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• We spent two weeks in Portugal and had a wonderful time, but we made some major mistakes.
• We stayed in some spots, like Lisbon, for too long, and others not nearly long enough.
• We also packed poorly and made some poor booking decisions, including a hotel without a front desk.

My husband and I recently spent two weeks in Portugal. We had a great time, ate fantastic food, and drank a lot of wine, but it was also our least favorite European vacation to date.

As outdoorsy travelers, we missed the hiking and adventure activities we usually prioritize. We also made some planning and packing mistakes that affected the trip.

Arriving later in the day would’ve been better

On past European trips, we always had a plan for our luggage after landing, whether that meant a rental car, late arrival, or early hotel check-in.

Our Portugal flight got in at 9:45 a.m., and we were heading straight to Porto, no rental car. But we were renting an apartment with no front desk and no flexibility on check-in time.

That meant we were stuck carrying our luggage for hours before the housekeepers could store it, and we couldn’t nap until nearly dinner.

We stayed in Lisbon too long

Usually, we spend a couple of nights in a city and use it as a home base to visit nearby wilderness areas and smaller towns.

At the urging of our friends — who are big foodies and love getting lost in cities — we decided we’d try a more metropolitan-focused vacation in Portugal.

We stayed in Lisbon for four nights. For us, that was two nights too many. The city has plenty to offer, but much of our sightseeing felt obligatory.

We loved exploring São Jorge Castle and took an amazing food tour in the Alfama neighborhood, but otherwise, we found Lisbon’s streets were packed with tourists shuffling from one landmark to another.

Worse, in some crowded parts of town, we were regularly offered drugs by random strangers, often in front of families with kids. And unfortunately, during our visit, many of the museums were closed for restoration — important work, but unlucky timing.

I wish we’d spent more time in the Douro Valley, the Algarve, and nearby small towns

The Douro Valley is the most beautiful wine country I’ve seen, far better than Napa, Tuscany, and Germany’s Mosel Valley.

We took multiple wine tours over two days, but we barely scratched the surface of what this region has to offer. While here, we only toured two small towns — Amarante and Pinhão — but there was so much more to see.

We stayed in Carvoeiro in the Algarve and used it as a base for exploring nearby towns, a zoo, and a sea-kayaking tour at Benagil Beach, but honestly, I could’ve used another couple of days planted on the beach with a good book.

Most regrettably, we didn’t dedicate much time to hiking in Portugal.

Sure, we walked portions of the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail (a coastal hike along the Algarve coast), but we completely missed Peneda-Gerês National Park, which offers amazing hiking amid lush forests, cascading waterfalls, and rolling mountains.

We shouldn’t have booked a car

For the most part, we relied on public transportation in Portugal. Although every train we took ran a bit late and we had to hire a private driver one day because of a strike, I think renting a car is a mistake.

We’d booked a car for the final leg of our journey, the Algarve, so we could travel to all the small coastal towns. But a day before we were due to pick it up, we canceled the reservation — for two reasons.

First: Throughout our trip, I saw firsthand why Portugal’s considered among the most dangerous countries to drive in. I’ve driven in six other European countries and felt confident, but watching the brazen, wild maneuvers some local drivers pulled had me thinking twice about getting behind the wheel.

Second: Rideshares were reliable and affordable in Portugal. We saved money by Ubering around the Algarve instead of renting a car and paying for fuel, and we had no problems getting anywhere we wanted to go.

This is one mistake I’m glad we ultimately avoided, but it was still stressful to cancel the car and book train tickets at the last minute when we changed plans.

Somehow, we made rookie packing mistakes

My husband and I pride ourselves on our packing abilities. Even on monthlong trips, we don’t check a bag. We cram our lives into two backpacks and two carry-ons, which makes train travel and walking through European streets easier.

But we made some major packing mistakes in Portugal. First, I packed running shoes and resistance bands because I planned to keep exercising on vacation. I didn’t use them once.

Portugal’s hills and our packed itinerary provided more than enough exercise. For the entire trip, those shoes and bands took up space we could have used for more clothes (we had to do laundry twice).

