When noon rolls around, nothing is additional traditional than a turkey sandwich, a essential yet delicious staple of many American lunches — and a individual favorite of mine.

To me, a traditional turkey sandwich consists of sliced turkey, lettuce, and tomato stuffed between two mayo-slathered pieces of bread. If there's cheese, it's normally a mild pale akin Swiss or provolone.

Jersey Mike's, Subway, and Jimmy John's all recommendation several type of my go-to sandwich, so I set out to discover the finest one.

To keep things fair, I ordered all chain's regular-size sandwich without any customizations — and to be additional fastidious, I brought out my measuring strip to create certain the advertised inches were accurate, since you really never know.

Here's how the sandwiches compared.

It's likely tucked distant in a drawer, stashed in your array or nightstand, below chargers, stray cords, and pieces of document you don't think you're expected to throw out but likely volition never need again.

You likely haven't idea concerning it since you put it there.

But Zach Griff's old phone is in his carry-on backpack.

Griff, a travel expert and author of the journey newsletter From the Tray Table, estimates that he flies an average of 150,000 miles a year. And for the former 11 years, he said, he's carried his former cellphone alongside him about the world.

Why you should continually journey alongside 2 phones

Your old phone won't obtain up much area in your carry-on, and if item happens to your current one, it may be the most crucial item you pack.

"Your phone is the one item you need to remain connected," Griff told Business Insider. "And the final item I need whenever I'm traveling is to try to discover a new phone."

Griff stated he came to this realization in 2015 during on a safari in the Serengeti alongside his wife, Jill. They were staying at a distant lodge whenever Jill cracked her phone and damaged the camera. In the existence of elephants, giraffes, and lions, Jill couldn't break a sole picture.

Right concerning now, you may be thinking, "Why not fair bring a camera?" I say go for it, but it won't fit as effortlessly in your carry-on. And it won't assistance you if your phone gets misplaced or breaks.

"That was the period whenever I was like, 'From now on, I'm bringing a spare phone all sole time,'" Griff stated concerning the safari trip.

In complete a decade of travel, Griff has lone used his backup phone as a replacement once.

"We were in Paris, and I was strolling near the Eiffel Tower, taking pictures at among the overlooks," Griff said. "It was so crowded, I was concerned concerning pickpockets, so I was fumbling things around, and afterward it happened."

While attempting to glide it rear in his pocket, Griff dropped his phone on the ground. A expert ran throughout the top of the screen, disabling Face ID, but the phone was alternatively functioning fair fine, he said. He decided to toggle to the backup phone anyhow to create the remainder of his trip easier.

So far, Griff hasn't needed his backup phone to keep communication during traveling. But if he always does, he won't remain detached for long.

The CEO of one of France's largest supermarket chains, and among the world's largest retailers, stated that 50 of its stores were targeted by rioters on Saturday.

Alexandre Bompard, who leads Carrefour, France's type of Walmart, took to X on Sunday to condemn the riots and commend his workforce as France reels from general civic unrest and looting.

"Nothing can validate specified violence," Bompard stated on X in French. "Those who assault the activity tools of courageous entrepreneurs and their teams in this way must visage an uncompromising response."

"The Republic must defend its shopkeepers!" he added.

Riots swept throughout France on Saturday following initially peaceful demonstrations against the elevated disbursal of living and deteriorating academy conditions turned violent. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated on X that 600 constabulary officers were injured in the fracas and additional than 2,000 group were arrested.

Photos and videos from Paris and another French cities display massive demonstrations, burning cars, and wrecked storefronts.

In his X post, Bompard called the aggression "unacceptable." He stated that, in supplement to Carrefour's stores, concerning 1,500 another shops were damaged in the riots.

"The disbursal of the repairs volition amount to additional than 10 myriad euros, and our shopkeepers need an acceleration of compensation procedures, as in the case of natural disasters," he said.

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AI companies have already scraped much of the web. Now they're chasing item equal additional valuable: data that shows how humans really work.

That's the concentration of Business Insider's new series, The AI Data Grab. This week, we published three stories showing how the competition for office data is accelerating.

One piece, from Charles Rollet, Tom Carter, and Stephen Council, examines the booming market for business records. AI firms are offering businesses six- and equal seven-figure sums for anonymized Slack messages, emails, presentations, and inner documents.

The goal is to instruct AI systems how group resolve problems, collaborate, create decisions, and complete long, multi-step tasks. Those real-world workflows are becoming the energy for the next generation of AI agents.

Another story, from Melia Robinson, explores how law firms are construction AI systems about decades of lawful knowledge, turning their own cognition into a rivalrous advantage fairly than relying solely on off-the-shelf AI models and tools.

A third piece, by Rya Jetha, reveals how AI companies pay group to document real-world work, specified as cooking dinners and packing warehouses, to instruct robots how humans execute mundane bodily tasks.

Together, these stories item to a important change in AI development. The archetypal motion of generative AI was mostly concerning bigger models and faster chips. The next division is concerning machines understanding how activity gets done, so AI can assistance us do it improved and quicker.

Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com

This summer, my partner and I decided to obtain the longest Amtrak trip we've always taken — three trains from Washington, DC, to Vancouver complete four days.

My partner, who is a teacher, had a interrupt between the academy twelvemonth and the summer program, so this adventure was the ideal excuse to relax, disconnect from the world, and bask the train's views. That was, unfortunately, not the case for me.

Since I have an office job alongside constricted holiday time, I decided I would activity remotely throughout the complete trip. Even although I had my boss's approval to activity on the train and had packed all my essentials, I motionless wondered how prosperous this endeavor would be.

Turns out, it was additional challenging than I anticipated, but motionless value the hassle.

Gen Z has managed item no contemporary generation pulled off before. After additional than a hundred years of dependable scholarly gains, test scores eventually went the another direction. For the archetypal period ever, a new generation is officially dumber than the former one.

