Category: Travel

Earlier this week I got back from an incredible 8-day trip to Morocco. I flew direct from Kuwait to Casablanca with Kuwait Airways, rented a car, and drove to Marrakech. It was my second time there, and it’s definitely a city I’d recommend visiting. There’s so much to see and do, so I wanted to share my list of lesser-known spots to add to your Marrakech itinerary:

Eat
My favorite restaurants were Plus61 and Grand Café de la Poste, both located in the trendy Gueliz area. I also had really good meals at Le Petit Cornichon and Blue Ribbon, and on my previous trip I liked the upscale traditional experience of Le Tobsil. One place I wanted to visit but didn’t because they were fully booked was Sahbi Sahbi. I also missed out on lunch at Farasha Farmhouse since it rained the day I was planning to go.

Drink
Thirty5ive and Blue Ribbon were my two favorite coffee spots. Blue Ribbon also has great banana bread, plus the added bonus of serving breakfast and lunch. While having lunch at Royal Mansour, I saw people having Afternoon Tea and it looked great. I didn’t try it, but the hotel is beautiful and worth a visit.

See
Head to LRNCE for ceramics, Magasin Général for vintage furniture, and Marrakshi Life for handwoven garments and atelier tour. MORO have an interesting concept store and Studio Sana Benzaitar have beautiful carpets. For art, visit Loft Art Gallery, MACAAL and Le Monde des Arts de la Parure. If you’re looking for a less crowded alternative to Jardin Majorelle, check out CACTUS THIEMANN.

Sleep
I stayed inside the old Medina on both trips, and both times at Riad Mena. I can’t imagine staying anywhere else. Their Grand Suite is huge, and the riad itself is beautiful and super chill. The team is also really friendly—I’d stay there again if I go back. My plan B was Maison Brummell Majorelle.

For my previous travel guides, click here.

I’m a huge fan of Anker products, which is how I first found out about Astore Kuwait. I was searching for a specific battery pack and looked up the local dealer, which led me to them. Their flagship store in Shuwaikh recently got a major facelift, and I passed by last week to check it out.

What many people might not know is that Astore started in 2009 by Abdullah Allafi as a small basement workshop on Bin Khaldoun Street called ‘Al-Molook.’ They originally specialized in iPhone and MacBook repairs, as well as screen protectors. As they grew, they rebranded to Astore Kuwait and now operate six stores across the GCC, including the Anker Innovation Stores in Kuwait, Qatar and Dubai.

Their flagship store is my go-to spot for Anker products because they have everything on display and usually in stock. But beyond Anker, they’re a full-fledged electronics store, carrying security cameras, dash cams, smart home devices, and even outdoor and travel gear. Every product they sell is carefully selected, making it more of a curated store rather than one that just stocks random brands and items. Also, something I didn’t realize until working on this post is that their flagship store is open 24/7.

Right now because of the Ya Hala Campaign, they’re running promotions on Anker and eufy security products, along with many other brands in-store. If you want to pass by and check the place out, the main store is in Shuwaikh, on the same street as VOL.1 and Five Guys. For more info, head over to @astore_kw or visit their online shop astorekw.com

Just a quick update to my T4 post from a few days ago. As I mentioned, Pret A Manger already has their ‘coming soon’ hoarding up, but I also found out about a few other places opening. Here’s the list of what’s coming soon so far:

• Bartone (Airside)
• Caribou (Airside & Landside)
• Ole (Landside)
• Pick (Airside)
• Pret A Manger (Airside)

If you’re flying out during Eid and notice a bunch of places shut down, well, now you know why.

Ok this is an update to my 2024 post, “Everything that is closed in Kuwait Airways Terminal 4“. Here are the restaurants and coffee shops that are still operating as of March 2025:

• McDonalds
• Raising Cane’s
• Shake Shack

And that’s it. Everything else has closed down including Starbucks. On the bright side, Pret A Manger is opening up where the Shake Shack seating area used to be.

As you’ve probably noticed, news outlets today are reporting that Kuwait Airways was ranked the 20th best airline in the world, but they all seem to have missed the bigger story. It ranked over 30 spots higher than both Emirates and Cathay Pacific, two of the most highly awarded airlines.

AirHelp, the organization specializing in air traveler rights, released its annual airline rankings, and Kuwait Airways came in 20th place. Interestingly, this is the same organization that ranked Kuwait Airways the 3rd worst airline in 2019 and Kuwait Airport the 2nd worst airport. After that ranking, Kuwait Airport mysteriously vanished from their list and hasn’t returned since.

