Spotted my first twister ever today. I was on a photo shoot when we spotted the twister (pictured above) forming over the sea. The weather here in Lebanon has been extremely chilly and wet which sucks since I came with only t-shirts.

I am leaving to Beirut for a few days and will be back early next week. While there I will be carelessly indulging in an unlimited supply of Cadbury Chocolate Milk while having some of the best Nutella and banana crepes. Posting will continue as normal while I am there.

I should have posted this earlier but completely forgot. Anyway British Airways have a sale until January 19th. Ticket to London is KD157 including taxes and KD254 to New York which is what I am probably going to book for myself. [Link]

Whats the best way to get to New York? I checked out British Airways and Qatar Airways, both are similarly priced. I then figured I would check Kuwait Airways since I assumed they had a direct flight to NY but turns out they don’t. Emirates is like double the price of everything else for some odd reason. So whats the best airlines to get to New York with? Do any offer direct flights from Kuwait?

Since I’m asking, whats a good hotel to stay in? Last time I was there was back in 2003 and I stayed in Milford Plaza which I read isn’t that great now (and it wasn’t great back then).

Blogger Patrick sent me a link to a page on SkiLeb.com with pictures of the Faraya Mzaar ski slope in Lebanon. Whats cool about the pictures is that they were all taken on December 30th but each picture was taken on a different year. 2009 is the worst year with practically no snow. It’s pretty sad. [Link]

Thanks Patrick!

I landed in Beirut today and I am going to stay here until Christmas. First thing I did was pass by the supermarket (actually duty free before that for you know what) and picked up some stuff including Cadbury Chocolate Milk. It was funny to see KDD chocolate milk on the shelves here in Lebanon while they’re out of stock in Kuwait (I heard because of the KDD factory fire).

Last time I mentioned Cadbury Chocolate Milk some of you suggested I try to have Sulten Center order it with “Just Ask”. Well I filled out the form on their website and got a phone call from them a few days later. They can’t order it because it expires. WTF? I told them they order other food products that also expire and the chocolate milk has a 1 year expiry period like some other items they already bring. They wouldn’t listen. Too bad.

This site lists 7 of the world’s most luxurious airlines. My favorite based on the pictures has to be Cathay Pacific which is pictured above. [Link]

9h is a new high end capsule hotel in Kyoto, Japan. The name comes from the idea that you need 1 hour to shower, 7 hours to sleep and 1 hour break which is a total of 9 hours. It looks a lot better than the usual capsule hotel’s I’ve seen and at only KD12 per night (9 hours) its pretty affordable albeit claustrophobic. [Link]

If you’re traveling to Saudi make sure you delete all the porn from your laptop!

The British Embassy in Riyadh received reports in July 2009 that Saudi Arabian Customs officials have authority to screen all electronic devices (laptops, mobile phones, PDAs etc) entering or leaving Saudi Arabia. If requested, all passengers will be submitted to a thorough verification and inspection at international airports. Anyone found to be carrying pirated or explicit materials will have their equipment confiscated. The report adds that refusal to comply with this rule will result in detention and/or deportation. [Source]

Thanks Michael

Was checking out the ticket prices to London with British Airways and turns out they’re having a sale. Round trip ticket with taxes comes out to KD143.500. The cheapest I’ve previously gotten with them is KD140. [Link]

For some reason the latest trend in Lebanon food wise is hot dog stands. I tried a couple and they’re ok, nothing extra ordinary I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s over hyped. Food in Lebanon generally sucks just like Paris. Someone recommended I try Nandos in Lebanon, I did, it sucks compared to the one in Kuwait. I had the chicken burger with side order of coleslaw. The coleslaw sucked big time while the chicken was stingy tiny and although I had asked for it to be medium spicy I think they made it extra spicy because I was burning up like crazy. Can’t wait to get back to Kuwait. Only good thing that came out of Lebanon food wise? Hummingbird Bakery.

It doesn’t exist simply put. Actually maybe at some hotels like Gefinor Rotana who always seem to improve their service every time I stay with them but in the majority of places just forget about customer service. I was at a large local supermarket chain for example tonight which closes at 10PM. At 9:45PM a woman announcer came on to tell everyone they close at 10PM and everyone should proceed to the cashiers. They then proceeded to shut off all the lights leaving just a few on. Then the employees started all leaving. I was at the cold cuts section waiting for the guy to finish my order when another employee came over and told me to proceed to the cashiers. Like WTF?