Category: Travel

I purchased Nats ticket with my Jazeera account so they just sent me the following message:

We hope you are safe. Beirut airport is closed. You can travel via Damascus, or cancel and receive credit for future travel. Call 4338540 for more info.

This article I am linking to talks about the art of one carry on and gives tips on how to travel light. Its in response to Marzouqs British Airways post on how they recently decreased their baggage weight limit from 32KG down to 23KG. Jazeera Airways travellers have already mastered the technique of light travel since Jazeera allows only 20KG of baggage weight. [Link]

I figured this is a good time to post this link since many people are travelling. Seat Guru is the ultimate source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information.

Say you are flying with KLM on their 747 jet and you reserved seat row 30A and want to know if you made the right decision. With Seat Guru you would know you didn’t since they have that seat marked as “Be aware”. On the other hand seat 35C is marked as a “Good seat”. Flying Lufthansa on their Airbus A340? Lucky you since you will have internet access plus if you are seated in either business or first class you get your own power port.

Very helpful info. [Link]

I have been using Moleskines ever since I first saw one with Nibaq. I usually buy the plain pocket sized notebook and its actually the only version I have ever bought since I never needed anything else until I saw the Moleskine City notebook. The Moleskine City notebook is made for travelling and they come in various city editions. I want the Montreal and New York editions but they don’t come out till 2007 so for now I am probably going to order the Amsterdam one. I think these notebooks would be cooler if shared amongst friends. So I could travel to Amsterdam, mark my notes down and then pass the notebook to my friend when he travels to Amsterdam. That way he could get some tips from me and then fill in his own notes. It could be really useful. [Link]

Book to any Jazeera Airways destination and get the following prices:

Book on April 2nd and pay KD 2 (USD 7) one-way
Book on April 3rd and pay KD 3 (USD 10) one-way
Book on April 4th and pay KD 4 (USD 14) one-way
Book on April 5th and pay KD 5 (USD 17) one-way

These very low fares are for flights between April 23 and May 23 and are only for bookings made through jazeeraairways.com and travel agents.

Update: More info on this offer is available [here]
I just bought a two way ticket to Lebanon for Nat and the total came out to KD26 after taxes. Someone else in the office tried to get a ticket for the same day but their total came out KD62. The prices are going up quickly as more and more seats are being filled so hurry up.

Update 2: In case I wasn’t clear I meant to say that tickets on certain dates are getting more expensive because a lot of people are choosing the same day (ie weekends for example). You can find KD2 tickets but it most probably will be during the weekday.

Nataly just called me from the airport, her Emirates flight was delayed and arrived 45 minutes late! So let me get this right, last week my sister faced delays when she flew with Emirates to Dubai and back. A couple of days ago Nat’s flight to Dubai using Emirates got delayed over 2 hours, and now, on her way back to Kuwait it got delayed 45 minutes. Why is this the best airline in the world again?

I just got off the phone with Nat. I don’t think she is coming back to Kuwait, she is in love with Dubai… must be the alcohol..

Nataly is stuck at the airport, her flight to Dubai on board Emirates was delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes. Last week my sisters flight to Dubai also on board Emirates was delayed an hour and a half. So why are people still flying with Emirates instead of Jazeera I don’t know…

I just checked my email today morning and found an interesting offer by Jazeera Airways. Two return flight tickets to Beirut plus a one night stay at a 4 star hotel for only KD129. Not a bad deal and not a bad idea at all. [Link]

I took my Holga Camera with me to Lebanon and while I was there I took some pictures. A bunch came out a bit blurry I am guessing either because I wasn’t holding the camera steady enough or the fact that the focus system on this $20 camera isn’t very reliable. Some pictures turned out interesting and I am really starting to get a handle on this camera. Its terrible for indoor shots (no flash, shutter speed 1/100 with 8f, my film is iso 100) but does a great job during the day outdoor. Its definitely a landscape camera. Here are my favorite pictures from my trip. [Link]

Its not as bad as Kuwait’s Airport (its pretty close though) but it still sucks. First of all it stinks of something, like coming into a house that hasn’t had their windows open for years. The AC is also off and its really hot and stuff.. I am in my tshirt nearly sweating. There is Internet but its like $10 for 75 minutes. There is no entertainment, and 1 very over priced restaurant. My flight has been delayed, way to go Kuwait Airways. I am bored.

Private bars in hotel rooms are amazing. They are filled with the coolest munchies and for some reason a Pepsi can always looks a lot cooler in these hotel room fridges then in yours back home. The items are also extremely overpriced and thats why its usually a good rule never to get stoned in a hotel room. A coke can costs KD1 ($3) while a tiny bottle of Black Label costs KD5 (I could still buy it and bring it to Kuwait and sell it for profit). The most expensive thing in my fridge at the moment is the 1/4 bottle of champagne costing a nice KD20. The cheapest thing is Kit Kat which costs 800fils.

Click here to view a picture of my rooms mini fridge.

Took a cab ride today in one of those old beat up Mercedes cars. In Lebanon these cabs are called “service” (pronounced serveece) and they ride up and down the streets picking up people. They pickup more then one person and you usually get off on the main road near your destination. They charge LL1000 which is like 200fils (I think like 50cents). The driver I took a ride with today turned out to speak fluent Arabic, French, English and Indian. Turned out he used to work in construction back in Saudi and moved back to Lebanon in 1993. He ran out of money and couldnt find another job so he ended up becoming a cab driver. These kind of stories are pretty comon here sadly.

I just arrived to the hotel like an hour ago. The room is pretty cool, I got showtime and internet access so its just like home except for the fact I have to pay $10 for 5 hours worth of internet and I have to use up the 5 hours within 24 hours. I will try to find free wifi in the area and try to hop on from there.

The Kuwait Airways flight sucked. The plane left on time and arrived on time but the experience wasn’t that great. Firstly I arrived to the airport early and I asked the guy to give me window seat as front as possible. He told me the best he can give me was row 16. After travelling on like row 4 and 5 with Jazeera going back to 16 is like fucked up. Secondly when I got on the plane I just felt sick. The inside was dark and gloomy and the seats are too small and there is like zero leg room. I could also smell plane exhaust which made me even sicker.

On the bright side, the food was pretty good, I had hamour fish with rice. They also had an old episode of Xfiles playing which I watched.

The weather here is as hot as Kuwait which sucks. It looks like Lebanon will be missing its winter also, fucking ozone layer.

Note: It currently costs KD42 (approx $120) for a two way ticket with Jazeera Airways to Lebanon but costs KD147 (approx $450) for a two way ticket with Kuwait Airways. What a fucking ripoff.

Ok I was just are two flights to Lebanon today, one at 12PM and the other at 3. I decided to go with the 3PM one since its 9AM now and I haven’t packed or anything yet. The problem is the 3PM flight is with Kuwait Airways. I used to prefer Kuwait Airways over Middle East Airlines but recently everyone has been complaining about the terrible Kuwait Airways delays and service and now I am just worried I am going to have the crappiest flying experience ever.. and I hate flying! Hopefully things won’t be as bad as I am guessing it will be. I will post a Kuwait Airways review when I come back or something.