This commonly used item is 58 times dirtier than a public toilet seat — beware the next time you go to use it
It's hard to believe that there is something dirtier than a public toilet bowl — but there is, and it's something that travelers use several times a year.
The wheels of a suitcase are a breeding ground for bacteria, carrying nearly 58 times more than the place where people publicly relieve themselves, according to a study conducted by insurance company Insure and Go.
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Your luggage is carrying around a gross amount of bacteria
KaysArt – stock.adobe.com
Insure and Go partnered with microbiologist Amy-May Pointer to swab the wheels and the base of both hard and soft-shell suitcases at an airport train station.
Their findings revealed that several different types of bacteria live on the majority of travelers' suitcases — Staphylococcus species, which is a common skin bacterium, Serratia marcescens, usually found in bathrooms and Aspergillus species, which are described by the research team as 'black fuzzy molds.'
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'The microbial communities found on the suitcases included skin bacteria, environmental moulds, and some faecal-associated germs amongst others,' said Pointer, according to Insure and Go.
Most of these organisms are not highly dangerous in everyday settings, but they form a film of general filth. This explains that grimy feel or musty odour luggage can get after multiple trips.'
Now, knowing this, think of all the places that your suitcase, which has been carrying around all this gross bacteria, has touched. Gross.
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'The key point is that microbes were very diverse, reflecting all the places the luggage had been. It reinforces the recommendation to keep luggage away from clean surfaces like beds and to deep clean it occasionally,' the expert advised.
To clean a soft or hard-shell piece of luggage, the Wire Cutter team recommends wiping it down with either an alcohol wipe or mixing dish soap with water and using a rag to wipe it clean.
It's recommended to wipe down your luggage after every use.
triocean – stock.adobe.com
To clean the dirty wheels, first get rid of any hair or carpet fibers stuck using scissors before wiping them down with an all-purpose cleaner.
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It's recommended to clean your suitcase after every trip and 'If you want to go the extra mile, consider using a washable suitcase cover, or even slip shower caps over the wheels when bringing it inside,' Pointer suggested.
'It might sound silly, but covering those wheels can stop them from spreading bacteria across your carpet or bedding. You could be protecting your sheets from the kind of microbes that include skin-irritating bacteria like Staphylococcus species.'
Suitcases aren't the only commonly used bacteria-filled things.
$100 bills have Staphylococcus bacteria, smartphones can carry a variety of bacteria and public toilet seats can contain E. coli growth, according to researcher Amani Abdlrasul, who works as a medical laboratory scientist in Tampa, Florida.
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New York Times
17-07-2025
- New York Times
A Day at the Beach
KIT: Imagine this beach. We're all going to go, and there's sun and there's sand and there's wind, and we're like, 'Oh, I can't wait to get there.' And then we spend the entire day sort of trying to mitigate and block the sun and the wind and too much sand. CHRISTINE: I'm Christine Cyr Clisset. CAIRA: I'm Caira Blackwell. ROSIE: I'm Rosie Guerin, and you're listening to The Wirecutter Show . CHRISTINE: This episode is called: 'A Day at the Beach.' ROSIE: Hi, guys. CHRISTINE: Hey there. ROSIE: I'm coming in hot with something you didn't ask about me. CHRISTINE: Oh, wonderful. ROSIE: You did not ask to know this, but I'm going to tell you that I'm not much of a summer beach person. CHRISTINE: Sacrilege. What do you mean? CAIRA: Does that surprise you? CHRISTINE: That … no, it doesn't actually surprise me. ROSIE: I like the beach in the winter. CAIRA: She's just always in her flannel gear bag. ROSIE: You know the vibes. Summer beach in New York and New Jersey. It's the crowds, the heat, the schlepping. It's not my vibe. CHRISTINE: Yeah, I get that. There are a lot of people on the beach out here in the summertime, but I love the beach. I will go to the beach every weekend. I love it so much. It's so great. CAIRA: I really can't do it, either. I'm kind of in between you and Rosie. I just want to fly out to somewhere warm with clear water and not bring anything with me except my bathing suit and a towel. CHRISTINE: Now I can get behind that idea too, but one thing I have to say about the beach — and this is not just the beach, this is also going to the lake with my family in the summertime or even hanging out at friends' who have pools out in the suburbs or whatever — is that this is really a category where I really do think you need to have the right gear to make the day. You've got to have the shade. You've got to have something comfortable to sit on. It can really make the day better. So we are going to talk about that a little bit today. We're going to bring on our resident