AirHelp’s airline rankings are based on service quality, punctuality, and passenger treatment during disruptions. The top three airlines for 2024 are:

1 – Brussels Airlines
2 – Qatar Airways
3 – United Airlines

Here’s how Kuwait Airways compared to other well-known airlines:

20 – Kuwait Airways
24 – KLM
30 – Virgin Atlantic
31 – Lufthansa
33 – British Airways
53 – Wizz Air
55 – Emirates
56 – Turkish Airlines
63 – Cathay Pacific
81 – Gulf Air

Tunisair ranked last at 109th place.

I’m a huge fan of Kuwait Airways, as you probably know by now, but it’s hard to take this ranking seriously when both Emirates and Cathay Pacific rank lower than Wizz Air. For the full list, click here.

I’ve been in Sri Lanka now for close to a week, and it’s pretty insane, and I don’t think in a good way.

I landed here on the 20th and checked into the Uga Riva Hotel in an area called Negombo that’s around 20mins from the airport. It’s kind of a getaway spot and the experience was pretty great although the amount of bugs was just pretty crazy.

I rented a car for my stay and the first two minutes of driving out of the rental lot were the most chaotic 2 minutes of my driving life. Firstly, other than the fact everything is the opposite here, steering on the right, the lanes are the opposite, the driving is pretty wild. Like I learned how to drive in Lebanon and find the experience driving there very relaxing even though most people find it chaotic. The driving in Sri Lanka on a scale of 1 to 10 is like a 7 or 8. Lebanon would be like a 6. People are completely carefree and everyone just relies on everyone else not crashing into them. It’s like organized chaos? The only people who seem to drive differently are bus drivers who drive with full confidence as if they’re the only people on the road and everyone else will get the fuck out of the way. We all really do get the fuck out of their way.

Anyway, first place I stayed in was great. Then I headed down south to an area called Ahangama. I was meant to stay at a place called Dreamsea for the first few days. The reviews online were really great, the place looked amazing in the photos, but once I checked in I was like wtf were all these reviews about? I mean just basics like the room door wouldn’t close, the bed had dried blood stains, room had bugs all over, bathroom looked very dirty. Basically it was horrible and I wouldn’t spend the night there. Thankfully I had booked another spot around a 15 minute drive from that resort for my last 4 nights called Trebartha East. It’s a small hotel located on a hill inside a cinnamon plantation. I whatsapped them asking if they had any rooms available right away and they had one, so ended up checking in a few days early and been staying there ever since.

The place is incredible, every morning I wake up and feel like I’m on a safari in the middle of the jungle. There is nothing around me except a jungle. I love it here, I’m actually sitting by the infinity pool writing this post out overlooking a valley where at any given moment there are a heard of water buffalos with white cranes grazing, or peacocks just casually strolling. It’s very surreal and beautiful. I wake up to the most beautiful views and the hotel has like 4 rooms so it feels very private and we are very secluded from the chaos thats just a 15min drive away.

But everything else here seems to be such a hit or miss. You can’t trust any reviews since most were left I assume by backpackers who have very low expectations or requirements? I’d head to a restaurant that has 4.6 rating on Google but walking by the kitchen I’m like no fucking way I’m eating here. Thankfully I’ve found a few spots that were surprisingly great.

I’ve also gotten the hang of driving here. You just need to be alert the whole time, at any moment you can hit a motorbike, Tuktuk, bus, tourist, grandma, dog, cat, cow, school kids, dog, cyclist, dog, or dog. No one ever gets out of the way, you’re always expected to maneuver around them, dogs included who just want to sleep on the side of the road. Their main road here is just two lanes, their inside roads are one lane, and I swear at one point google took me up a walking path cuz I could barely fit my tiny SUV on it and thankfully didn’t come across a Tuktuk coming the opposite way.

It’s been such a wild experience, totally love or hate moments with nothing in between. I can’t wait to get back to Kuwait.

I just bought a ticket to Morocco with Kuwait Airways for 128KD. I’ve been meaning to go back to Marrakech since I went for the first time back in 2015. I kept putting it off, but the other day I got a notification from the Kuwait Airways app that there were discounts for flights in March, probably because no one travels during Ramadan. So out of curiosity I checked how much the flights to Morocco were and they were just 128KD which is pretty crazy considering it’s like a 7-8 hour flight.

Kuwait Airways doesn’t fly to Marrakech, instead they fly to Casablanca but thats fine since I’ll just rent a car and drive to Marrakech which is just over a 2 hour drive.

One super annoying thing I’d like to highlight to Kuwait Airways about their website. In the app when I click on the calendar it shows me the ticket prices for every day, while on the website it doesn’t. Why?

I was planning to book a short trip to London this month and I was checking out Kuwait Airways prices and a two-way economy ticket costs around 500KD this month. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that expensive before, does anyone know why? British Airways tickets are less than 200KD but the flight back is a red-eye-flight which I don’t want to deal with. So just curious to why the Kuwait Airways flight specifically is so crazy expensive.

