Category: Travel

I’m currently in Istanbul and I’m assuming a lot of people are coming here for Eid so this is a quick guide of all my favorite spots:

Eat
My favorite breakfast spot is Namlı Gurme (@namligurme) which also recently opened in Kuwait. Yeni Lokanta (@yeni.lokanta) is my favorite restaurant here and is based on Turkish cuisine but deconstructed into more contemporary and exciting versions (book ahead of time). Kase No16 (@kase.no16) is a cozy spot located in a trendy neighborhood and has good music, street side seating and great food. Il Cortile (@ilcortileistanbul) is a great Italian place located in a beautiful courtyard. Finally, Borsam Taşfırın (@borsamtasfirin) is a hole in the wall bakery serving probably the best lahmajoun in Istanbul.

Drink
Petra Roasting Company (@petracoffee) is my favorite brand of coffee shops in Istanbul but the one I visit the most is in the Topagci neighborhood. There is another good one in that area called Cup of Joy (@cupofjoy_istanbul) which I usually prefer if I want to sit outdoors. If you’re more of a tea person, Viyana Kavesi (@viyanakahvesi) have multiple locations around Istanbul but really you’ll be going there for their San Sebastian cheesecake. For just tea, Burası Kahveci (@burasikahveci) is my an unassuming hole in the wall option.

See
Salt Beyoğlu (@salt_beyoglu) is my must go exhibition space when I’m here since they tend to have very interesting things happening. The Istanbul Toy Museum (@istanbuloyuncakmuzesi) is located in a large house, a completely random thing to visit but I love toys so I found it fascinating. The Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (@istanbulmodern) just opened last month in their new spot by the sea and is worth checking. For fashion, Shopi Go (@shopi_go) is my favorite place with a great sneaker collection and selection of clothes. Wunder (@wunder) is another good spot near it. If you like Aesop, Homemade Aromaterapi (@homemadearomaterapi) is Turkey’s version.

Sleep
This is easy, Soho House (@sohohouseistanbul), I can’t recommend a better hotel. Other than the fact the hotel is beautiful and their Club House next door is my favorite place to end the day, the hotel service is incredible with the staff always going above and beyond. The rooftop of the Club House is also now open for the summer so you can head there to watch the sunset and enjoy the music.

I was in Barcelona for a friends wedding last week hence the lack of any updates, but I’m finally back in Kuwait again and I’ve got a bunch of interesting posts lined up for this week. Since Kuwait Airways will start flying to Barcelona at the end of summer, I wanted to share a Barcelona guide which you can bookmark and use if you ever decide to head there (you should).

Eat
El Xampanyet (@el_xampanyet), Cal Pep (@calpepbcn) and La Plata (@barlaplata) were definitely my favorite places for tapas. With El Xampanyet and Cal Pep expect to wait in line, with La Plata just go stand at the bar and order fried fish.

Other notable places, my favorite gelato place is Oggi (@oggibarcelona). I also had lunch at the Michelin Star Japanese restaurant Koy Shunka (@koyshunka) as well as dinner at their sister Japanese restaurant Shunka (@shunka_bcn). For both I had to book online before I got to Barcelona. Between the two I preferred Shunka because all I ever want is nigiris.

Drink
Oddly not that many third-wave coffee shops in Barcelona but my three favorites were Nomad (@nomadcoffee), Casa Taos (@casa.taos) and Skye (@skyecoffeeco). There are a lot of bars all over the city and most have non-alcoholic cocktails so if you don’t drink you can still visit and experience places like Paradiso (@paradiso_barcelona) which was voted the #1 bar in the world.

See
I can’t list everything to see obviously but here are a few that you might not find in your regular Barcelona guide. If you like flea markets then Mercat dels Encants Barcelona (@encantsbarcelona) is a great looking one to visit. The nicest sneaker store in Barcelona is Solebox (@solebox) and my favorite sunglass brand is Wilde (@wildesunglasses). Finally if you’re into vintage furniture then check out Noak Room (@noakroom).

Sleep
I stayed at The Hoxton Hotel (@thehoxtonhotel) located in the trendy neighborhood of Poblenou. Not a lot of tourists in that area, its a 5 minute walk to the metro and there are some very cool places near the hotel. If you do want to stay in a more touristic area, Sir Victor Hotel (@sirhotels) was my Plan B and that’s located in a more popular area.

Just a quick update on yesterdays post. After watching all the snapchat videos of people stuck at the Saudi Kuwait borders for hours, I spent the whole drive from Riyadh to Kuwait anxious about how long I’d be stuck there for. I figured if I arrived to the border around 3:30, I would probably leave around 6 because of the long queues. Well that didn’t happen.