beach expert, Kit Dillon. He is a senior staff writer on our outdoor and travel team. Kit lives in Hawaii, where he tests a bunch of beach gear for us. He's also a surfer, so he's spending a lot of time in the water and on the beach. He basically does beach very, very well. CAIRA: Yeah, his job is beach. CHRISTINE: That's right. CHRISTINE: We're going to take a quick break, and when we're back, we'll talk with Kit Dillon about how to up-level your beach gear. We'll be right back. CAIRA: Welcome back. With us now is Kit Dillon, who's a senior writer on Wirecutter's travel and outdoor team. He's also a surfer who spends a lot of time on the beach. His whole job is actually beach, like Ken from Barbie. Kit has written a bunch of our guides to beach shelters, coolers, beach bags, and all kinds of other beach gear. And he also covers luggage, and you may have heard him a few months back on our episode about that. CHRISTINE: Kit, welcome. It's great to have you back. KIT: Hi. It's good to be back. ROSIE: Kit, it sounds very oppressive to be known as the Ken of Wirecutter. What are you doing all day? Are you just sort of sitting on beach chairs, staring out at the Pacific? Is that how you're calling that testing? KIT: That is actually a lot of the testing, as absurd as that is. ROSIE: I love this for you. KIT: It's really nice. No, it's a good part of the job. ROSIE: So tell me, I mean, within the scope of a day at the beach, what does the testing look like? KIT: The actual testing part is really great, because like you said, you're just sitting there, and you're trying to enjoy the things you have. Setting it up and sort of getting to the beach is a total pain, and it's sort of tripled, because you're bringing everything you need to go to the beach normally. Then you bring everything you're testing to go to the beach to use, and then there's sort of all the ephemera that comes with opening boxes at the beach and then dragging this up, back and forth. CHRISTINE: People must think you're a weirdo. KIT: You look like an absolute … yeah, it's nuts. ROSIE: It looks like you're going to live. KIT: It looks so crazy. There'll be, like, eight shelters just in a row, and there's just one guy sitting under each one. I try to find very private places, and even then people walk by, and you're like, 'Oh.' CHRISTINE: 'Why is this guy on this deserted beach with eight shelters? This is weird.' ROSIE: Well, the thing is, it can't be overstated that not all things that folks at Wirecutter test end up as picks. So you're testing stuff that is, like, might not be the vibe. KIT: Absolutely. CHRISTINE: But you're not just testing in Hawaii. You've got people testing, or you're testing, in other places too, right? KIT: So we try and get these things all over the country, largely California, a little bit in New Jersey and New York, some bits of the Carolinas, just trying to test for all the different kinds of conditions and types of beaches. There actually seem to be many types of beaches that you can go to. And some equipment works a lot better in some places than others, and we can get into that. CHRISTINE: I want to know, Kit, obviously anyone could just get whatever for the beach. You could just get a little, flimsy umbrella. You could bring whatever you have at home. What is your case for getting some beach equipment that's really good beach equipment? Does it actually make your day better at the beach? KIT: I really think it does. There is sort of a limit. There's a bar, I think, with beach gear, where if you do get the kind of right stuff and the slightly better stuff, it does make the day just easier. Usually the stuff that's a little bit better is lighter, it's easier to set up. It's usually a little bit stronger. You're more comfortable. All the sort of things you want are just there and then easier to use, which ultimately … which is if you're dragging it from a car to the beach back and forth. The beach is a weird place. It's pretty strange. CHRISTINE: Tell us more. What do you mean? KIT: Well, there's a friction to it kind of, right? We sort of go, we imagine this great place, we imagine this beach that we're all going to go, and there's sun and there's sand and there's wind, and we're like, 'Oh, I can't wait to get there.' And then we spend the entire day sort of trying to mitigate and block the sun and the wind and too much sand, and the water's too cold, and 'I need something to put over myself to cover.' Everything sort of becomes about defending against the very place, and then we leave, and we go, 'That was amazing. What a good time. What a great day.' ROSIE: This is my diatribe about the beach. This is like, I'm like, you go to the beach in November to take a walk, and you can look around and you see the water and you see the thing. Or you go to the beach in the summer to surf. It's like, I'm going to but I don't want to go and schlep, and then just fart around. CHRISTINE: Oh, so you're very beach-task oriented. ROSIE: Beach task. CHRISTINE: You want to have a task, a walk, a surf. You're going to do something. I think that the scenario that you just described, Kit, of sort of struggling on the beach to enjoy yourself and then afterwards feeling it was a really good time, I feel like there's a lot of things in life that are worthwhile