We also forgot to pack American cold medicine, a lesson we learned years ago on our international travels, but completely forgot. And of course, I got sick near the end of the trip.

We got medicine from the pharmacy, but it was more expensive than American meds, and, in my opinion, European meds are often not as effective.

For context, the medication a pharmacist ended up selling me was single-ingredient, only targeting pain and fever. My go-to cold medicine back home is a combination drug that tackles multiple symptoms, including nasal congestion, cough, pain, and fever. I definitely wish I’d had it with me.

Unaccustomed to prioritizing museums and dining over hiking, we also packed way too many “fancy” outfits. Of all the European countries we’ve visited, Portugal seemed to have the most laid-back attire, even at nice restaurants.

We would’ve been fine with a couple of polos and a pair of dressy shorts each.

Despite the mistakes, we had a great time — and will course-correct on next year’s trip

We loved our time in Portugal. The people were so friendly, the architecture and landscapes were stunning, and the food was delicious.

We just needed to do a little more research and better planning. For our next trip, we’ll take what we learned and adjust the itinerary to better meet our needs.

• We’ve taken our freshly 3-year-old daughter to several big-name concerts, and we have no regrets.
• I’m not going to stop enjoying concerts and evening events just because I have a child.
• At times, it’s been isolating to not have parent friends who want to join us.

My partner and I have always enjoyed going to live events, festivals, and concerts. The city we live in has so many nearby events that it is basically impossible to be bored.

Now that we have a child, we don’t just seek out kid-focused events; we still go see the bands and performers we enjoy — even if they happen in the evening.

We often choose to keep our toddler out later than most other parents to enjoy these events. Some people may feel differently, but I have no regrets about bringing our daughter along to enjoy a fun night out with her parents.

I’ve always been an extrovert

I didn’t suddenly stop enjoying concerts and evening events out of the house around fun people. I may even crave and appreciate them more now.

Over the years, I’ve been told “life is never boring around you,” asked “how do you always know what fun stuff is going on?” and, most recently, jokingly crowned “the queen of local events” by a friend. I didn’t think I was doing anything much differently than others for the first few years, but I have finally come to own these truths. There are so many vibrant activities to enjoy out in the community.

It’s hard to find other parents like us

At times, it’s been isolating to not have parent friends who like going out as much as we do, or much at all. I get why many don’t want to go to a concert that starts at 8 p.m. because they don’t want to miss their kid’s bedtime or secure childcare. That’s just not something we let hold us back.

We’re always open to company, but it’s been hard to find. Rarely, some friends will also bring their kids to a fun late-evening event, but mostly we’ve just made peace with our toddler exploring the world with us in a nontraditional manner.

Our toddler seems to like being out on the town

At a year old, our daughter was a regular at our local art crawls and art museum’s after-hours DJ parties and even got her first few autographs. She bops with joy (while wearing protective headphones) at almost every concert we attend, and still occasionally stays up past 9 p.m., or later, if the situation warrants it.

By the time she turned 3, the big-name concerts that we took our daughter to included Tyler Rich (her first headphone autograph!), Uncle Kracker, Keith Urban (she was up way past 11 p.m. that night, she didn’t sleep like we had expected her to), Dasha/Jordan Davis (up way past 11 p.m. again), Jelly Roll, and Gwen Stefani.

A third of the time, she is busy dancing her heart out, another third she is befriending whoever is behind us or next to us (or any nearby dogs), and therest of the time, she might fall asleep, need a potty break or diaper change, want another snack, or get a little too antsy so we’ll walk her around a little bit to reset.

No, our toddler isn’t invited to every concert we attend. She was not invited to see Kesha or Pitbull when I went out for a girls’ night. Nor did she see Brooks & Dunn. For that one, we split a babysitter and carpooled with friends. But she has come to basically all other big evening events with us.

This year, our threenager has enjoyed seeing Jo Dee Messina, Alana Springsteen, Fitz and the Tantrums, Fake Happy (a Paramore tribute band), Teddy Swims, and Miranda Lambert. Up next, we’re taking her to see Brad Paisley.

For us, this is the logical choice

In parent math, the choice about whether to bring my child to concerts is pretty clear.

