Its nice to be home and sleeping in your own bed, it has been an interesting trip with a combination of vacation and a few work trips thrown in the middle. After flying some many days in the row, I was exhausted and I just wanted rest, even though I was waking up really early in the mornings to go to work meetings and then catch a flight in the evening, I was so exhausted when I go into London that I didn’t have a chance to have a movie marathon that I had in mind, instead I only managed to watch one movie and fell asleep twice.
I came in on the BA from London to Kuwait, and it was filled with Kuwaitis, I forgot that people were on vacation for Eid Holiday. I heard a mom and her daughter talking about how successful they were with their shopping and how they should take full advantage of daddy’s credit card, that was a disturbing conversation to hear, that mother looked like she had all kinds of surgery and would stab somebody with the heel of her shoe and she wouldn’t have a care in the world.
Other then that I got on the plane and passed out for five hours and forty minutes, I was tired as hell. Got to Kuwait, saw some family and friends on the first day. Then over the weekend I think I slept a total of 22 hours of deep sleep and that really felt good. I have a lot to catch up on, Google reader, movies, TV shows, and anime but I think I can manage figuring out what to download in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully it isn’t too dusty and the weather has cooled off faster then last year, that means we get to ride a little more this year and I’m looking forward to that.
Usually when I travel to the states I just transfer an amount to my account and I’m good to go, but when traveling across Europe that is a different story. I don’t like using my card from the paranoia of having my card copied and sometimes you want to have some cash, but in Kuwait usually people like carrying with them a certain amount of money especially when they are traveling on long trips. The part they don’t realize are limits applied by the customs of their respective countries.
When traveling to the states the rule is simple you can’t bring more then 10’000 USD or the currencies equivalent to that amount and if you pass it then you have to declare it. And if the amount is within reason they let it go, such as 14’000 USD or 17’000 USD then they let that pass but its more then that then they take you in for questioning and make sure to follow up with you. If you don’t declare the amount you have then they would confiscate the whole amount if they are to discover it.
In the case of the Euro and British Pound it is sort of an equivalent story, you can’t bring more then 10’000 Euro or 7000 GBP while traveling into Europe. There is no declaration form for funds when traveling into the UK, but when traveling into France, Italy, Germany, or any other European country it is a little different. If you bring in a siginificantly larger amount then that and you don’t declare then they might hold you, or deport you and they are sure to confiscate the all the money. If you declare it still doesn’t make it easy, for example if you declare 20’000 upon entry then upon exit they ask for every reciept of the whole amount that you spent, so they will review the whole thing which is a complete headache.
This is what is faced by people who prefer to carry cash and in Kuwait some people prefer cash over card all the time. There are a few other solutions, one is having a prepaid card for the amount you want to use for your travels, and one other solution is getting travelers cheques in Euros, British Pounds, or US Dollars. But one thing to note is that you have cash the traveler cheques in their respective countries to get back the amount without any fees, which can be done at any foreign exchange such as Travelex, Thomas Cook, Western Union, American Express Exchange, and any 5 star hotel or Bank.
For the past few weeks I have been on the move with family and a little bit of work, majority of it is a break from work but I had to have some meetings while I was out abroad. Towards the end of this trip I have been on a plane every day and a half which has gotten exhausting, there is a lot I want to post about but not enough time. Off the bat, Italy was amazing, I’m annoyed that I haven’t gone there earlier, but there is a lot to post about, then off to London and I really missed London. I almost haven’t been to London for almost two years at this point, I didn’t realize how busy I got until recently, but it was so nice to be back in my room and smelling the fresh air next to the park, and now I’m in Hungary for a few days before heading back to London then back to the Kuwait the next night after a meeting in the morning. I have a lot of fasting to make up for when I get back to home, fasting abroad or while traveling is very difficult so I opted to fast at a later point, and I walked a lot in all the places, its just so easy to walk with this cool and nice weather. When I’m out walking I can feel the difference, the oxygen level in these countries are better then Kuwait, it just feels refreshing to walk outside and breath. Still a lot more to do and only a few days left until I go home, I wish all a happy eid.