doing that are like that. ROSIE: Like childbirth? CHRISTINE: Childbirth, parenting. Caira's looking at us like, 'Oh God.' KIT: It speaks to the human condition, I think, for sure. CHRISTINE: It's … a little struggle is good for us. If it's too easy, we won't appreciate it, I think. KIT: Yeah. CAIRA: Okay. You've done all of this gear testing, and you obviously spent a ton of time on the beach. What are the items you think are really worth investing in? KIT: I mean, the easiest ones are a beach shelter, a very good chair, and a cooler. Pretty much, you've got yourself covered. CAIRA: Okay, so walk us through that one by one. Let's start with the beach shelter. What is that, and what makes a good one? KIT: They've been coming out with these new types of … if you forget about the classic beach umbrella that we all know, they're coming out with these new stretchy fabrics that are held up by tent poles, or they sort of float in the wind a little bit. These kind of large coverings that can give you a lot more shade over a bigger area than a normal umbrella, and you're not sort of chasing that shade around, because you have this sort of big postage stamp that you can sit under. And the good ones can fit four or six people under them. So these are becoming kind of a lot more common now. CAIRA: And if it's just a piece of cloth, I imagine it's a lot easier to pack, right? You're not bringing a whole tent to the beach. KIT: Right. They're super light. An umbrella can sometimes be this 6-foot kind of heavy thing you got to put on your shoulder if you're trying to include a chair. There's always sort of that image of the beach dad dragging four things. You see it every time you go down, and you see this sort of one family with just too much stuff. There's one way to cut that down a little bit. CAIRA: And what's your pick for that? KIT: So there's one which we can get into, which is …it's so specific that we have to talk a little bit about it. The other one is this sort of Sun Ninja. It's nice. It's nylon stretchy fabric over these aluminum tubes. It kind of looks like a Bedouin tent; if you imagine briefly what a Bedouin tent looks like in your mind, then that's kind of what this looks like. ROSIE: What's the first one that we need to dive deep into? KIT: The deep dive one is called the Shibumi, which has … it's a terrible name, but that's what it's called. CHRISTINE: 'Let me break out my Shibumi.' Yeah. KIT: I know. ROSIE: 'Honey, did you bring the Shibumi?' KIT: That's an interesting, very unique design. I love it. TikTok does not love it. And it's essentially just an arc of aluminum tube, very thin aluminum tubing you'd find in a camping tent, and a light piece of parasailing fabric stretched across this. And the wind kind of hits this, and then ideally this will sort of float and levitate over your heads, suspended from this one arc of single tubing. So it's very elegant. It does work, as long as the winds are sort of constant and light and from one direction. CHRISTINE: Am I correct that this was developed down in North Carolina? KIT: Correct. CHRISTINE: I was on a vacation down there a couple years ago, and I looked out at the beach, and there were 50 of these on the sand. They're, like, a turquoise and a dark blue color. Everyone had the same one, and I remember thinking the wind here is perfect for these, but I feel like back in New York, I'm not sure that these would work so well, and I actually don't see that many of them up here. KIT: You really do need somewhere like the Carolinas, or Florida to a degree, as well, where you have just a constant breeze from the water to the shore, and it has to always sort of be the same direction. And in South Carolina basically it's like that all summer long — just one direction hits the shore. In Hawaii we get sort of variable winds, so it can work really well. The nice thing about it is it actually is really good against assaulting winds: If you have really high winds, this thing will be fine, but it's loud when you're sitting under it. It's sort of whipping away. CAIRA: So it sounds like a flag blowing in the wind. KIT: Yeah, like a huge flag. So now they've come out with a sort of wind-assist aspect to it, which are these tie-downs that sort of hold the ends down. So when you have no wind, you can kind of stretch it out a bit like a lean-to, which makes it an excellent product. It's just one of these things — that it can be so great, and it's so light and so easy to carry and so easy to set up, one person can do it in about a minute — that we can't not make it a pick, because it's just so amazing to use. But when it doesn't work, it can be irritating for some people. CHRISTINE: I think my family has a beach shelter, and it's much more cumbersome than this. And my husband and I, fortunately, we get along, and we can put it together without fighting, but I have witnessed a lot of other people on the beach putting together beach shelters. CAIRA: Just ruining their marriage. CHRISTINE: It does seem like a source of tension, especially if it's a poor design that's hard to put up or it just doesn't do well in wind. I think that's one case for getting a good shelter, is to just save a relationship. CHRISTINE: What about umbrellas? If somebody is listening, and they're like, 'I don't want a