Back from an adventure for new years, we have been planning this trip for some time and I got back Sunday after having so much fun in the desert. We drove over 6 hours to get there, and almost 1400 Kms of driving in total over a four day period from Kuwait and back. This adventure was nothing short of a Toyota advertisement with two FJ Cruisers and one Landcruiser, the way we were driving was probably the best advertisement Toyota could get. With 300+ photos of the whole trip I will be posting a lot up later but for now this is just a few pics for now. We moved every few hours, right after breakfast we would find another location in the dunes of Dhana, a nomad style of camping which was organized and everyone had their task at every point.

Now Dubai started off 2010 with a bang, with the renaming of Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa, making it the new image of Dubai. You have to hand it to them even with the downturn they are facing that they still made a huge show of this. The fountain was fantastic, its the same company that did the fountain for the Las Vegas hotel in Bellagio. The funny part is that they did not release the exact height of it until the launch of the building yesterday, at 828 meters it is the tallest building in the world. They are also planning ahead that if anyone trys to build one taller then them they have a crane up top to build more floors if they need to, to stay the tallest building.

Taking a nice break for a few days, about 5 days I think in total, the logistics aren’t completely worked out. We are heading out to a location in the Saudi Desert for some fun in the sand. Something different to do for New Years, I wanted to take a break, and this is the best possible break. No forms of communication in any direction, its a risk but really worth taking and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. I think we will be traveling 800 to 1200 kilometers to get to our destination but it is a beautiful location that we went to in 2007 so I’m looking forward to it, and I get to test the new Landcruiser in the desert.

I hope everyone has a great new years!

We got a normal room with twin beds for our one night in Dubai, I knew the hotel was nice but I didn’t think it would be this nice. First off there are two Addresses, one is inside Dubai Mall and one is next to Burj Dubai, we stayed at the one next to Burj Dubai because the one inside Dubai Mall is horrible in comparison, same furniture but horrible service. But this hotel was something unexpected, the rooms are big, big bathrooms with an amazing view.

The staff were very nice and efficient, what surprised me was the room service. We ordered a variety of food for breakfast at 10:00 am before heading out and it was up in 20 minutes, everything tasted very good. There is free Wifi available but its extremely slow, I would expect something better from a hotel of this caliber. The lobby area is very nice, but going up to the rooms is a bit confusing and you need a card to get up to the room, and a card to keep the lights up in the room, I tend to get extra cards to put in that slot to keep the lights on. Overall the hotel is very nice, extremely convenient being right next to Dubai Mall, and its only 20 minutes from the airport, we left before our flight in an hour and twenty minutes, when we go there we had 50 minutes before take off and we made it easily to the plane.

We went for the car show weekend, didn’t know what exactly to expect their but I was really looking forward to it. We went to the convention center bought our tickets and walked in, starts off by the modified vehicles area, motorcycles, and ATVs. The variety of the machines was amazing, so many amazingly tuned cars, they looked really good, and some very very ugly machines as well, tasteless, the best part was seeing so much in real life. The SLS looks better in real life then I expected, the LFA is a beast, I wish they had the normal version rather then the racer version. I liked the organization of the whole expo, from car modifiers to car manufacturers, there was a simple pattern to it. I was surprised not to see Chrysler or Lamborghini or Honda there, and they had some new cars too so I was expecting everything, but they really must have a tough time not to show up. I know that I will be looking forward to visiting it again next year, click below for a ton of pictures.

Surprises:

• Mercedes SLS
• VW Scirocco
• Fiat 500
• Ferrari California Hamman Edition
• Chevy Stingray Concept
• Toyota Landcruiser Extreme
• Mercedes ML 63 Barabus
• Subaru Sti
• Benley Mulsanne
• Lexus LFA
• BMW M1
• Cadillac CTS Coupe

Disapointments:

• Aston Martin Rapid
• Bugatti – All the Models

Be careful when you click this post, there are over 100 pictures to see, but so many nice cars :)

Over the past year I have gone to some odd places, and on different airlines and I have gotten a really good experiences and some really horrible ones during traveling. Sometimes things go really wrong and sometimes it goes so smoothly your surprised. Well out of all the airlines I have ranked the economy seats based on the criteria below, and the higher the ranking the better the ratings of each but I’m going to number each but the results are below. This is of course excluding the attitude of the stewards on the plane, this is just pure seat comfort and relaxation throughout the trip. Up top is Wataniya Airways, with nice leg room, a reclining back, wide seat, and you don’t feel like you are packed into a truck like a bunch of sheeps. The worst out of the lot is Jazeera Airways, and they are just really bad, the seat is tight, I have to take my phones and wallet out my pocket to fit without feeling pressure on my legs.