As of beginning of the week I got on the plane and took off for a little while with some family and some work. It kind of worked out to be a combination of work, getting some work travel done in between spending some time with the family. First stop has been Italy and I have been wanting to come here for years but never had an excuse to come but I’m quiet happy we are here now. What more can you want, amazing people, love the language great food, amazing scenery and you can feel the culture and that’s only in Rome. A few more stops before heading home but its going to be an interesting trips, and luckily I brought my camera with me.
We all know that the searches performed at Airports in the US aren’t random but most of us who travel there tend to accept it as the cost of going and don’t really mind, but not this is going a little overboard. Homeland Security just passed a new directive that these border patrol people can search your digital media, meaning that they can switch on your computer and go through your data, and make copies of your data if they see it as necessary. That includes photo and video data on your camera or video camera, they can store that as well. And this is all based on their discretion, this is for domestic and international flights, so you are at the mercy of government agents who are at the bottom of the food chain being paid very little. The bad part is that the decision is left to these people which I think will be a catastrophic. Just for those who don’t know, if they find any copyrighted data such as movies or TV shows they might act on it. So I think its a time for people to get a little tech savvy in keeping their private data private.
Link: DigitalTrends
This is probably the 2nd time I have flown on GulfAir and I have to say they are improving. A few years back they were the same position as Kuwait Airways, practically falling apart but they have managed to turn things around. Previously GulfAir was owned by many different parties, but the Bahrain Government bought it out and it has been improving be it at a slow pace.
The plane is a little old but it is maintained, it feels like they are keeping it together. I once took a long haul flight with GulfAir and the plane was very nice, it was new and fixed up. The staff is where you can see the huge difference, they are very nice and up beat and from many different nationalities including Bahrainis. The plane was on time in both going and coming to Bahrain without any issues what so ever. As most airlines GulfAir served food and beverages on the flight, I could smell pretty much everything since I was fasting. The seats were decently comfortable even though they were the old manual seats, and I pretty much slept the whole plane ride. The lounge is pretty good as well in the airport, Bahrain’s airport needs a major overhaul but the staff working there are very nice.
I had an early morning meeting in Jabal Ali Free Zone and I was told the permit takes some time. That was just the beginning of the whole shenanigans that was going to take place. We landed late last night, I pretty much wanted to crash but I didn’t seem to get much sleep for some reason. Instead we went early to the Free Zone and the took a lot longer then we thought, there were tons of lines for these trucks drivers and workers. After about an hour it was done and we went in, to say that Jabal Ali Free Zone is huge, is a complete understatement, its humongous, it took us 20 minutes to get to the warehouse inside and leaving took a little longer because of all the traffic. We managed to get a bite to eat at the hotel when the meeting was done and after that I snuck to go watch the G.I.Joe movie which I was looking forward to.
I haven’t flown Jazeera airways for a while now, since I was either between Wataniya Airways or Emirates Airlines, where ever I needed to go those two airlines served my needs. This time around I need to go to Dubai and back the next day, but the timings were better with Jazeera and half the price of Emirates so I went with Jazeera. My flight was at 6:40 pm, next morning I found out we had an important meeting that just came up and I had to attend so I asked if I can cancel or delay my flight, they told me know even though it was around 10 am and at least 8 hours before the flight and I just booked it the night before. They told me that its a total refund and I can’t pay any fee to change it, I spoke to the next person who said that I can change it if I pay a fee of 120 KD and my ticket was only 156 KD, so I’m basically paying for the ticket twice. I called back later to argue and they only reduced it down to 85 KD even after losing my voice from arguing so much, and this is after I bought a full price Jazeera Plus ticket which is supposed to be the more flexible one but turns out they changed their policy and made it as difficult as possible. Another note, looks like you have to pay to choose your seat on the booking menu, if you are Jazeera Plus you pay an extra 4 KD to choose your seat and if you are Economy you have to pay 1 KD. Looks like they have really gone down the drain since they opened and I haven’t flown on them since last year and I don’t think I would fly on them if I had a choice.