shelter. It sounds like too much of a pain.' Surely there are good options. I've seen some, but I'm not sure what qualifies as a good umbrella, because I think the classic problem with the umbrella is, it's either this flimsy thing, a little bit of wind happens, and it's like a tumbleweed down the beach, and they don't provide that much shade generally. So what do you recommend for a good umbrella? KIT: All of it's true. There's a really big difference, I think, between the good and bad umbrellas. So when I was young, we used to go to Maine a lot, and some of my earliest memories are our umbrella just getting caught in some wind and then whipping down the beach, and all the parents running and trying to … apologizing as you sort of run. ROSIE: I would've been their kid on that same beach in Maine, so I'm sure I caught your umbrella at least once. KIT: Yeah. So they are getting better. A lot of them come now with a sort of sand augers and anchors, and they sit a little bit better. The best one we found, it's called the BeachBUB All-in-One Umbrella System. CHRISTINE: Oh, these names. It's a system. KIT: Another great name. Yeah, it's like setting up a column in the middle of the beach. It will not go anywhere. The wind could be a hundred miles an hour, and this umbrella just brushes it off. CHRISTINE: So any other umbrellas you'd recommend? KIT: Yeah, so we do recommend this other Sport-Brella Premiere XL that sort of leans on its side. CHRISTINE: Is it the kind that looks like it has ear flaps that go down off the side? KIT: Yes, like an umbrella that tipped over. You sort of secure the edges. It creates sort of a half of a tent, half of an umbrella. They're pretty good, except obviously you have to kind of position those against the wind, because if you face it, and the wind catches it, you've just created this giant wind tunnel for it to suck and do and disappear. If you want one that's not, like, a zillion dollars but can kind of withstand some gusts of wind, we have the Coolibar umbrella, which has a nice covering underneath the umbrella, so it does block a lot of UV rays, and it's about $75. It's pretty good. I just wouldn't expect it to stand up against strong wind. CHRISTINE: So what I'm hearing, though, is if you want a really good beach shelter or umbrella, you got to put down some money. These are not cheap things. How much are we talking? KIT: Yeah, I mean the Sun Ninja is actually not too expensive. The Shibumi is in the $200 range. ROSIE: It looks like the BeachBUB's, like, $150. KIT: Yeah, so you're in the hundreds for sure already. CHRISTINE: But in theory, some of these nicer pieces of equipment will last you longer than the cheapo thing that will just die. KIT: For sure. Shibumi should last almost your whole life; I mean, you'd have to really work hard to break it. BeachBUB, as well, is built like a tank. Yeah. CHRISTINE: Yeah, it's just pennies per year. ROSIE: Invest in your beaching future. CHRISTINE: Yeah, that's right. CAIRA: Okay, we're gonna take a quick break. And when we come back, Kit will tell us his picks for the best beach chairs and coolers. Plus, what you can skip for your next outdoor adventure. Be right back. CAIRA: Welcome back. We're here with Kit Dillon talking about the gear to invest in to make your day at the beach feel like a day at the beach. We've covered shade. What about chairs? I love this image of you sitting down in a bunch of chairs lined up on the beach, but how do you decide what makes a really good chair? KIT: Strong, lightweight, easy to carry, and then ideally comfortable and supportive. And some notes have been getting back — from older testers, especially — is a lot of these beach chairs are so low to the ground that they're really difficult to get in and out of. So we've been looking for, and I think we found, finally, a chair that's kind of a little bit higher, a little taller seated chair but still has a reclining function in these things. CAIRA: Tell us more about that. What's the name? KIT: So that, again, made by Shibumi, they just came out with a lightweight strong chair that you can clip two chairs together, carry easily on your back with one person, which is sort of an innovation, so to speak, in this world. And they make a chair that's low to the ground and/or a model that's high to the ground and is easier to sit in and reclines, and it's quite comfortable. It's not the most comfortable. That would go to the Yeti, which again is an absurdly priced beach chair. CAIRA: Well, how much is it? KIT: It is over $300. CAIRA: For one beach chair? KIT: For one, single beach chair. CAIRA: One seasonal beach chair. KIT: I know. ROSIE: Is it, like, a massage chair? What is this chair doing for you? KIT: I like this chair more than I like my couch. I will take this thing, and I'll go anywhere with it. It is so comfortable, and I think it's something about the tension that they've figured out in the fabric. It's just sort of supportive enough. It's like being cradled at the beach. I set that up with my BeachBUB, I'm so happy. And it's also, like, $600 worth of equipment. CHRISTINE: Oh my gosh. KIT: You know. CHRISTINE: Wait a minute. Is this chair the traditional kind of Tommy Bahama–style chair that it's, like … is it, like, a backpack chair, a beach chair that you bring