Ranking Criteria:

• Seat Comfort
• Leg Space
• Seat Reclining
• Seat Width
• Amenities

Ranking (Top to Bottom)

• Wataniya Airlines
• GulfAir
• British Airways
• Emirates Airlines
• Royal Jordanian
• Oman Air
• Middle East Airlines
• Jazeera Airways

This new Nigerian terrorist attack on Delta Airlines has led to increased security on all flights inbound to the US. This is just some of the new unknown rules that have just popped up, expect some new streamlined FAA rules to come out soon.

Some New Rules:

• No Electronics on the Flight to the US, no laptops, gaming machines, iPods, nothing
• You have to remain in your seat when there is an hour remaining until the plane lands, no bathroom breaks, can’t reach for your bag, remain stationary
• Completely random and unexpected types of searches to be commencing at the airport

TSA Update:
2. IN FLIGHT
During flight, the aircraft operator must ensure that the following procedures are followed:

• 1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
• 2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
• 3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
• 4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
• 5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.

From the reports, the guy had some explosives in his boxers, which will lead to some very embarrassing and disturbing searches, I don’t know what else they plan on diong to beef up security. Luckily the guy was subdued by the passengers, who I’m assuming knocked him out unconscious when they knew what he was doing.

Link: Gizmodo

Athens was one of the most interesting cities I have visiting in a while, wasn’t expecting it to be like this. I managed to visit the historical sites, just a few not all of them, as well as the sea side locations. What surprised me is the Greeks themselves, I was expecting them to be like the Turkish to be a bit on the rougher side, and I know that Turkish people don’t like Greeks. I was completely wrong, they are very friendly, easy going and completely easy about a lot of things. I remember tipping the main person for seating us in a packed restaurant and the man refused because he said he didn’t do anything, it seems that tipping is not expected in Athens so when they are, they are extremely grateful which is a nice change. A lot of people speak English and those who don’t go out of their way to help.

I enjoyed visiting some of the historical locations but I know I want to do it again. The Acropolis was amazing with a fantastic view, the Parthenon was fantastic, I have never seen something so majestic and beautiful, I am thankful that the Greeks make a huge effort to maintain these monuments. At the same location was the Temple of Athena as well as a few other monuments and the large stadium below. It was a clear day, and easy to walk up such a beautiful view of Athens from the top.

At my last day I wanted to walk around in the old city, so my friend took me to Plaka to walk around and he said he knew the best Kabab place in all of Greece. You go, you sit, you eat, you leave, you don’t even order they don’t have anything on the menu but kabab, tzatziki, and french fries. We walked around for a bit, after 10 minutes we got to the location, and some words were exchanged between him and the guy in front of the place, and switch to perfect English welcoming me to his restaurant.

We sat down and the food came out in less then 5 minutes, he even cut a piece of kabab, top it with tzatziki and I tried taking the fork he slap my hand down and fed me the piece of kabab. I burst out laughing, he said this is how it is done in Greece, I loved the place, he was stopping every person walking and talking them into his restaurant, he was fantastic and hilarious. Service was great, people were flying around us all the time, I would ask for a coke and one other person would be on the way bringing it right away and the place was pretty big. It was more like a meat factory, and it was all kababs and lots of people kept on coming, this was the perfect meal before getting on the plane. Tzatziki is a special blend of yoghurt, cucumber, garlic, and red pepper, the taste of it worked perfectly with the bread and kabab. I just keep wondering why I haven’t been to Greece before this, I want to visit here when I’m not going for work.

Old streets always have something to tell you, some of these streets are hundreds of years old and you can feel it when walking around. Plaka is the old city of Athens, so much to see, so many old colorful two story buildings around the area. I enjoy areas such as this, I can spend all day walking around here. Greeks are a happy people, and they love cafes, I kept walking there for over three hours and the same people kept sitting at the same cafe’s with more cups of coffee on the table and some sweets.

After walking some time I could feel my stomach start grumbling. The weather was perfect, cold and sunny, so Speeros told me he would take me to the perfect Kabab place to get a bite to eat. I honestly got lost from so many turns we took, luckily he knew these streets like the back of his hand. I was surprised to find the ancient ruins in the middle of all this, and its a large plot of land, nothing small, its fantastic seeing places such as these.