How can I accurately estimate when the openers will finish and when the main artist will play? It’s hard, I’ve tried.

How crazy will the traffic and parking be around the concert? Sometimes friends or prior experiences can help guesstimate, but that could always be wrong. That’s not ideal when you have a sitter waiting back at home.

Also, do I want to ask around for a babysitter and pay them $15 to $20, or more, per hour? Do I want to go to the concert so badly that I’d add $100 or more to the cost, prepare the house, have backup plans for various worst-case scenarios, and make sure we’re monitoring our phones constantly through (probably) loud music? It’s pretty unlikely.

Does our daughter enjoy music and people? An enthusiastic yes. So that’s the option I’m picking.

After living through years of COVID protocols during our engagement and the formative years of our marriage, it’s so joyful to appreciate music and energetic events in a crowd of friendly people and to watch our daughter learn to do the same.

It’s OK if sleep schedules are a little off sometimes — for us, it’s worth it. And, luckily, my pediatric sleep consultant said that what we’re doing is fine. Thank goodness.

• Mechanize’s ex-CEO Tamay Besiroglu, along with over a dozen other employees, now work at Google.
• The deal’s terms weren’t disclosed. Google had been in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal, per sources.
• Mechanize launched last year with a mission of automating every job in the world.

Google has some fresh talent in the AI race.

The tech giant has completed its talent deal with San Francisco startup Mechanize Inc, public postings show.

Mechanize’s co-founder and ex-CEO, Tamay Besiroglu, now works as a research scientist at Google’s AI division, DeepMind, according to his LinkedIn profile. Over a dozen other former Mechanize employees now work at Google, per LinkedIn, mostly on the company’s ‘midtraining’ efforts — a key part of building the best chatbot.

Google and Besiroglu declined to comment.

Google had been in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal for Mechanize’s tech and talent, Business Insider previously reported. The final terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Mechanize’s former chief of staff, Guive Assadi, now describes himself as its CEO, per LinkedIn.

Google has been struggling to release an AI model that’s widely viewed as competitive lately. It has used talent deals — which are typically structured to avoid antitrust scrutiny compared to fully fledged acquisitions — to gain an edge. For example, Google snapped up AI coding startup Windsurf’s talent last year, with former CEO Varun Mohan now leading Google’s agentic coding program Antigravity.

Mechanize’s technology helps tech companies’ AI models improve at coding, a challenge Google has struggled with.

Mechanize said earlier this year that it raised $9.1 million in a funding round at a $500 million valuation. Besiroglu previously cofounded Epoch AI, which also focused on testing AI models.

Have a tip? Contact Hugh via email at hlangley@businessinsider.com or Signal at 628-228-1836. Contact Charles via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Contact Katie Roof via email at kroof@businessinsider.com or Signal at @kroof.26

• Christos Garkinos was terrified of being like his dad, who died young with no money.
• He’s always had a relatively high salary, but didn’t feel financially secure.
• He went about $500,000 into debt in his late 50s and is rebuilding his finances in his 60s.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christos Garkinos, founder of Covet by Christos. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I learned from a very young age what success meant: it was money in the till after the lunch rush.

My Greek immigrant parents owned a diner in Detroit. Each day, 150 people would flood in for lunch, and my family would fall apart. My mom would be screaming, throwing things at my dad; as a kid, I wondered every day if we would make it through. But two hours later, with the money in the till, we’d all be having fun.

My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was in my 20s. The business failed, and so did his health. I was making good money working for major global companies like Disney and Virgin, but I never felt financially secure. That’s partially because I sent a good portion of my check home to support my parents.

I took a loan to pay for my dad’s hospice medications

My dad died when I was in my mid-20s. While he was in hospice, I was trying to find money to pay for his medication. My parents didn’t have any money, so I took out a small personal loan of about $2,000 to make my dad more comfortable in his last days.

That’s when money became a big fear of mine. I was terrified of ending up like my dad.

At the same time, when I made good money, I felt I didn’t deserve it. I wasn’t comfortable with money, so I would find ways to spend it.