to the beach, and you put it down, and is it also kind of one of these lower types of beach chairs? KIT: Yeah. Yeah, it reclines further than the Tommy Bahama. And imagine the Tommy Bahama, just oversized. It's just bigger. It's sort of a Texas-sized chair. CAIRA: But what is the deal with the Tommy Bahama chairs? Because it's a very popular chair that you will see. Are those not good enough? What's the deal? KIT: No, they're a top pick. They're still our top pick. They're light. They're easy to carry. They're not too expensive. They're comfortable. They're low to the ground. It's just they've been the standard for so long that companies come in and they start to use new materials, and they make things a little stronger, and there's a lot of room to improve. But again, it's the beach. How comfortable are you ever really going to be at the beach, and why are you trying to be comfortable at the beach? Because it's sort of inherently an uncomfortable place. ROSIE: This is the existential thinking that I like when I'm talking about the beach. CHRISTINE: When we talk about the beach. ROSIE: Let's not be frivolous when we talk about the beach. Let's be real. CHRISTINE: Yeti makes amazing coolers. We recommend a few of them. You've mentioned that coolers are something that we should be thinking about for the beach. I have long had this terrible Igloo cooler that I think I got at a CVS, but if we're talking coolers for the beach, what do you recommend? KIT: We do like Yeti, but — CHRISTINE: How much better is a Yeti cooler? KIT: It's not that much better for most people. There's certain things that Yeti does really well. They're really sturdy. I mean, originally they were designed to stand on, to fish from off of a boat. They just wanted something structurally very sturdy; a 250-pound person could stand up on it and cast away without tipping over the boat. That was the original intention. They have about 3 inches of insulation all the way around. That's the big innovation of the Yeti. CHRISTINE: But you actually recommend … I think your top pick in our guide is this brand RTIC. Am I saying that right? KIT: RTIC. CHRISTINE: RTIC. No, come on. KIT: Arctic Circle. RTIC cooler. CHRISTINE: Well, now you know. KIT: Yeah, no. So for most cases we like the RTIC. It's basically the same amount of performance. The one we particularly like is ultra lightweight. It's inexpensive, really good insulation, particularly on top, where it matters. And that's kind of replaced the, if you imagine, all the old Colemans, the Igloos, that sort of the '90s era of coolers have really been outclassed by this new wave of cooler companies. CHRISTINE: What makes … I was at Target the other day, and I saw a whole wall of these RTIC coolers next to a bunch of Coleman and Igloo coolers. What makes these RTIC coolers better? KIT: Well, first, they have 3 inches of insulation on top, which the Igloos and Colemans almost certainly do not. The plastic that RTIC uses is just thicker, stronger. It's a sturdier material. The Yeti is even more sturdy because of its method of manufacturing. Still, if you hold up an RTIC, you're like, 'Oh man, this thing's really tough.' ROSIE: So I've got little kids. I see people on the beach hauling stuff with beach carts, for instance. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law have one. I've used it. It's great. They're so expensive. I know the idea is, invest in your beach experience, but who are beach carts for? Are they worth it? KIT: I think they're worth it. I don't have children yet, so I don't have one that I keep around. CHRISTINE: I have our pick, Rosie. ROSIE: Did it change your life? CHRISTINE: It is like getting an SUV for your beach experience. It is worth it. ROSIE: I thought you might say that. CHRISTINE: I think it really changed our beach experience. We were kind of like, 'Why didn't we do this sooner?' It was a real upgrade. KIT: I will say, the sitting at the beach and watching people come and go and set up and do their things, and the thing that separates the pros and the amateurs is absolutely the beach cart. When you see a family come down with the beach cart, you're like, 'Oh yeah, they know what they're doing here. They're already miles ahead of everyone else.' CHRISTINE: I will also say that the one that we recommend, which is the Mac Sports Heavy Duty Collapsible Cart, it has these big, crazy fat wheels on them that just kind of go over the sand really well. They're not like regular wheels. The people I see with the regular wheels, they're, like, getting stuck in the sand and pulling the thing, and it looks very frustrating. ROSIE: You walk by, and you're like, 'Sucker.' CAIRA: You're gliding by, Rosie. Gliding. KIT: You either need a really wide plastic wheel or there's some carts that are a very soft, thick rubber. If you're looking at any kind of carts here, somewhere, just look at the wheels first. CAIRA: Kit, I heard that you actually just finished testing a bunch of kids pool and beach toys with a couple of other Wirecutter writers. What was the coolest thing that you tested for this project? KIT: That was actually a really great project. I'm not going to lie, it was awesome. CAIRA: Yeah, rub it in, that's fine. KIT: Just, like, 30 kids at a pool, and you're just throwing toys at them, being