Since we are on the subject of Kuwait Airways, while browsing the New York Times archive I found an article from Feb. 11, 1974 which talks about the Kuwaiti parliament debating if Kuwait Airways should continue to serve alcohol on its flight:

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Serving of Drinks on Airline at Issue in Kuwait

KUWAIT, Feb. 9—The National Assembly, Kuwait’s lively parliament, was in an uproar this week over whether Kuwait’s national airline should, continue to serve alcoholic drinks on its flights.

The Moslem religion prohibits consumption of intoxicating beverages, and this is a major issue between “liberal” and “fundamentalist” Arabs around the Persian Gulf.

It is an issue of some terest to Western oilmen and business representatives who are in the area in growing numbers, as well as for many Arabs who have studied or done business abroad, where they acquired a Western taste for a highball or cocktails.

Uproar in Assembly

One of these Arabs is Abdulaziz al‐Massaeed, the publisher of Dar Al Rai al‐Amm, one of Kuwaits leading morning newspapers.

Mr. Massaeed, an elected deputy in the 50‐member National Assembly, set off the uproar during a debate on the budget for the national airline when he replied to conservative members who said Kuwait’s “dry” law should apply to the state company’s international flights.

“I, as a free citizen, would refrain from traveling aboard any plane that does not sell liquor,” said Mr. Massaeed, who travels frequently to Europe on business and for holidays. He added:

“I take liquor. Ninety per cent of Kuwaitis drink and know many of the deputies drink also.”

This touched off a furor, With conservative members banging their desks and shouting for the floor.

Moslem Prohibition Brings Furor in Parliament and Blood‐Test Challenge

“I challenge the members to take a blood test to see who drinks and who doesn’t,” retorted Mr. Massaeed over the uproar.

$30 for Scotch

While Kuwait is officially dry, and no alcoholic drinks are served even in the big international hotels, there is a large black market in foreign liquors. For instance, a bottle of Scotch will be delivered to a guest’s room in one of the major hotels for $30.

In private homes, many Kuwaitis serve liquor to their Western guests, and hard drinking among Kuwaitis and other Arabs here who can afford it is not unusual.

But any public place, or even Private club, is subject to prohibition. When the Kuwait National Bank had a reception this week for visiting Western bankers at a hotel, it was for tea, not cocktails.

In other places along the gulf, the situation varies from the strict fundamentalism of Saudi Arabia, where travelers bringing liquor in their luggage can be arrested, to the relativey free‐wheeling habits of Bahrain or Dubai, where there are bars.

Drink or Pray

Supporting his argument for tolerance of drinkers aboard the Kuwait airline, Mr. Massaeed said that the ruler of Dubai, Shiek Rashid bin Said al‐Maktum, had told a protesting delegation of religious leaders that this was a matter for individual choice.

According to Mr. Massaeed, Sheik Rashid said: “Here there is a mosque and over there is a bar. Whoever wants to please himself can resort to either prayer or drink.” Sheik Rashid is noted for his business acumen, the newspaper official said.

In the end the budget of the Kuwait airline, which flies as far as London and New Delhi, as well as around the Middle East, was approved on the condition that Finance Minister Abdel‐Rahman Salem al‐Atigi make a “thorough study” of the effect that banning liquor sales might have on the willingness of non‐Moslem passengers to use the airline.

Last year, Kuwait Airways unveiled renderings of its revamped interior, and now, photos and videos have surfaced showcasing the final look.

Kuwait Airways took delivery of its brand-new Airbus A330-900 last week, the first of seven on order. The aircraft features new Business Class seats, and a new “Premium” Economy cabin which is a completely new addition to the Kuwait Airways product lineup. This new cabin class will be called “Comfort Plus” while the regular economy cabin will be called just “Comfort”.

Airline journalist @bo.waleed1 got a tour of the new plane once it arrived and was kind enough to let me share his images. The main image on top was also taken by Engineer @bin_ghareeb_83 who also got to see the new plane last week.

The A330-900 has 32 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 225 economy seats. Business Class has a 1-2-1 cabin configuration, premium economy a 2-3-2 configuration while the regular economy a 2-4-2 cabin configuration. All the business class seats are now private cabins with sliding doors, which is pretty cool and puts Kuwait Airways on par with the top business class offerings from other airlines. The cabins also feature amenities like USB-C ports, wireless charging, plenty of storage, and of course, seats that fold flat into a bed.

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A post shared by Kuwait Airways (@kuwaitairways)

Kuwait Airways will be officially revealing the new interior soon, so follow them to stay updated @kuwaitairways. If you want to see more photos and videos of the interior, check out my post on Instagram @248am

This is pretty shocking news but by the end of March 2025, British Airways will be axing its Kuwait London route. British Airways has been flying to Kuwait for over 92 years, since before British Airways was called British Airways.