I was doing one thing right, however: I had a 401(k) retirement account, something my parents never had. That gave me peace of mind that I would die penniless, like my dad.

I got my dream job, but I sabotaged myself

I was living in LA, working in fashion, which had been my dream since I’d first heard the “click clack” of high heels as a boy. I had a lot going for me, and eventually landed a reality show that I leveraged into a spot on the Home Shopping Network.

I had been absolutely obsessed with the network since I was 14. When I went to Florida and saw a set with my name on it, I freaked out. A part of me thought, “What can I do to mess this up?” I was still self-sabotaging.

Then, my best friend died of cancer. I had already been running with a fast crowd, but when I walked out of her funeral, I walked out of my life. I left my husband, my business, and myself. I was in a tailspin for three years.

I spent my retirement savings and went about $500,000 into debt

Even in those days, my life looked beautiful from the outside. I was living in a gorgeous house I was renting at the top of Mulholland Drive. And yet, my whole life was put on my American Express card, because I always needed another 30-day buffer.

One day, in that fancy house, I called my mom for Easter — a major holiday for us Greeks. As I talked to her, I was rummaging through the trash, looking for drugs.

I thought, “What am I doing?” That moment started my sobriety. I had to face the fact that I’d racked up about $500,000 in debt — personal loans, credit cards, money borrowed from friends — and spent the 401(k) that had been my safety net for so long.

I’ve paid off my debt and rebuilt my savings

I got sober and knew I needed to address the debt. I turned to what I’d always been good at: selling things. In 2020, I started consigning on Instagram Live. I was making good money again, so for every $1 I put in the bank, I would pay off $2 in debt. I started with the friends who lent me money, then paid off the credit cards and loans. By September 2021, all my debt was paid off.

Now, I’ve rebuilt a lot of my financial security. I have a 401(k) again, and I could retire today if I wanted to. I don’t have to think twice about spending a couple thousand on something I want.

And yet, there’s still part of me that doesn’t feel secure. When I worry, I remind myself of the changes I’ve made. I’m sober. I have a business manager. I know my habits around money. Yet I’m still working hard to build this business and sell it eventually. For me, that will mean next-level financial stability.

• Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue isn’t here for the Jacob Coxon discourse.
• Coxon went viral after posting that he resigned from Anthropic due to concerns about AI’s risks.
• Delangue suggested that Coxon doesn’t have the requisite expertise to make such a claim.

Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue questioned the focus on a former Anthropic researcher who said AI workers privately fear the technology could kill all humans.

“Sorry, but asking Jacob about AI extinction risk is like asking your AC guy about climate change,” Delangue wrote on X on Friday.

Delangue said that Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic researcher whose resignation has sparked a renewed debate about AI’s risks, should be put into the proper context.

“Not saying it’s necessarily uninteresting or wrong per se but let’s keep things in perspective and hear from the full range of expertise across the ecosystem!” Delangue wrote.

Coxon wrote on Tuesday on X that he was resigning due to concerns that both Anthropic and OpenAI, where he previously worked, are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” he wrote. “This is not a marketing stunt.”

Delangue later said that his comparison to an “AC guy” was not meant “to discredit” Coxon “at all.” Rather, Delangue said, there needs to be a more robust conversation about AI’s risks.

“It’s simply that we should put any one perspective in context and listen to the broader AI ecosystem too,” he wrote.

Delangue also said it was his “understanding” that Coxon mostly focused on pretraining, in which researchers train AI models on large datasets, rather than more risk-focused research.

In his series of posts, Coxon said he worked on pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic “for the last three years.” Ethan Perez, alignment team lead at Anthropic, later wrote on X that Coxon was a “senior researcher who joined Anthropic in May” and that OpenAI’s chief rival had been trying to recruit Coxon for roughly two years.

Some in tech, like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company includes SpaceXAI, have been critical of Coxon’s claims. In response to someone who recounted the lead-up to The Wall Street Journal’s initial story on Coxon’s resignation (which came before Coxon’s tweets), the SpaceX CEO wrote that “the groundwork for this psy op (for lack of a better term) has been prepared for a long time.”