like, 'What do you think of this? What about this one?' You know, the coolest thing that I think we stumbled upon, you know, a number of toys, increasingly they're made from, you know, biodegradable materials. So you'll see, like, sand-building kits that are made out of this material or things that you can, like, search for inside the pool, like, little dive toys. It's nice to see people moving away from that sort of disposability when we go to the beach particularly, but also the pool. We know there's too much plastic, so why are you bringing more plastic to this place? CAIRA: Well, when it's a kid's toy, too, they just, they are always losing stuff. Like, you take a plastic bucket to the beach, and you're probably not coming home with it. KIT: Right. And so that's where, actually, so this one thing that I was enjoyed was this … called the Sand Dipper, which is a sifter. It basically … you look like an old-timey gold miner or, you know, you pick up all the sand, and you're sort of sifting it through this basket, and then you get shells and bits. So it's fun, you know, it's a little bit exploratory if you have young children. But then afterwards, when they have … when you're sort of packing up, you can go and kind of dig where they were playing, and you'll find, like, GI Joes and whatever was probably left behind or buried. CHRISTINE: I'm looking at a picture of it, and it looks kind of like a cross between a sifter and a shovel in the toys. CAIRA: Oh, like a litter-box scooper? CHRISTINE: Yeah, it's almost like a big litter-box scoop for your toys. ROSIE: So you can take home all the sea glass and cigarettes your heart desires. CHRISTINE: Are there any things in this beach category that you think are things that people are constantly marketed for going to the beach that you have tested, that you're just like, 'Eh, not really worth it'? KIT: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, beach blankets with built-in sand anchors that are so … these nylon tarps that have these corners that you can put sand in, as if you can't just put down a blanket and put sand on the corners or weight it down with a chair. And then the other one is … the one that's the most absurd is sand-repelling beach blankets. These things that you find, plastic sieves that you lay out, and then apparently when sand hits it, it's supposed to sort of fall through, and then you just have this plastic area that you can sit on. Just don't go to the beach. If you hate sand, don't go to the beach. CHRISTINE: Do you hear that, Rosie? ROSIE: I heard it. CHRISTINE: So what I'm hearing here is, if you are dedicated and want to have a great beach summer, whether that means going to the ocean, hanging out by the lake, going to the pool, get some good shade, whether it's, like, a shelter, whether it's an umbrella, that's really where it's worth spending some money. Comfortable chairs, always going to be good. You're never going to regret that. And a cooler, if you're the type of person who likes to bring yummy things to eat, and then also a cart. A cart is going to be a real up-level for people, especially families, if you're schlepping a lot of stuff to the beach. KIT: That's about it really, pretty much all the way there. CHRISTINE: All right. Keep it simple. KIT: You solved it. CHRISTINE: Kit, thank you so much. It's been so great having you on the show. KIT: Oh, thanks so much for having me. ROSIE: Bye, Kit. CAIRA: Lovely to have you on. CHRISTINE: Caira, Rosie, are you going to change your tune? Are you going to become beach people this summer? CAIRA: No. ROSIE: Nope. CAIRA: But this was fun. ROSIE: This was so fun. I loved learning about all of these things, and it really confirmed my desire to not visit the beach in the summer. I have to reiterate, I love being there in the fall. I do not want to be there between Memorial Day and Labor Day. CAIRA: Rosie has rested her case and mine. CHRISTINE: All right. Well, then, what was for you in this episode? What is something that you are actually going to take away? CAIRA: I think my takeaway is that you can't go wrong with the Tommy Bahama chair. I don't know if I really would use it just for a beach chair, though I actually have been looking for a chair to just sit outside of my apartment building like an old man. CHRISTINE: I've seen lots of people take them to, like, music festivals. CAIRA: And, you know, it seems like a solid chair. ROSIE: Lean into that life, that Tommy … that Tommy Bahama life. CAIRA: Yeah, totally. CHRISTINE: Get some flip-flops. ROSIE: We're going to the beach this summer with some family, and I'm taking some of this advice very seriously. And I'm going to rent a cart, because I don't like the schlepping. Anything to kind of alleviate some of the tension of 'Let's pack everything up, let's schlep it, let's put it down, and then let's schlep back.' CHRISTINE: Yeah, I think it's worth it. Just spend that money, get that cart. So I'm gonna get a new cooler. I think I'm going to go with this … I hate to say this, but this RTIC cooler. I hate that name. ROSIE: Be bold. CHRISTINE: Yes, I will. And I'm super excited, because we are going to drop a bonus episode later this week about snacks and recipes that are great for taking to the beach. That will be with New York Times Cooking editor