The data comes from neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, who has spent years reviewing standardized evaluation results throughout age groups. “They’re the archetypal generation in contemporary former to mark lesser on standardized scholarly tests than the one before it,” Horvath told the New York Post. The declines cut throughout attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, administrator function, and broad IQ. That’s not fair one feeble spot. That’s the entire darn dashboard blinking at once.

Horvath took the identical communication to Capitol Hill during a 2026 Senate hearing on display period and children. His framing skipped the generational dunking and focused on exposure. “More than fractional of the period a adolescent is awake, fractional of it is spent staring at a screen,” he told lawmakers. Human learning, he argued, depends on sustained notice and communication alongside another people. Endless feeds and condensed satisfied don’t recommendation either.

Is Gen Z Really Dumber Than Their Parents?

Schools leaned difficult into innovation during the identical window. Educational application replaced textbooks, lengthy readings, and extended problem-solving. After class, students returned to phones, tablets, and laptops, bouncing between social feeds and bite-sized explanations of matter they never sat alongside for extremely long. Horvath described the outcome as students trained to skim. Skimming feels efficient, but it doesn’t build depth.

“I’m not anti-tech. I’m pro-rigor,” Horvath told the Post. Rigor, in his view, comes from friction. Reading complete texts. Working through confusion. Spending period alongside matter that doesn’t immediately reward you. Take that conflict away, and cognitive skills dull. Brains modify to the surroundings they’re given, and this one prizes speed complete staying power.

The identical decrease appears exterior the United States. Horvath told senators that throughout approximately 80 countries, scholarly achievement drops following digital innovation becomes extensively embedded in classrooms. The timing solitary raises grave questions concerning how learning environments power cognitive development.

Now, this is awkward. Horvath stated many young group remain extremely assured in their intellect notwithstanding lesser measured performance. Confidence isn’t the issue. Confidence without correction booths improvement.

This conversation feels uncomfortable since it doesn’t recommendation villains or uncomplicated fixes. Horvath summed it up bluntly during his testimony. “A sad fact our generation has to visage is this: Our kids are small cognitively capable than we were at their age.” His advice focused on restraint, dialing rear screens in schools, and restoring degree before the next generation is doomed. 

During a rally on Saturday, October 17th, in Highland Heights, Kentucky, Donald Trump bragged concerning how much additional mighty and influential he was during his second term. While listing off his accomplishments, he mentioned his decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.

“This is a much additional mighty term. I can do material that’s unbelievable … I called Google, Google Maps. See, Google wouldn’t have taken my call in the archetypal term. Now they buss my ass.”

Trump seems to be implying that he convinced Google to indicate the name alter personally. That would appear to refuse Google’s statement on the matter, in which it stated that it merely reflects “official authorities sources, which is GNIS for the US … These updates prosecute our long-standing guideline for bodies of h2o alongside names that change from nation to country.”

Throughout his second term, however, Silicon Valley — including Google and its CEO Sundar Pichai — has gone out of its way to try and ingratiate itself alongside President Trump, lavishing him alongside gifts, compliments, and donations to his pet projects. Google did not immediately come back a petition for comment.

It used to be so uncomplicated to get distant alongside things in school. The teacher, following all, was continually turned about penning at the chalkboard! But afterward came a bit of technology, earlier mostly used for armed forces purposes, called the overhead projector. It would alter far additional than fair the disciplinary document of students everywhere.

In this episode of Version History, we inform the narrative of the overhead projector. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Stanford prof Antero Garcia to conversation how overhead projectors were developed, how they made their way into classrooms, and how they changed so much concerning the way kids learn. They additionally try to fig out why overhead projectors have mostly gone away, and whether the things that replaced them — from PowerPoint presentations to device screens to those new-fangled astute boards — really improved on the OHP.

This is the final event of the fifth period of Version History, all concerning the most iconic academy tech. Thanks so much for watching, listening, sending feedback, and everything else! Other than the OHP, we additionally spent this period looking at Oregon Trail, the first Chromebook, the One Laptop Per Child program, the LeapFrog LeapPad, and those ubiquitous Texas Instruments calculators. If you missed any part of our season, inspect out the episodes here:

If you desire to cognize additional concerning the overhead projector, current are several links to get you started:

I've continually been a city mouse, so whenever we decided to move from Melbourne, Australia, to Bright in nation Victoria in 2021, I wasn't certain how lengthy I'd last. Our family ended up falling in affection alongside the slower gait of life and the people, and spent four years in the small alpine town at the foothills of the Victorian Alps.

But in January, we moved from Bright to the Gold Coast, anywhere I grew up. My parents' health was declining, and I wanted to expend norm period alongside them before it was too late.

Moving from a small local town of small than 3,000 group to a city of nearly 700,000 was a profound manner change for our family of five. We had to make new friends, study how to navigate a traffic ray again (joking!), and get used to the buzzing city life.

Overall, we've gained a lot from moving to the city, and I awareness it's been particularly beneficial to our kids, as it's helped build resilience. But there are certainly things concerning country life that I do miss, if I'm being honest.

Life is complete of trade-offs, and we've certainly made a few.

We've gained convenience and accessibility

In nation Victoria, our nearest important retailer was an hour's run away. If the kids needed new shoes or I needed new underwear, off we'd run to the nearest important town. It frequently felt akin a goal fair to admission uncomplicated amenities.

Nowadays, everything we need is at our fingertips. If we desire to eat Italian one night and Nepalese the next, we can. The Gold Coast has all the amenities we need, and a fine mix of beaches, hinterland hikes, nightlife, festivals, and an up-and-coming food scene.

There are additional occupation and learning opportunities

Cities mostly recommendation improved occupation and education opportunities, without a doubt. In our family, my hubby has likely benefited the most in that regard.