I ended up arriving to the Saudi – Kuwait border around 2:30pm. The Saudi side of the border was pretty much empty, I didn’t have to wait at any of the passport control windows and just drove through basically. When I arrived to the Kuwait borders thats where I saw the long queue. Two lines of cars stretching maybe 15-20 cars long. Not as bad I was expecting it to be based on the videos I had watched. As I was getting ready to settle in for the long wait, a border control officer sees my car plates and waves to me to skip the queue and head straight down to the passport control window. Turns out cars with Kuwaiti plates didn’t have to wait in this line.

I moved out of the long queue and drove up to one of the free passport control windows, gave the guy my passport, he stamped it and I was done. No biometric scanning or anything. I was worried I was going to spend hours at the border and it ended up taking me less than 15 minutes to cross over, the fastest it’s ever taken me. I’m not sure whats going on, maybe they were forcing everyone to get a biometric scan but the lines were crazy long so now they’re just doing it for non residents?

A reader who landed in Kuwait on Sunday wrote that when he arrived, only the Kuwait/GCC queue at passport control were getting biometric scanning while expats weren’t. I’m assuming this is a soft rollout and eventually everyone is going to get scanned.

While driving out of Kuwait on Sunday morning I noticed huge traffic on the way into Kuwait. I thought it was weird because the border is usually empty in the morning. I later found out the traffic was because of the new biometric scanning. Every person entering Kuwait now has to get their iris, face and finger prints scanned. This applies at every entry port including the airport.

A friend landed in Kuwait yesterday and had to go through the process. I’m heading back to Kuwait today and going by the videos on Snapchat I’m worried I’m going to be stuck at the border for hours. Looks chaotic!

Update: I’m back in Kuwait and posted an update.

Last year I posted about the 1966 Kuwait Airways plane crash after finding a photo of it. You can check that post out here. Recently I came across more photos of the accident and so decided I’d share them here.

On 30 June 1966, the Trident 1E registration 9K-ACG was destroyed when it crashed 4KM short of the runway at Kuwait International. The plane was on its way back from Beirut when the plane descended at a high rate and the pilot didn’t follow the proper regulations. No lives were lost. Source

With the long weekend approaching you might have considered traveling to Dubai but were put off by the high ticket prices. If you’re more than one person and like road trips, you should consider driving to Dubai. There are a number of benefits including:

• You leave and come back when you want
• You can purchase large items and bring them back
• No weight limit
• You don’t need to rent a car while there
• You can save quite a bit the more people in the car
• The long drive is therapeutic

I’ve previously done the trip and I’m planning to do it again this Eid since I need to bring back a bunch of things with me. Here is how much I paid for car insurance at the borders and for fuel. This is with a Toyota Hilux so depending on your car’s fuel economy, it could be a bit less:

Saudi to UAE Boarder
11 KD – Saudi car Insurance
22.500 KD – Fuel

UAE Border to Dubai
17.5 KD – UAE car Insurance
20 KD – Fuel

On the return:

Dubai to Saudi Border
40 KD – Fuel

Saudi Border to Kuwait
19 KD – Fuel

Total: 130 KD

Considering the cheapest airline ticket right now is around 150 KD, if you road trip with a friend, split the cost, and not have to pay for a rental or cab while in Dubai, the savings can be big. And then you have all the other benefits I mentioned earlier so it’s kinda a no brainer… if you’re fine driving for 12 hours that is.

For a more detailed write up about the drive, click here.

Last week, Kuwait Airways launched the Electronic Boarding Pass feature, but oddly, not for Kuwait. It’s pretty strange, I thought it might be because the immigration department needed a physical boarding pass to stamp, but even if you’re just transiting, Kuwait Airways is requiring a physical pass.

On the bright side, it does mean I can now fly out of Dubai a lot more conveniently. One of the disadvantages of flying with Kuwait Airways over Emirates was the fact I had to wait in a queue at the Kuwait Airways check-in desk to get my boarding pass. Now I can just get the digital one when I check in online and then zip through the E-gate as soon as I get to the airport. No waiting in line to check in, and no waiting in line for immigration.

To find out which airports accept the Kuwait Airways E-Pass, click here.

Back in February, I got a tour of a 2,000KD-a-night hotel room but a friend told me there was a more luxurious 4,500KD-a-night room at the St.Regis. So I got in touch with them and after a bit of back and forth getting all the approvals, yesterday I finally got a tour of their 4,500KD-a-night Amiri Suite.

