u/SecureTaxi

Wife and i used to travel a lot before kids. Last week we took our family of four kids and my inlaws to the island. For me, what made it a lot more memorable and fun was we had to rent a car. I must say i was nervous and worked myself up over the roundabouts. The first few days were a bit crazy but by the third day i got used to the driving. The only thing that kept tripping me is the turn signal is on the right side (i got a right handed steering wheel).

I can see why folks move to the island, highly developed infrastructure and the folks are very nice. It felt like we were back in the states minus the sticker shock. ;) I cant say the same for the airport where our arrival was chaotic and lots of folks were pissed off at the one lady who was barking at ppl for standing around. When we left, security gave us no instructions, they kept getting pissed at people for not removing hightop shoes or some folks like us putting two bags in one bin. Why not tell people as theyre waiting in line?

Seven Mile Beach was awesome. The one downsize we experienced was the day after a cruise ship arrived, public beach was filled with trash on the sand. Very sad to see, i wish people would just clean up after themselves. We also got to experienced stingray city with CayBoss who was able to accommodate us by going to shallow part where my kids had their space to interact with the stingrays.

If i had the money, i could definitely see myself retiring there but no way my wife would be able to deal with the weather. Too the residents of Cayman, you guys have a gem and im jealous you get to experience this everyday. To those on the fence, go visit. We have been to some of the other popular Carribean Islands but thus far, Cayman is our favorite.

I have utilized the line twice at two different stores during two different times. Why is it slow? At the one store, a car was still in the process of ordering when i scanned the QR code. The most recent time, three cars in the norrnal lane got their food before mine. Granted they definitely ordered before me but whats the point of me being able to breeze through the lane?

Im on the plane filling out the form within the app. I select all 8 and go to save the form. When i view the saved form, it appears only the last person i selected is listed along with the answers to the questionnaire at the bottom. Prior to the last screen i confirm and see all 8 people. Is this nornal or is there a glitch to the app? I would hate to rely on the app and only realize it registered the last person and not all 8

So uh, we rented from Marshals, sand everywhere because beach trips. Are they going to charge me a fee for cleaning? Where is there a vacuum?

Update: Ended up using Good Guys. Thanks everyone

We are staying in the south sound area. Wife wants seafood but we want to take out. Any recommendations? Hole in the wall is fine with us. Unfortunately we cant dine in

Leaving from PHL later this week for an international flight. We have never check in bags. Most of our bags will be carry on but we have one large luggage that will require to be checked in. How does that work? Is there a kiosk or do i need to get in line?

If im precheck, can i check in at terminal C and cut through the line and walk back to A or B? I assume we would be leaving from one of those terminal for american airline.

We are arriving 6/27 for a week stay. Couple of questions from first time visitor

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1. we are staying at an airbnb and for the most part plan on cooking but will venture out to restaurants when we have the urge. Whats the best grocery store and would we find regular staples as we would in the states. Like how much would a gallon of milk cost or a box of spaghetti. We plan on cooking for the kids, your usual pasta, mac-n-cheese.

2. i know the weather is unpredictable but im always thinking of the worst case scenario like if there is a hurricane. In the event there is a storm, our airbnb is right by the water. How would we know where to go should there be a weather related event?

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Its been years since we have flown international and first time with kids. I was speaking with a neighbor and he mentioned having to go into a separate line because we have kids? What is this about? He doesnt have global entry, i do plan on using the mobile passport thing so i dont know if that matters?

We are heading down in a few weeks. Ill have my 4, 9 and 12 yo with me. I have read several posts and seen photos where some of the water can be rough and others where folks were either waist deep but also some come up to their shoulder.

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If the water is calm i would be ok with having my two oldest stand by themselves with life vests but i worry my 4yo might require me to hold him the entire time. Some questions

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1. do some boats go deeper than others? Again, judging by some of the photos i saw it depends on where in the water the person was standing.

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2. is there a tour that only does the trip to see the string rays and nothing else?

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3. in most photos i didnt see life vests but i assume they are available from all legit tour companies?

I have over 20yrs experienced and have been a lead for the last 10 years of my career. Im usually the one people go to for help and the one folks come to when junior members cant figure things out. With AI, i have a love hate relationship with it. Im old school, i prefer VI to vscode and with AI i just refuse to accept it. Anyways, today we had an issue in prod. A mid-level engineer went straight to claude. He couldnt figure out what the issue was. He runs out salt code through claude and in claude's defense, it did point out what the root cause was.

Now, because everyone nowadays depend heavily on AI, you'd think ppl wouldve spent the time to actually check the nginx config and see if they were different between our prod environments. No, everyone waited a few hours for me to confirm when all i did was compare our 3 prod env and yes sure enough they were different. Problem solved once we pushed out the correct config.

I think people lost the ability to think for themselves. What im seeing in my org is folks go straight for claude. If you use it right it works but i cant count the number of times i tailed log files in the past few weeks and managed to figure out root cause without using AI.

Lately, we have been told to leverage AI heavily. I found out they are also tracking our token usage. If that is true, then im at the bottom of the list in terms of adoption. I guess they can fire me and keep the folks who use claude for everything while they fumble to address prod issues because claude doesnt have all the necessary information regarding our infra and app.

End rant

Im currently 46 and with all this AI hype i feel like it may be the end of me being able to get a job in IT that pays well. I suppose ill be able to find another job if i lose my current one but ill definitely take a pay cut due to my total compensation being high. We have four kids, my oldest is 12 and youngest is 2. Wife works PT so she cant max our her 401k.

I ran all the numbers assuming i can work another 10yrs but that doesnt get me through the final year of high school for my youngest. For those in similar boat or have gone through it, please tell me ill be able to retire at some point. :D

My hope was to retire at 60 if i can make it that long in IT, but with ageism and no desire to learn new tech i fear ill be unmarketable in my 50s. Ill do what i can to keep my job now but i know if I lose my current job i will be taking a major hit in salary.

Salary

Me: 214k base - 20% bonus - 40k RSU vested every year

My investment

- 401k @ 557k - Max out yearly

- Roth IRA @ 181k - Max out yearly

- HSA @ 50k - Max out yearly

Wife

- 401k @ 220k

- Roth IRA @ $200k - max out yearly

Wife and i have tmobile and when i went to mexico a few yrs ago, my cell worked just fine. How is coverage on the island? Am i better off getting a prepaid card while we are there?