sex drives change over time

As a married woman approaching her mid-30s, I have a lot of questions. Will I still be having sex when I’m 75? Will I still enjoy it? And, what will it be like? What if I get divorced? What is the dating landscape like for a septuagenarian? What do I have to look forward to, and what should I be aware of as I get older?

In an effort to answer some of these questions, we tracked down six amazing women between the ages of 62 and 79 who were willing to talk frankly about their sexuality and how it's changed over time. Gay, straight, trans, black, white, single, married — they have all lived vastly different lives. But they seem to agree on one thing: Sex doesn't have to stop just because you get older. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

We conducted the interviews ahead over the course of several months, culminating with an original shoot in Los Angeles. These incredible women had a lot to say, so stick around until the end to see them in a video that's so good, it might break the internet. This piece is as much for those under 60 as it is for those above. Because the future of your sex life doesn't have to be a question mark.

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A Mississippi judge has permanently blocked the most draconian abortion law in the U.S., which would have banned the procedure after 15 weeks. The bill only provided exceptions when the mother's health is in danger or in the case of severe fetal abnormality, and not for rape or incest.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill into law in March, but U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves immediately put a temporary block on it, which was extended multiple times and was set to expire on November 26.

"The State chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade," Reeves wrote in his ruling. "This Court follows the commands of the Supreme Court and the dictates of the United States Constitution, rather than the disingenuous calculations of the Mississippi Legislature."

"The Mississippi Legislature's professed interest in 'women's health' is pure gaslighting," he added. "Its leaders are proud to challenge Roe but choose not to lift a finger to address the tragedies lurking on the other side of the delivery room: our alarming infant and maternal mortality rate."

The Mississippi Legislature's professed interest in 'women's health' is pure gaslighting.

The decision effectively blocks a similar 15-week ban in Louisiana that would have taken effect had the Mississippi law stayed intact, according to Reuters.

In his ruling, Reeves brought up the tragic fact that far too often, it's men who are making decisions about women's reproductive rights.

"The fact that men, myself included, are determining how women may choose to manage their reproductive health is a sad irony not lost on the Court," he wrote. "As a man, who cannot get pregnant or seek an abortion, I can only imagine the anxiety and turmoil a woman might experience when she decides whether to terminate her pregnancy through an abortion. Respecting her autonomy demands that this statute be enjoined."

Abortion rights are under assault in increasingly extreme ways around the country. Earlier this week, we reported that Ohio Republicans are considering legislation that would not only completely ban abortion in the state, but punish women for it with the death penalty or life in prison. The state previously passed a bill through the House that would ban abortion at six weeks.

Unfortunately, this is no longer a fringe or isolated idea. However, most Americans still support Roe v. Wade, according to polls. "This November, voters elected a record number of governors who will champion reproductive healthcare. People in states like Ohio that do not have this critical backstop face a heightened threat to abortion access," Dr. Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement to Refinery29. "We must fight harder than ever to protect every woman’s right to control her own body, life, and future. We know the majority of Americans want access to safe, legal abortion. It’s time that our elected representatives listen to us: Patients do not want politicians in the exam room making our health decisions."

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