When we moved current in January, he expanded his Muscle Freedom remedial massage and myotherapy endeavor and started a medicinal center on the Gold Coast. Since then, the opportunities have been incredible, and he's treated several of Australia's biggest sporting identities. That would apt never have happened in nation Victoria (unless they were holidaying there).

Likewise, our kids appear to be thriving at school and in their extra-curricular activities, many of which were unavailable anywhere we used to live.

I bask the anonymity, and the assortment current is additionally a big plus

When I was having a bad mental health day in Bright, there was no escaping allies and family (bless them). Once, at the supermarket, I was weeping in the bread aisle, lone to be greeted by my husband's cheerful colleague, who was eager to conversation concerning the weather. I wanted to scream and run away.

In the city, I fairly enjoy the anonymity and being a figure in the crowd, particularly on harder days.

I additionally affection having admission to a varied range of art, music, entertainment, and food on the Gold Coast. After four years living in the country, I began to awareness a bit starved of culture.

My kids are additionally mingling alongside children from distinct backgrounds and walks of life, which I am really blessed about.

However, we young female having nature at our doorstep, and broad open spaces

Bright is surrounded by mountains, forests, rivers, and cycling trails, alongside gorgeous national parks a abbreviated run away. It really is a smorgasbord of activities for outdoor enthusiasts.

The Gold Coast has plentifulness of sunshine and offers several spectacular natural scenery, but you do have to run to admission it. I've really put on a few kilos living in the city, and I think it's chiefly since I'm not strolling or cycling as much.

When we lately returned to Bright for a family holiday, I realized how much I've missed those broad open spaces. The air seems to awareness fresher there.

Living in suburbia on the Gold Coast, the blocks are tighter, and several areas awareness akin the properties are on top of all other. Even as I compose this, I can overhear the next-door neighbor arguing alongside her hubby concerning his messy family habits.

I additionally young female the close-knit community and slower pace

I've been fortunate adequate to make several fantastic friends on the Gold Coast. The benevolent who inspect in on us whenever we're ill or recommendation to babysit if my hubby and I need a night out. But it additionally seems that group are busier in the city, and get-togethers happen small often.

In a small town akin Bright, it's easier to capture up alongside group since everyone lives near by. I established that living in the nation helped me form deeper connections alongside friends. That brought a awareness of security, knowing that person continually has your back.

Since moving to the city, existence has felt frantic. For the archetypal six months, all weekend was jam-packed alongside catch-ups alongside family and new and old friends.

In a small nation town, the gait of existence was much slower. Recently, during we were holidaying in Bright, I felt my shoulders relax, and my emphasis levels decrease. There's item to be stated for a uncomplicated life.

What our next division holds

We'd intended to provision the Gold Coast 12 months and afterward create a call concerning anywhere to basis ourselves long-term. But now that we're nearly at that mark, we've realized it's too shortly to create a decision.

And so, we'll be spending 2027 here, afterward reassessing our options delayed next year. Part of me craves the open skies, caller mountain air, and the stillness I took for granted in the country, but I'm also enjoying having Aldi a kilometer distant and additional choices overall.

I assume at the end of the day, there's no ideal location to live, fair places that lawsuit you at distinct existence stages. For now, the Gold Coast is giving us convenience, variety, and period alongside my folks, and I average to bask the finest of what city existence has to offer.

Whenever I schedule an appointment during the academy day, I awareness guilty.

I ask for their latest accessible appointment. If that doesn't work, I drag up the school calendar. Then I commencement doing the ridiculous genitor math: How lengthy is the drive? What category volition my kid miss? Can I get them rear before the final bell? Is there several magical way to create a 10:30 project happen without blowing up fractional the academy day? Usually, there isn't. So I obtain the appointment.

I'm a mother in rural North Carolina. Healthcare providers aren't continually five minutes downward the road, and appointments that fit absolutely between academy dismissal and meal aren't exactly falling from the sky. Sometimes the project you need is at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. And sometimes you obtain it. I motionless awareness blameworthy concerning it nearly all time.

I desire my kid in school. Of way I do. I cognize how quickly one missed category can rotate into a missing assignment, which afterward becomes another project they don't comprehend since they missed the archetypal one. But I additionally have to obtain attention of my child. Sometimes those two responsibilities bump correct into all other. And that's likely why perfect-attendance awards have continually bothered me.

My kid is my priority

I comprehend why schools attention concerning attendance. Kids need to be in classrooms. They need instruction, routine, relationships alongside teachers and classmates, and all the small pieces of academy that are difficult to recreate at home. When a kid is missing a lot of school, I entirely think families have to be supported in figuring out why and assisting that kid get rear into a routine.

But ideal attendance is item different. An unbroken attendance document isn't necessarily a measure of how difficult a kid tried. Kids don't choose whenever they get the flu. They don't authority whenever the expert eventually has an opening. They can't provision their parents paid period off, fix the car whenever it won't start, create the academy bus arrive downward a highway it doesn't serve, or move a doctor's agency 45 minutes nearer to home.

The certificate may have a child's name printed on it, but there's a entire lot of family circumstance rearward that streak. I activity for myself, which gives me more flexibility than many parents have. I can move things about whenever an project pops up. That doesn't average the misplaced activity hours don't matter, but I can normally create it happen.

A genitor operating an hourly job may be making a entirely distinct calculation. Can I oversee to endure three hours of pay? Will my chief be irritated? How many times have I already had to depart first this year?

And that's before we equal enter transportation, accommodation instability, admission to healthcare, chronic illness, or any of the another things families may be dealing alongside that nobody sees whenever the certificates get handed out. Those circumstances matter. They fair aren't evidence that one kid tried harder than another.

One ill day shouldn't erase a year's value of effort

As parents, we already have to create adequate judgement calls whenever our kids are sick. Is this a stay-home ill or a send-them-and-see sick? Are they really exhausted or fair really, really not curious in going to math?