The 400sqm suite was designed to be a luxurious home away from home for royalty, diplomats, and celebrities. The suite can’t be booked online only by phone. It has a beautiful view of JACC and a lot of features including:

• Master Bedroom
• Barber Area
• Meeting Room
• Video Conference Room
• Large Dining Area
• Massage Room
• Fitness Area
• Sauna and Steam Room

Unless someone proves me wrong, I believe this has to be the most expensive hotel room in Kuwait. If you want to see some nicer photos of the room, they a few on the @stregiskuwait website. Link

If you’re looking for something fun and different to do this coming holiday weekend, drive down to Riyadh for the Paul vs Fury fight. Jake Paul, the popular YouTuber turned boxer is fighting Tommy Fury, the brother of two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Tyson Fury. The event is on February 26th and ticket prices start at just 15KD.

Riyadh is just 6 hours away by car and there are plenty of things to do there. If you want fight tickets, click here.

Sam Chui, one of the most popular aviation and travel vloggers in the world was invited to Kuwait by Kuwait Airways recently. That was a couple of weeks ago when the airline made a number of announcements including the revealing of the new flight attendant uniforms. His video of the trip just went up and there really isn’t anything revealing or controversial.

But I did find one thing odd, Sam was getting a tour of the Kuwait Airways headquarters and the CEO mentioned that the building was inspired by the stealth bomber. I thought that was an odd design decision for a civilian airline headquarters.

Back in October, the ultra-low-cost airline Wizz Air started flying out of Kuwait with Abu Dhabi being the first destination. Now they’re adding two more destinations, Rome and Vienna.

Starting this summer, round-trip flights to Vienna from Kuwait will start at 44KD, while flights to Rome will start at 47KD. Both destinations are direct flights, and the prices I shared don’t include add-ons like luggage or picking your seats. If you’re a Wizz Air member (easy to do), you can get the flights even cheaper.

For comparison, the cheapest ticket with Kuwait Airways to Rome is 128KD. After all the add-ons you might want with Wizz Air, expect to save around 40-50% compared to a regular airline ticket. wizzair.com

If you ever wondered what a KD2,000-a-night hotel room looks like, here you go. I originally saw this room last summer when the Grand Hyatt gave me a tour of the hotel, but back then the room was still being accessorized so I didn’t share any photos. A few days ago I went back to see the room because I figured it would make an interesting post.

So here are some facts:
– This is the Presidential Suite
– It’s 260 sq m
– It’s basically a luxurious large apartment, with 2 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, 3 bathrooms, a walk-in closet, a large dining room, a kitchen, and its own private elevator access

I tried to cover the whole room on video in under a minute and barely made it. I even had to leave out some parts like the kitchen and some corridors, that’s how huge the room is. Swipe left for the walkthrough video.

I heard there’s a KD4,500 per night hotel room in Kuwait as well which makes me think I should probably check that out next.

Yesterday Kuwait Airways revealed their new uniforms designed by the Italian fashion house Ettore Bilotta. The fashion house is known for collaborating with many international airlines including Etihad and Turkish Airlines.

Kuwait Airways also announced new flight routes:

Starting from June 2023

Antalya – Athens – Budapest

Starting from October 2023
Abha – Alula – Barcelona – Berlin – Qassim – Taif

I wish the Barcelona route started sooner since I’m meant to be flying there in June and I’d rather not have a stopover anywhere. Having a direct flight to Berlin is also great, it’s been on my to-do list for a few years and a direct flight makes it all the more accessible.

Starting February 2nd, Jazeera Airways will now be flying directly to Moscow. Their introductory fare starts at KD99 and I just tried booking for a date in February and found seats for KD98.960 so this KD99 price is real.

The only thing is the timing of all this seems a bit weird. With the ongoing war against Ukraine, not sure Russia is the best place to take a vacation right now. Simple things like your credit cards won’t even work there. But KD99 is a pretty good deal though.

One of the best things about Istanbul is the food, the Turkish cuisine is really great but I’ve also had one of the best pastas I’ve ever had there (@ilcortileistanbul). They know their food and flavors really well which is why I’ve never had a bad experience.

But, my favorite restaurant in Istanbul is a small place called Yeni. I found it by mistake one night on my first trip to Istanbul and it’s now my go-to place while I’m there.

The menu is based on Turkish cuisine but the chef is always deconstructing classical Turkish dishes into more contemporary and exciting versions. Everything I’ve had there was incredibly flavorful and the presentation is always interesting. You can’t go wrong ordering off the menu blindly, even things I wouldn’t usually eat I make an exception for at Yeni since I know I’ll end up loving whatever I try. They have a tasting menu (9 and 7 courses) but I always go the à la carte direction.

The price is considered to be on the high side for Istanbul and so expect to pay around 20KD per person without drinks or 25KD if you go with the 9-course menu. Reservation is required especially on weekends when they’re super busy. Check them out next time you’re there @yeni.lokanta