On the way back I had a two and half hour delay leading to four hours and half in a 20 year old Oman Air lounge. Those were probably the most uncomfortable couches I ever sat on, and sitting on it for several hours led to some pain in my neck and back. Even with all that I just couldn’t get mad at the people working there, they were very nice, polite and apologetic. The plane was an old Boeing 737-700, the Omani flight attendant was very nice, even when I fell asleep before the flight she asked me if I wanted to eat when there was 10 mins left before landing, and the plane was very quickly even though it was very old.
Oman has a natural mountainous and green areas, surrounded by the sea, especially Muscat. It has some very nice windy roads up the mountainous areas and some very nice coastal roads by the sea. All the roads are very smoothly paved, even though you can tell some areas need work, but the roads are extremely clean, and so are the side walks. You just get this feeling that every where is clean in Oman, and it feels so refreshing.
I managed to visit Sultan Qaboos Mosque which is an amazing piece of architecture, and a real work of art. It just has this heart warming and majestic feeling when you walk into it, and what I found to be amazing is that it is open to the general public during morning times for visits. The Omani curator and security were very friendly and asked if they could help me, and were willing to give me short private tour but I was on a schedule and unluckily for me I didn’t have the time but its worth it to come back and see it. Every Omani person that I met was more then friendly and helpful, they were genuinely nice and whenever they found out I was Kuwaiti they were extra nice, I don’t even know how to explain it.
For some people who were asking I was staying at the Grand Hyatt since it was closer to the location where I had my meetings and it was a very nice hotel, nothing special as others have mentioned of Shangri-La and Chedi but it was nice nonetheless. The one thing that I can’t stop repeating is how nice every once, even the expats who get used to this place love it. They do say that somethings are a bit slow but you can live with it, but what I would surprising is that Oman was only introduced to DSL about 3 to 4 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to live like that, also there is a very sophisticated monitoring tool which makes our ISP blocking tools look like a cake walk. Oman is worth a visit again, I’m thinking about bringing my motorcycle for some nice rides and a good lunch. I didn’t have a enough time but I had a lot to take in. I always thought of Bahrainis as the nicest people in the Gulf, but I think the Omanis are even nicer, I don’t even know how to describe it, they are just extremely polite, nice, and kind people. Even during the meeting I felt embarrassed from one person who went out of his way, what an experience that I hope to repeat soon. I know I will be putting some mileage on my Landcruiser because I’m looking for a nice long drive and dragging my bike with me.
I came in late last night for a quick meeting that I have to attend and then back to Kuwait the next day. This is the first time I travel to Oman and surprisingly very few airlines fly to Oman. Oman Airways reminds me of Gulf Air back in the day, I refrained from having anything to eat on the plane even though I was hungry, I just had a gut feeling. Over the past year I have gotten used to planes having power plugs to run the laptop on so I didn’t charge my laptop this time around and so I only had about an hour of battery, but I passed out on my seat within 20 mins and slept the whole 2 hour flight to Muscat.
The airport looks like an old government building, but once you enter the people are very nice. Very nice is an understatement, they are extremely nice and the immigrations people were cracking jokes and asking why I don’t stay longer and next time to come in winter. The same case with the customs people, they were really nice, the driver we took from the airport was Omani as well and I just kept asking him questions. Their highway is very smooth and nice, and I asked about their speeding laws which seemed reasonable but everyone was driving in such a civil manner.
I don’t think there is much to do here, people were telling me about two specific hotels but they are resorts really and they said its mostly couples. What a very interesting country, but I should probably pass by when I’m not traveling for work.