We're told attendance matters. And it does. We're additionally told to keep our kids residence whenever they're contagious since sending them to academy ill exposes others to illness. Both things can be true.

Then we rotate about and provision an award for never missing a day. That's anywhere I get stuck. One fever in October can tap a kid out of the operating for an award handed out in June.

I don't desire to hesitate before keeping my ill kid residence since several part of my brain is thinking concerning an attendance record. And I certainly don't desire my kid learning that dragging yourself through academy whenever you awareness awful is evidence that you're additional dedicated.

Sometimes staying residence is the liable choice. Sometimes missing academy for an project is the liable choice. And sometimes the notable part isn't never missing academy at all, it's coming back.

I'd fairly see schools acknowledge persistence

I'm not suggesting schools halt caring whether kids arrive to school. Chronic absenteeism is a genuine problem, and families dealing alongside it may need additional support, not less. But perfection doesn't have to be the prize.

Recognize the kid whose attendance improved from one grading duration to the next. Celebrate shorter milestones. Acknowledge the pupil who had a coarse extend and worked their way rear into a routine.

Despite my views, I cognize I'll keep doing the school-day project math. I'll keep asking for the latest opening. I'll keep checking the calendar. I'll keep trying to minimize what my kid misses and assistance them capture up whenever missing academy can't be avoided. And I'll likely motionless awareness a small blameworthy all time.

My kid may never acquire a perfect-attendance award. I'm fine alongside that. I'd much fairly they study that taking attention of themselves is responsible, staying residence whenever they're contagious is considerate, and showing up again following a difficult extend is item value being arrogant of.

When my hubby and I bought our flat in Kyiv rear in 2017, we were thrilled to eventually have a family nest of our own.

It was a cozy, 500-square-foot location alongside one bedroom, and we meticulously planned to optimize all inch of it. Our galley array doubled as my workspace, and our living area couch became the visitant bed whenever family stayed over.

Hosting required clean imaginative problem-solving and, alongside constricted seating about our small table, I'd sometimes nourish guests in shifts. It was disorderly at times, but I didn't mind.

After our son was born, brilliant synthetic toys, endless boxes of diapers, and bulky baby equipment started claiming all liberated border of our apartment. With the three of us packed into a sole bedroom, finding area was a regular puzzle, but we made it work.

Surprisingly, living so near together didn't awareness constricted rear afterward — it felt intimate, cozy, and deeply fulfilling. Then COVID-19 hit.

Spending so much period indoors made me awareness isolated, and for the archetypal time, I began dreaming concerning additional living space. But we barely had period to fig things out before existence took a drastic turn: When the war in Ukraine escalated in 2022, we made the heavy, life-changing decision to relocate to Canada.

A few months following moving, we began renting a two-bedroom house, anywhere we currently reside. At 1,700 quadrate feet, it wasn't considered particularly ample by local standards, but to us, it felt vast.

It didn't obtain lengthy to modify to having additional area — and to quickly inhabit it up

At first, our home seemed nearly too ample for fair three people.

For the archetypal time, we had two bedrooms and a basement, which immediately doubled our usable area at a dirt level.

After years of flat living, though, the sheer idea of having so much area to keep spotless felt exhausting. However, it didn't obtain lengthy to alter my mind.

It turns out that whenever the two you and your belongings eventually have area to breathe — and you've got a trusty robot vacuum doing the dense lifting — existence shines in entirely distinct colors.

It's additionally been fantastic to have additional area to host, from a dedicated visitant area (in the basement) to a array big adequate to really place larger groups.

In time, we began to choice up local habits and traditions, too. Many of our neighbors in Canada decorate for distinct holidays, so we started joining in.

And of course, seasonal decor needs a location to be stored whenever it's not in use — and since we now had a complete basement, I didn't awareness excellent constricted alongside what I could buy.

A lot of neighbors additionally had an additional stand-alone freezer in their homes. It seemed ridiculous for our family of three to additionally get one … until my first Costco run.

I caved whenever I realized I needed a location for all those bulk-sized boxes of icy food. In our bigger home, ample market hauls began emotion normal.

Gradually, I felt a change in my identity: I was no longer the strict minimalist I used to be.

In Kyiv, whenever my hubby wanted a new galley gadget or a elephantine toy truck for our son, I was resolute concerning saying no. We merely didn't have area for "extra." I took pride in keeping our residence entirely clutter-free.

But between the additional area and North American convenience, I'd entirely changed my minimalist rules. Now, saying "yes" to big additions — akin the bulky food dehydrator I'd been eyeing for drying fruits and vegetables, or the roomy couch we'd dreamed of for years — felt easy.

I didn't need to concern concerning anywhere item would be stored or if it'd obtain up too much space: We eventually had the area to bring those dreams home.

Ultimately, my family and I have thrived alongside additional area to breathe

Over time, I realized this change was much deeper than fair being capable to shop additional and shop additional stuff. In a bigger space, our family had area to breathe and grow.

In Kyiv, our entire regular and my minimalist mindset felt shaped by how tight everything felt, but here, the additional area opened up a entire new chapter.

I've rotate into additional outgoing, additional relaxed, and genuinely enthusiastic to collect group together. Our residence has turned into a location for hosting friends, cooking weekend dinners, and laughing complete backyard barbecues.

Living small was a beautiful, close part of my existence that I volition continually clasp near to my heart. It taught me intentionality and gratitude.

However, creating area to thrive, host, and observe my family develop has entirely transformed my definition of residence — now, going rear to 500 quadrate feet no longer feels akin an option.

"You've never been on a cruise?" my companion basically yelled at me during we were preparedness an adults-only trip distant from our kids. She insisted that cruising alongside her grandparents as an grownup was among the finest trips she's always taken.

So, notwithstanding being a small terrified of being aboard basically a floating skyscraper alongside thousands of people, I accepted to a Disney cruise for fair the two of us.

