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I just got home from a very long trip. After a full day of travel and about 36 hours without sleep, my dad was there to greet me at the airport.

Having just returned from a three-month trip through four countries, I've been thinking a lot lately about national character.

Eric Klinenberg, an NYU sociologist, is the author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. Here, he explains why women are better at living alone than men, the social pressures to shack up, and why everyone should live alone at some point in their lives.

Gretchen Rubin is the now-famous woman behind The Happiness Project blog, where she's tested an impressive number of happiness theories and come up with some interesting conclusions.

The vision I have for my home is quite modern, so I'll have to save my love of bright colours and patterns on fabrics and soft furnishings instead.