Tanya Sichynsky. I think we'll get some good ideas for what to pack in my new cooler. ROSIE: That's great. Tanya is incredible. She also writes The Veggie newsletter. Can't wait to talk to her. One more bonus takeaway here, I think, that sums it all up is, invest in yourself, right? Invest in yourself. Take your own pulse. If you're a beach person, I love that you are, Christine. I respect you, Caira. I see you. Thank you. Treat yourself. If you can, invest in this stuff, because it might make things a little bit simpler, and it might make the day a little bit sweeter. CHRISTINE: Don't suffer at the beach with things that are making your life worse. ROSIE: Don't suffer. ROSIE: If you want to find out more about Wirecutter's beach coverage, Kit's reporting, go to or you can find a link in the show notes. That's it. Have fun at the beach, you all. See you next week. CHRISTINE: See you there. And don't forget to check your podcast feed for that bonus episode! ROSIE: Bye. CHRISTINE: Bye. CAIRA: The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddy Masiello and Nick Pitman. Today's episode was mixed by Catherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Diane Wong. Wirecutter's deputy publisher is Cliff Levy. Ben Frumin is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief. I'm Caira Blackwell. CHRISTINE: I'm Christine Cyr Clisset. ROSIE: And I'm Rosie Guerin. CHRISTINE: Thanks for listening. CAIRA: Your whole job is beach. I love it. KIT: I've got a little song, too. CHRISTINE: Yeah, we're going to have that part at the end. It's all coordinated and choreographed —
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
Germany to allow UK passport holders to use e-gates
Germany has agreed to allow some arriving UK airline passengers to use passport e-gates at its airports by the end of August, the Cabinet Office has announced. This will initially be available for frequent travellers. Access for all UK nationals will be possible once Germany has completed updates to its entry systems as it introduces the EU's long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES). The deal forms part of a bilateral treaty signed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the latter's first official visit to the UK. Since Brexit, UK travellers arriving at EU airports have generally been forced to queue for manned desks to have their passports stamped, rather than use automated gates with facial recognition technology. This has led to many passengers facing long queues, particularly during peak periods. The issue has been described as one of the most visible impacts of the UK's withdrawal from the EU. The UK-EU summit in May agreed there is no legal barrier to UK citizens using EU e-gates. The Cabinet Office said since then, e-gate access for UK travellers has increased in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Portugal. EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said: 'E-gates can make the slog of travelling through an airport that bit easier, which is why I have been working with the EU and member states to get more airports opened up to Brits abroad. 'With £30 billion of services trade between the UK and the EU, this agreement isn't just good for holidaymakers, it's good for British businesses too, making travelling easier between Europe's biggest economies, to get deals done and boost growth.' The treaty also includes the UK and Germany agreeing to establish a taskforce aimed at paving the way for direct train services between the countries. It is hoped services could begin within the next decade. The taskforce will bring together transport experts from both governments to examine how to address barriers to a new route, such as how to establish the necessary border and security checks. It will also assess safety standards and collaborate with train operators. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'We're pioneering a new era of European rail connectivity and are determined to put Britain at the heart of a better-connected continent. 'The Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie – in just a matter of years, rail passengers in the UK could be able to visit these iconic sites direct from the comfort of a train, thanks to a direct connection linking London and Berlin.' She added that the agreement has the potential to 'fundamentally change how millions of people travel' between the UK and Germany by offering a 'faster, more convenient and significantly greener alternative to flying'. In May, the UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding in an attempt to address barriers to a rail link between the countries. A month later, Eurostar unveiled plans to launch direct services connecting the UK with Germany and Switzerland. The operator announced proposals to run trains between London St Pancras and both Frankfurt and Geneva from the 'early 2030s'. Journey times would be about five hours between London and Frankfurt, and five hours and 20 minutes between London and Geneva. Eurostar holds a monopoly in running passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel, but several organisations are developing plans to launch rival services.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Yahoo
UK Firms Could Miss Out on £319 Billion in Sales Without Strategic Business Travel Investment, New GBTA Study Finds