Honestly, it was so much fun that I'm already preparedness another Disney cruise alongside my kids — although I'm not certain I desire to provision up the adults-only version.

It was specified an uncomplicated getaway

My family is known for taking really detailed vacations. One period we stayed on a distant isle near Sicily, which is an energetic volcano. It took us three flights and a lengthy ferry journey to get there, but it was totally value it to see the lava at night.

This trip was different. We took a escape from Boston to Orlando, boarded the Disney Wish, and following that, we didn't have to think concerning anything. We have seven kids between the two of us (including three sets of twins), and the comfort of the Disney cruise was exactly what we the two needed.

There were activities nonstop, and you could associate any of them at any point. I took a quick category to study how to diagram Ursula, we participated in so many trivia games alongside another adults, and stopped to obtain photos alongside characters — who are all complete the container all the period — to dispatch residence to our kids.

I really liked that nearly everything was included

Part of its comfort was that most everything was included, so there were few additional costs. For example, all meals at the themed restaurants were part of the package, and we could command as many dishes as we wanted. Non-alcoholic beverages are additionally included, and you get area assistance 24/7.

I particularly liked the buffet-style meals at Marceline Market since I could mix in several fit options (there were plenty) alongside several of my faves, akin the fried hash browns for lunch or the Mickey-shaped churro waffles (which were extremely recommended by the entire staff).

Of course, there are fancier options, akin the Italian eatery Palo, for which we couldn't get a booking during our trip. That said, we spent plentifulness of period at the Keg & Compass pub since on the archetypal night I discovered their vodka dirty martini, which was hands downward the finest one I've always had (yes, including fancy New York restaurants). Cocktail prices varied from bar to bar, but this martini was $14, which seemed excellent sensible to me.

Visiting Castaway Cay was key

Disney cruises in the Caribbean halt at Disney's personal island, Castaway Cay. And for me, it was a key stop.

While I've been on a lot of boats expanding up — my dad loves fishing — I motionless get seasick a lot. And during I was amazed by how small the cruise container rocked, I could motionless awareness it a small bit. So getting off the container and having my feet on the dirt was necessary for me.

I additionally affection the ocean, and the Caribbean h2o is the ideal mix of temperature, color, and gentle sand. My favorite instant was drinking a icy piña colada alongside my companion during taking in several sunshine.

I appreciated that the isle has an adults-only division called Serenity Bay, which was quieter and additional relaxed than the family beach. There's a eatery off the beach, too, so we were capable to eat lunch between dips in the water.

The agenda was packed

While there were nonstop activities on the boat, I was frequently torn between wanting to do two or additional overlapping things. For example, there was bingo one night happening at the same period as trivia. Given the option, I would've done both, since who doesn't affection a bingo night? There was another day whenever you could create your own companionship bracelets, but I had already booked a facial, and that accomplishment didn't reiterate during our stay.

Because our chief goal was to expend period together and relax, I felt I didn't do many of the engaging activities the container offered. But I additionally get that that's the point; there's item for everyone at any stated period of the day.

We didn't publish things in advance

Being a newbie worked against me whenever booking additional activities. I wanted to astonishment my companion alongside a couple's massage so we could destress, and I additionally wanted a facial.

By the period I went to publish spa treatments (about a week before we boarded), there were extremely few period slots available. Next time, as shortly as I publish my trip, I'll be adding all the extras I desire to maximize availability.

That said, we ended up getting our massage on embarkation day, which turned out to be the ideal way to smoothly passage from the anarchy of mom existence to holiday mode. And at $399 for the two of us, it wasn't that much additional costly than the massages I get rear in Maine. I booked my facial for 8 a.m., which felt a small early, but again was the lone accessible time. If I were to do it again, I'd publish the facial in the midday so as not to cut into pond time.

I overpacked and didn't have area for souvenirs

When I inform you I packed and unpacked my bag concerning 10 times before boarding, I'm not exaggerating. The Disney cruise hosted a pirate night and a Halloween party, and I wanted to be prepared for both. I additionally didn't cognize what to anticipate to desire to deteriorate on a cruise, so I overpacked by a ton.

This remaining me alongside extremely small area for souvenirs, which I motionless bought, but had to transport an additional tote bag rear home. All the shops on the container have distinct themes and hence recommendation distinct stuff. I bought a Mickey-cruise-themed men's garment that got so many compliments on the day I wore it. I additionally bought my kids pens and small keychain stuffies alongside their favorite characters.

We weren't the lone adults without kids

My friend, who has additional cruise cognition than I do, insisted it wouldn't be weird for us to be on a Disney cruise without kids. And she was right. We weren't the lone ones enjoying the adults-only areas, which included an roomy pond phase alongside a jacuzzi, a small pool, a dedicated bar, and a coffee shop. There were additionally adults-only activities, akin dancing parties and trivia. And obviously, all the bars were for 21+.

While we lone stayed at the adults-only pond deck, we could motionless comprehend the movies blasting for the family-friendly pond deck, which at times made it difficult to relax. That said, whenever "Frozen" came on, the two my companion and I were chanting alongside (and likely annoying another grownup guests).

We met a brace who were older than us who were on their 41st cruise. They established me adorable, being so enthusiastic concerning my archetypal cognition on board. They told me to get prepared to rotate into a cruise person, and they weren't wrong.

I had specified a awesome period that I'm already preparedness whenever to obtain another Disney cruise, this period alongside my entire family. Disney Cruise Lines fair announced a new container called Believe, which volition characteristic an "Encanto" phase display — which fair happens to be my kids favorite Disney movie.

I cannot delay to see my kids' eyes go broad whenever they see how many things they can do, and for them to be prepared to obtain a photo alongside their favorite Disney character, Daisy Duck.

You cognize those TikToks concerning the childless, traveling aunt? The one who's somehow continually at an airport, has a doubtful amount of money, occasionally shows up alongside gifts she certainly didn't need to buy (while carrying yet another new decorator purse), and is never fairly certain what period area she's in? Yep, that's me.