Others, including researchers at Anthropic and OpenAI, have said Coxon’s claims about the risk of AI wiping out humanity are well-founded.

“Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!” Evan Hubinger, the alignment science lead at Anthropic, wrote on X. “I personally think it is >10% within the next decade.”

As for other perspectives that might be helpful, Delangue wrote in a reply that includes, “social scientists, other AI builders, futurists, investors, policymakers.”

Delangue and Hugging Face’s profiles have exploded since OpenAI announced in July that rogue AI models had broken containment during cybersecurity testing and breached Hugging Face in an effort to cheat on internal tests.

On September 3, Nvidia, which is highly reliant on AI-related demand for its chips, announced plans to acquire Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion. If policymakers were to slam the brakes on frontier AI development (a call some have renewed in the wake of Coxon’s comments), Nvidia would likely be significantly affected.

• Apple CEO John Ternus wants people to feel comfortable about the Apple Watch’s new AI listening capabilities.
• Ternus was asked about concerns about AI glasses, specifically that some have called them “pervert glasses.”
• Apple exec Greg Joswiak called it “quite a marketing slogan.” Ternus stressed that the Apple Watch features don’t record.

Apple would kindly like to stay far away from Meta’s ongoing reputational challenges with AI glasses.

Apple CEO John Ternus was recently asked about how the company thinks about privacy in the age of AI wearables in light of backlash around AI glasses like Meta’s. After all, Apple is rumored to be cooking up some AI glasses of its own in its labs.

“I know you can’t talk about unannounced products, but what do you think about the backlash around what people are calling, you know, ‘pervert glasses,’” Tom’s Guide editor in chief Mark Spoonauer asked.

Before Ternus could answer, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing who also being interviewed, quipped: “That’s quite a marketing slogan.” The remark drew laughter from Ternus.

Meta is actively fighting back at that perception with a marketing blitz that emphasizes the AI glasses’ light that alerts people when the recording feature is activated. It’s also taken steps to thwart users who tamper with that light and pledged to remove “harassing” videos recorded by the AI glasses from Instagram (Business Insider has found those moderation efforts are off to a bumpy start.) Meta declined to comment on the Apple executives’ remarks.

Beyond some laughter at a rival’s expense, the pair of Apple execs instead looked to explain how the company hopes to address privacy concerns when it releases two new AI-enabled listening features alongside the next generation of Apple Watches.

“We wanted to do this in a way that people feel comfortable using it, and people around the user feel comfortable about its existence,” Ternus said.

While its first foldable phone, iPhone Duo, stole the show, Apple also announced that Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 will come with optional “audio intelligence” features that, depending on a user’s preference, can mean Siri is always listening to your conversations throughout the day. Apple says the features don’t start working until the on-device AI detects speech and that no audio is recorded or stored.

One feature, “Siri Recap,” can listen to meetings or even your whole day and generate what the company calls “high-level” notes on what happened. Another feature, Live Rewind, shows a text snippet of the last 15 seconds of what was just said around you on the Apple Watch’s screen.

Ternus and Joswiak emphasized that neither feature includes speaker attribution. There’s also no audio recording that the user could store for later playback. Apple also says it doesn’t have access to the raw audio files. Joswiak also said this means Apple can’t be compelled to turn over an audio file.

“It’s just those higher-level notes to remind you of that without getting into all the stuff that really is privacy concerning which a lot of other products are doing,” Joswiak said.

While they did not mention it, the Live Rewind feature also includes audio and visual cues on the Apple Watch’s screen — similar to the recording light on Meta’s AI glasses — to alert those around the watch wearer that the last 15 seconds of conversation is being processed. Apple says “Live Rewind” and “Siri Recap” will be available in beta later this year.

Both Apple execs also said that current apps have long allowed users to record themselves and those around them. While they didn’t mention anything in particular, AI-enabled apps and devices like Granola and Plaud are also designed for such use cases.

But the Apple execs’ response to the question highlights that Apple is seeking to differentiate its approach to information-gathering on AI devices. Whether or not people ultimately feel comfortable about Apple Watches listening in on their conversations is another question altogether.