Study shows modest increases in business travel spending deliver strong returns, with just £94 more per employee needed to reach optimal levels. LONDON, July 10, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Companies in the United Kingdom could unlock over £319 billion in additional sales by increasing their strategic investment in business travel. Despite a steady recovery since the pandemic, current travel and expense (T&E) spending still falls short of the level needed to maximise revenue and profitability – even when considering COVID-era investments in virtual meeting platforms. The research finds that a 9.7% increase in T&E spending could yield an 8.1% rise in sales for UK-based companies. These are some of the findings from a new report ─ T&E and the Bottom-Line: Quantifying the Return on Investment of UK Business Travel ─ an inaugural study for the UK market released today by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). Despite a strong post-pandemic recovery, the report finds that UK business travel spending remains £1.2 billion below its 2019 peak. The analysis shows that aligning T&E investment with optimal levels would yield a 13.8x return—translating to £13.80 in net operating margin for every £1 invested in business travel. "This study challenges the notion of business travel as a discretionary expense. Especially in times of uncertainty or economic pressures, UK organizations should ensure that they are optimizing their business travel as a strategic catalyst for growth. Business travel and in-person meetings boost corporate performance, deepen relationships, and spark innovation ─ and we see here that even modest increases in investment can yield substantial returns," said Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA. For 2024, the economic data shows that UK business travel spending reached £40.3 billion, still £1.2 billion below its 2019 peak, despite the past years' increasing use of virtual meetings. Through the analysis of 24 years of current and historical data (2000-2024) across 14 major UK industries, the GBTA UK ROI study also highlights: The Investment Gap. UK firms currently spend £32.5 billion on business travel. The profit-maximising level is £35.6 billion—about £3 billion higher. High Returns. A 9.7% increase in T&E spending could yield an 8.1% increase in sales, delivering £54 billion in additional net operating margin. Per-Employee Impact. Just £94 more per employee in T&E could help firms reach optimal investment levels. Sector-Specific Opportunities. Real Estate, Manufacturing, and Information & Communication sectors show the largest gaps between current and optimal travel spend, with potential sales gains of £35 billion, £46.7 billion, and £23.5 billion respectively. Efficiency Gains. While UK T&E spending has continued to rise 5.4% annually since 2000, companies have been gaining efficiencies in generating more revenue per travel pound spent. However, for the same period, business travel's share of total sales in the UK declined from 1.1% to 0.8%. So although UK companies may have gained efficiencies, continued T&E investment is needed to drive additional growth. Resilience and Strategic Value. The study also highlights that firms maintaining or increasing travel during downturns—such as the COVID-19 pandemic—tend to recover faster and outperform competitors. Business travel supports a wide range of high-value functions, from sales and client engagement to innovation and team development. For more information and to access the full report – T&E and the Bottom-Line: Quantifying the Return on Investment of UK Business Travel – visit the web page here. Today, GBTA also simultaneously released a similar study outlining the ROI of business travel in the United States which found a $2.4 trillion sales opportunity through an 8.3% increase in T&E spending – read more here. In the coming months, GBTA will also release additional follow-up reports that will provide insights specific to corporations and across industries, as well as on the impact of managed travel and role of travel management companies. METHODOLOGY GBTA's analysis models industry sales as a function of several core revenue drivers—including product or service demand, capital investment, input costs, travel prices, and business travel expenditure (T&E). These additional variables were included to control for their effects, enabling GBTA to isolate the incremental contribution of business travel. All data was adjusted for inflation prior to modeling, and GBTA's estimates are based on a panel dataset spanning 2000 to 2024, covering 14 major UK industries and the aggregate economy. ABOUT GBTA The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings trade organization serving stakeholders across six continents. GBTA and its 9,000+ members represent and advocate for the $1.48 trillion global business travel and meetings industry. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy, and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. For more information, visit and View source version on Contacts MEDIA INQUIRIES: Fintan Hastings, GBTA PR & Communications, EMEA & APAC, fhastings@ press@ Fire On The Hill PR, gbta@ Sign in to access your portfolio