For years, I happily embraced the stereotype. I'd swoop in for birthdays and holidays, continually say yes to dessert (and additional dessert), create a small chaos, afterward caput rear to my own wonderfully autonomous life.

I assumed I understood the assignment. Bring the snacks. Buy the birthday presents. Show up to holidays alongside item fun tucked under my arm. Be loud, be silly, create them laugh, afterward hand them rear to their parents whenever the day was over. It was the finest benevolent of job. I got all the joy without much of the responsibility.

Or so I thought.

As my nieces and nephew got older, I realized item that amazed me: I wasn't really getting to cognize them as they were maturing into their own people. I had to ask their moms what they wanted for birthdays, or worse, I fair bought out the toy division at Target and hoped item would stick. I additionally didn't cognize who they were whenever they didn't have to vie for notice or weren't trying to power me alongside the farthest throw, the coolest dive into the pool, or the biggest burp. That's whenever "Auntie Emily Days" were born.

Their day reflects their personality

Yes, I drag out all the stops I can, akin ice skating at Wollman Rink and meal at Bad Roman for one; an Oheka Castle lunch and manicure/pedicure alongside Starbucks for another; calling in a favor for on-field admission for my nephew. Then all goes residence alongside a small current to prompt them of the day.

But the itinerary is never really the point. The item is that all kid gets a day built entirely about their interests. For a few uninterrupted hours, they don't have to colony alongside a brother or sister or delay their turn. They awareness seen, heard, and don't have to vie for attention. And that's whenever I started seeing parts of their personalities I power have alternatively missed.

They're distinct whenever they're one-on-one

While I have a resolute grasp on all of their personalities, it was shocking to me how distinct they were one-on-one. Emma is the coolest kid and thankful for all experience, treating all instant as if it's the finest she's always had. Zoë can rotate nearly item into a gag and somehow finds the fun strolling through the most crowded street in New York. Jessica is analytical and technical, but distant from her sisters, her wonderfully goofy awareness of wit takes over. Jocelyn has a confidence and spunk that's unattainable to ignore, yet she's remarkably intuitive. JJ is quieter than the rest, preferring to detect archetypal and ask thoughtful questions later. Isabelle is sweet, demure, and quiet, and merely a joy to be around. And baby Isla is a power of nature I cognize I'm going to affection hanging out alongside whenever she gets a bit older.

Without siblings or parents nearby, they open up completely. They inform me concerning academy friendships, worries they haven't shared alongside anyone else, and things they're enthusiastic about. I may not run rear and inform their parents everything, but it may provision me a small sway complete the Christmas list. It's amazing what children reveal whenever they awareness akin person is listening lone to them.

Connection isn't built at anniversary parties

The biggest astonishment wasn't how much I learned concerning them; it was how much they began trusting me.

The moments that matter most remain alongside us

When I think rear on our days together, it isn't continually the tickets or the destinations that remain out. It's sharing French fries during they inform me their new favorite gag or item silly their brother or sister did. It is being entirely icy on the phase of the Staten Island Ferry staring at the Statue of Liberty since it was on our list. Or hearing an unfiltered opinion concerning school, extracurriculars, or item bothering them. It's observing them rotate into assured adequate to command for themselves at a eatery — and afterward hearing they are doing that at home, too. It's nice whenever you acknowledge a conversation we had in the car or a small encouragement during one of our adventures didn't end whenever I dropped them off.

For a lengthy time, I assumed choosing not to have children meant I'd young female out on observing kids develop up. I couldn't have been additional wrong. I get a front-row place to their lives, fair from a distinct seat. I get to commemorate their milestones, advance their interests, answer the occasional difficult question, and then, yes, dispatch them residence to their parents at the end of the day. It turns out that's exactly the function I was meant to have.

Showing up is additional than fair being around

I don't create all ballgame game, I'm not in the spectators for all cheer competition, I can't be there all Saturday. But now I cognize that the intentional period I had alongside all kid carries a bigger importance than fair showing up, saying hello, giving them a hug, and going home.

By carving out uninterrupted period alongside all child, I've been capable to create item that doesn't happen naturally in the anarchy of their family life, or in my own solo life.

Yes, I volition continually be the fun aunt, but alternatively of fair "she was around," my aim has rotate into "she showed up." I desire them to recall having person who listened without interrupting, who asked questions since she genuinely wanted to cognize the answer,; who made area for their interests, equal whenever they weren't her own. Not person who fair said, "Sure, you can have another part of cake, I don't care." (While motionless additionally allowing them to have additional cake.)

This as-told-to composition is according to a conversation alongside Andrew Koller, 31, a freelance camera controller who purchased a residence in Yamagata, Japan, in March. Koller, who's based in Edmonton, Canada, renovated the residence and plans to use it as a holiday home. The following has been edited for dimension and clarity.

Like a lot of millennials, I was exposed to Japanese civilization in several awareness first on alongside "Naruto," "Pokemon," and "Dragon Ball Z." After that, I don't think my involvement really left.

Come 2020, I had a bunch of period on my hands akin everybody else. It seemed akin a fine period to eventually study Japanese. I've been learning Japanese alongside a personal tutor since then.

Then, in 2023, I made my archetypal trip to Japan.

Like everybody alternatively who comes rear from their first trip to Japan, I fair cut in love. I couldn't halt talking concerning it, but I wanted a deeper association to the community.

I wanted additional than fair the superficial, surface-level cognition of Japanese life. So I idea perchance a fine way to get that cognition would be to buy a home that's not in a important tourist city, slightly live there, and expend a fine chunk of period complete there getting engaged alongside the community by renovating a forgotten property.

The algorithm was observing for sure. After my archetypal Japan trip, my YouTube and Instagram algorithms were suggesting to me all these akin group doing akin things.