British Airway’s first flight to Kuwait was in 1932 when Imperial Airways landed in Kuwait for the first time. Imperial Airways merged into British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939. BOAC in turn merged with the British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways. So Imperial Airways is technically British Airways.

It seems the main reason for the route cancellation is problems with Rolls-Royce engines that power the British Airways fleet. The airline is having issues with the serviceability of their engines and so the Kuwait – London route is no longer viable for them.

I personally stopped flying BA to London since T4 opened. But, BA were my go-to airline to fly to Los Angeles since a number of times I was able to fly business class for around 1,000KD round-trip. Compared to airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways that charge around 1,700, it was a really good deal.

So far in less than 2 years, KLM, Lufthansa, and now British Airways have canceled their Kuwait route. I don’t believe there is any European airline that now flies to Kuwait direct. Now I’m concerned.

This is just a follow up to my post from a few weeks ago about the Ricoh GRIII. If you missed that post, basically I got the GRIII camera to use as a travel cam since I’ve been finding my Fuji X100V a bit cumbersome when traveling.

I took the Ricoh with me to Athens a couple of weeks ago and during the week trip I took 121 photos with my iPhone, and 304 photos with my Ricoh. That is crazy.

The fact I took more photos with the GRIII than my iPhone goes to show how great a travel camera is it. I carried the iPhone in one pocket in my shorts and the GRIII in the other and I always found it easier to pull out the GRIII snap a photo and put it back. It slips in and out of my pocket easier than the iPhone because my iPhone has the silicone cover. But also the iPhone is bigger so harder to pull out of my pocket while the GRIII is smaller so easier. Also it’s a lot easier to pull the camera out and press the power button to turn it on and start taking photos than it is to pull out the iPhone, tap to turn the screen on and then tap again to open the camera and then reposition my hand on the phone to take a photo.

I love the GRIII so much, if I wasn’t a camera hoarder I would sell my Fuji because I can’t think of a situation now where I would pick it over the GRIII.

Oh and another thing, I usually run my iPhone photos or Fuji photos through RNI afterwards to apply a filter, I wasn’t applying any filters to the Rioch photos, they all looked great as is straight out of the camera. I also enjoyed shooting with the 28mm lens over the 35mm lens of the Fuji. Especially when traveling, I feel a wider lens works better.

I do have one big complaint about the Ricoh though and one I’m surprised they haven’t solved yet with a firmware update. You can’t shoot photos in the 16:9 ratio! They only give you the option of 3:2 and 1:1. I appreciate 1:1 since that’s a square and what I use for my Instagram posts, but 16:9 is crucial for me since that’s the ratio of Instagram stories and how I share my photos.

Other than that the camera is perfect, I can’t recommend it enough. I got mine from BHPhoto for around $1,000. They’re usually out of stock but you can just buy it and once they restock they ship right away and straight to Kuwait. Link

Starting September 1st, Wizz Air has suspended flights to Kuwait. Although I’ve never flown with them, they did have some really great prices and from what I read, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience flying with them.

It’s not clear yet if this is a permanent or just temporary suspension, but right now you can no longer book any Wizz Air flights from Kuwait for the foreseeable future. source

Lufthansa has decided to cancel the Kuwait – Frankfurt route with the last flight scheduled for September 15, 2024.

Lufthansa has been landing in Kuwait since 1963, over 60 years. They’re blaming the lack of carrying capacity caused by late delivery of new aircrafts from the manufacturer. They’re also planning to reevaluate and improving its network of routes, so they might eventually fly from Kuwait again.

Last year KLM suspended flights to Kuwait blaming lack of profitability. I personally stopped flying both KLM and Lufthansa since Kuwait Airways got the new planes. I just find the Kuwait Airways timings so much better since they fly out in the morning instead of the middle of the night. I’m assuming other people are doing the same.

Update: Seems the Times Kuwait article might be wrong. According to another article, Lufthansa is temporarily suspending flights until September 15 due to the situation in the region. I don’t trust newspapers in Kuwait so I’d believe this website over Times Kuwait. Link

Update2: A reader sent me the screenshot above which was a mid August update that was sent to travel agencies. According to Lufthansa in the screenshot, they decided to discontinue the Frankfurt Kuwait connection from September 16 onwards. Lufthansa currently suspended flights to the region till September 15 due to the situation in the region. This notice is basically saying that even after the 15th they won’t be operating out of Kuwait.

So many places have closed down in T4, in fact, once you pass security the only places with food still left open are Raising Cane’s, Shake Shack, Starbucks, McDonalds and Al Rifai nuts. So if you’re boycotting brands, your only option for food and coffee is basically Al Rifai.