From that, I was like, this seems akin item I can do. In my liberated time, I akin to DIY. I have a small studio — I wouldn't say I'm fine at it, but I awareness akin I cognize adequate to do the basics.

I'm at the item in my existence now anywhere I've had all these ideas and I've said, "Oh, it'd be chill to do this," but I never do it. I never prosecute through. I fair wanted to demonstrate to myself that I really followed through on one of these slightly whimsical ideas.

The home I bought in Japan disbursal a fraction of what houses disbursal in Canada

I've continually been curious in genuine asset since a young age.

Purchasing your archetypal house is doable, but if you desire to acquisition a second home following that, akin a rental, it's extremely challenging to do that in Canada. Canada's accommodation market has exploded, particularly in Alberta.

I'm in a extremely fortunate stance anywhere my partner and I own a home and we own a rental asset as fine near to the university area.

I bought the rental home whenever I was 20 alongside my parents — they had to sign on since no financial institution was going to debt a 20-year-old kid a mortgage. I rented out the rooms and afterward I lived for liberated for my period in college.

Both houses have a akin value. My chief residence is value fair under $600,000 CAD (about $422,880). When we bought the rental 10 years ago, it was about $500,000 CAD, but it's gone up since.

For my residence in Japan, I spent $15,000 CAD (about $10,600) on the acquisition cost affirmative decision costs, which was another $3,000 CAD.

I can certainly see myself spending extended period in Japan.

I desire to go out there at smallest a few times a year. It's near to a beautiful big ski resort, and I snowboard.

Doing the math for that, if I was to go stay in Banff or Jasper — among the additional famous mountain towns in Alberta — for a week and ski, it's really cheaper to fly to Japan, since the skiing is additionally extremely affordable, so that was a big aspect for me.

I would akin to rent it out, but I don't scheme on making a lot of prosperity from it

I went to Japan in October 2025 to appearance at properties. I made an recommendation in November, it got accepted, and afterward I got possession of the asset in March 2026. Then I went up for the complete duration of April to start renovations on it.

I wanted to regard what was already there whenever I went in. Even although the home itself wasn't ancient or historic — it was built in the '60s or '70s — it was extremely traditionally built alongside the Tatami rooms. I wanted to keep a lot of that, coming in as a Westerner.

I wanted to try and modify to their way of existence fairly than trying to enforce my own. I fair wanted to complement what was already there.

Now, the home is 98% done.

The genuine renewal expenses correct now are fair complete the acquisition cost. So I'm at about $18,000 CAD and change, doing most of it myself.

Right now, the goal would be to do a short-term rental in the future, but I don't scheme on it making a lot of money.

I think that's the one item group volition get confused about. They think, "If I do this and renovate it, I can create a ton of prosperity off a short-term rental in Japan." That's not the case, since there's so much competition alongside the hotels there that are already amazing and extremely affordable.

I fair desire to shield the care expenses additional than anything. Doing a small bit of short-term rental, I think, volition assistance alongside that.

It's not an asset. I think perchance group go to Japan alongside the Western mindset, like, "Oh, it's a buy-and-hold asset." Outside of Tokyo and the big cities, genuine asset doesn't do that.

Real asset continually goes downward in value complete time. If you're buying a home in Japan, go in alongside the anticipation that it's not as much of a financial asset as it is a recreation: you'll get additional of a traditional experience.

Ukrainian drone operators need masses of comparatively uncomplicated drones without a bunch of flashy features, a serviceman alongside firsthand cognition explained, cautioning the West against making them too complex as it readies for forthcoming drone fights.

Ukraine's combat against Russia's invasion is a grinding war of attrition that is consuming weaponry so accelerated that combatants need affordable weapons in huge numbers, and battlefield technology becomes obsolete so quickly that soldiers need systems they can update effortlessly to keep them applicable in battle.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a erstwhile drone controller who is now a lessons learned expert in Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," told Business Insider that "we need item that plant awesome but doesn't have superfluous features."

"That is item that most of the Western defence innovation manufacturers, they get it so wrong," he said. Consider first-person-view assault drones, "we need item that is really basic."

"We are yet to discover Western manufacturers that are capable to produce, let's say 500,000 FPV drones, uncomplicated ones that fair work, that are fine-tuned without any additional autonomy or additional navigation or any features akin that," he added, describing what Ukraine needs most as item pilots can effortlessly obtain direct into combat.

Western-made drone tech, he said, is frequently "too complicated, frequently detached from the battlefield, and much additional costly than Ukrainian options doing the identical job. Therefore, most of the drones used at Ukraine's battlefield are Ukrainian-made."

His appraisal of the situations draws on the two his cognition as a drone controller and his function as an analyst, anywhere he looks at battlefield trends, interviews operators, meets alongside abroad defence manufacturers, prepares briefs for higher command, and organizes the sharing of data between Ukrainian units.

Simple drones provision soldiers additional flexibility

Part of the petition of simpler drones is that Ukrainian operators can modify them themselves.

Near the front, soldiers routinely modify weapons to keep them helpful as the battlefield changes, and several units equal have their own R&D centers.

They frequently desire drones and another combat systems that are basic, generic platforms they can rework, upgrade, or configure for distinct missions, much akin ground robots that can be assembled alongside distinct weapons or components akin Lego sets.

Ukrainian companies and abroad companies that activity alongside units cognize this is happening, activity alongside component engineers to assistance keep products updated, and are frequently amazed by the ways soldiers modify their gear. Companies are increasingly making their products modular, the two so they can upgrade the products additional effortlessly and so soldiers can create their own changes near the front.

Zhluktenko stated Ukraine's operators desire products they can "tune ourselves, we would alter the components or any as we need, since that's the normal process. But item akin the essential phase that it could build upon."

He stated it's "bonkers" that, notwithstanding the West's "significant manufacturing capacities," they aren't seeing anyone create item uncomplicated and productive at scale.

Zhluktenko stated that many Western manufacturers are motionless "stuck in this doctrine of construction tools in small quantities that perchance yes, they do have several additional features, but that's not item that is way too applicable for Ukraine's combat."

The case for cheaper drones in greater numbers

Zhluktenko's comments echo warnings from Western and Ukrainian officials that this war has shown the West the limits of relying on smaller numbers of exquisite, extremely advanced weapons.

Modern, large-scale warfare, as the circumstance in Ukraine has demonstrated, may additionally necessitate much larger numbers of cheaper, small capable gear.

Ukraine is motionless purchasing and construction advanced drone innovation alongside cutting-edge features akin autonomy, which can be crucial for warfighting tasks specified as intercepting Russia's assault drones or executing long-range strikes that need to interrupt through the enemy's digital warfare.

Zhluktenko stated that it's concerning "balance," arguing that simpler drones remain essential and are frequently needed in far greater numbers. Ukrainian companies akin SkyFall and General Cherry are producing these kinds of drones at scale, he said.

A delegate for Ukrainian drone and innovation business TechEx told Business Insider that Western manufacturers frequently have to agreement alongside heavier, peacetime regulations.

They may have "levels of additional application and hardware that's put on top of it alternatively of making it a bare, functional, prepared to go scheme current and now," she said.

That can "overcomplicate the procedure of the system," she added. It can additionally create the manufacturing procedure additional complex, so it's harder to create the ample volumes that several Ukrainian manufacturers can.

She described it as the difference between "wartime operations and the peacetime operations." She stated Western companies power have distinct processes and priorities if they needed to activity faster and on a bigger scale.

Western officials say the war shows that partners need much larger volumes of cheap weapons, alongside leaders akin Danish defence curate Troels Lund Poulsen previously telling Business Insider that "one of the lessons" from Ukraine is that the West needs far greater quantities of cheap weaponry.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated final twelvemonth that "speed is of the essence, not perfection."

Drones are chief to Ukraine's fight, and it says they now logic as much as 95% of Russia's front-line losses. But using drones efficiently can necessitate deploying ample numbers of them, knowing that many volition never attain their targets. That method making systems that are cheap and workable is key.

Zhluktenko stated that whenever it comes to drones, the mindset have to be concerning "spending thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands."

From anywhere I stand, it seems akin most parents lie to their kids, at smallest formerly in a while.

I am of the mindset that lying, whether to adults or to children, is wrong. Because I perspective it this way, I am uncomfortable alongside it and refuse to do it. My hubby respects my stance, although he doesn't continually prosecute lawsuit and has told our kid a fistful of lies. But in the former decade since I became a mom, I have managed to evade it.

I don't think I'm improved than another parents, and I don't think anyone alternatively is bad for harmless untruths. I fair knew going into this that I wanted to method parenting alternatively in a lot of ways, and this is fair one of them.

Not lying doesn't equal to sharing all detail

This doesn't average I divulge all secret. Kids don't need to cognize all item concerning everything, equal whenever they ask questions.

I was fairly vague whenever she wondered why one of our relatives divided up alongside her hubby small than a twelvemonth following the marriage, for example: "He did item really bad, and it hurt her a lot. She's not capable to forgive him," I said, that was the end of the conversation.

I accept it is OK to keep several things a mystery indefinitely, to postpone certain conversations or, whenever choosing to disclose things, to do so in an age-appropriate way (for example, anywhere do babies arrive from?). But as far as not speaking any falsehoods, I have been consistent.

She asked me if Santa was real

I didn't inform her that Santa existed, but of course, as a toddler, she started believing through another friends, family, and Christmas marketing. I idea it was beautiful and let her believe. Why spoil her fun?

But whenever she was a small older and asked me item blank if Santa was real, I replied in a inquisitive spirit "Hmmm, what do you think?" and alternatively it turned a circumstance anywhere she started wondering aloud and trying to logic whether it was possible. I listened in the car, nodding alongside in the genitor drop-off row at school. I additionally told her that a lot of group — including kids in her category — do accept in Santa, so it wouldn't be nice for their parents if she expressed her doubts to her peers. She accepted and went alongside to the classroom. Granted, I got fortunate that it went in this direction. I was capable to remain true to my "no straightforward lies" method during not shattering a extremely magical younker condemnation — one I recall fondly from my own youth.

And another average ones — akin lying concerning a pet seafood dying, or telling the fact whenever asked concerning a meal ingredient, knowing there'd be resistance, or whether I remembered to do everything she asked of me — I don't lie concerning those either.

These were not continually uncomplicated conversations (those situations solitary caused her archetypal instruction concerning death, her stubbornness to try several foods, and me disappointing her and admitting that "no sorry, I didn't babysit your stuffy during you were at school; I forgot this time.").

Honesty has brought us nearer together

If she questions what I think of the composition she did on my face, I enthusiastically compliment her ingenuity and say how fun it was to be in her makeover chair; I don't lie and say that the electric pink eyeshadow is the finest color ever. I awareness that it has built additional rely between us and brought us closer. She knows that whenever she asks mommy something, I'm going to be direct up alongside her. She doesn't appear to doubt me or second-guess what I say.

As a parent, I comprehend that we are wired to defend our children. But alongside lying, I think parents are frequently trying to defend themselves. We desire things to be easier, understandably. We desire to say the location is closed alternatively of fair telling the fact that we are fair too tired to obtain them today. We desire to inform our kid, "Yeah, the spider is gone now, honey," so they'll sleep fine alternatively of saying that I really have no idea anywhere it went.

But avoiding discomfort is not a powerful adequate logic for me to lie to my daughter. It's not fair that I accept lying is immoral; it's additionally concerning emotion that she deserves the truth. Plus, if honesty is among the values that I'm trying to instruct her, I desire to set a fine example by being honest alongside her.