Category: Travel

I’ve been to Netherlands, Belgium, and France so far on this trip and Covid precautions have been fairly different in those three places, even though they’re right next to each other.

Netherlands (Amsterdam)
As soon as I left the airport I no longer came across a place that required masks other than the Apple Store. The Apple Store handed out masks at the entrance and required you to sanitize your hands as well but everywhere else it was mask-free. Restaurants did require you to be vaccinated and I just showed them my Immune app status.

Belgium (Bruges)
No masks were required anywhere and none of the restaurants I ate at asked me for my vaccine status.

France (Normandy)
I’m spending a couple of days in some coastal towns in the North and the situation here has been very similar to Kuwait. You need to wear a mask when indoors and restaurants require you to be vaccinated. For restaurants, the Immune app can be used with no issues.

When driving across borders I did not require a PCR test and there was no border patrol anyway to check. I honestly couldn’t even tell I entered a new country, not unless I used Google Maps to check.

So far this normal life no mask thing has been really cool and weird especially when we’ve been required to wear them in Kuwait for over a year now.

Yesterday I finally left Kuwait for a vacation, my first trip since the pandemic started and the experience turned out to be much more simpler than I had anticipated.

I chose to fly Kuwait Airways to Amsterdam. I’ll be staying here for a couple of nights before I start making my way down to Paris over the next few days driving through Bruges (Brussels on the way back), then hitting up some spots in the North of France before heading down to Paris. When planning the trip I looked at direct flights, I didn’t want to deal with hubs and changing planes so my options were really limited. But, picking Kuwait Airways turned out to be the best idea.

The airport in Kuwait was fairly busy but lots of empty spots in the long term parking. A lot of people including security officers weren’t wearing masks so the atmosphere was fairly laid back. On the plane we also didn’t have to wear masks which was great. I did two PCR tests before I traveled. I did the first one and then realized for Amsterdam I needed a test taken 48 hours before the trip and mine would have expired by the time I landed so I took another one to be safe. Nobody even checked them, not in Kuwait nor in Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam nobody is even wearing masks, it feels so weird, feels like everything is normal again and I’m loving it. Places are super busy, restaurants packed and nobody has a mask on except for a the odd tourist here and there, I love it. The only two places so far that have checked to see if I’m vaccinated or not was passport control at the airport, and a restaurant I had dinner at last night. For both I just showed them my immune app.

I’ll be posting about my trip while I’m here, I haven’t done that sort of posting in forever so I’m looking forward to it. If anyone has any questions about the process of flying out of Kuwait, let me know in the comments.

This is the latest footage shared by the Ministry of Public Works showing the progress on the construction of the new Kuwait Airport terminal (T2). It looks like there is still a lot of work to do but, construction of the new terminal is currently on track to be completed by next summer, August 2022.

One of our company employees has been stuck in the US for months due to the restriction on expats coming into Kuwait and while there she got her vaccination. When the airports reopened she uploaded her vaccination paperwork to the MOH website to be validated but it still hasn’t gotten approved even though it’s been nearly a month.

She ended up missing her flight back to Kuwait so instead, she applied for a Saudi visa online since we have an office there, and in contrast, it took just 3 minutes to get her vaccination validated and visa issued!

Based on the responses under my previous post, I know a lot of you are still waiting for your vaccinations to get approved, but for those of you who already got it approved, how long did you have to wait??

The video above is the most detailed tour of the new airport Terminal 2 so far. It was shot earlier this month and the engineer in the video takes us through all the different important areas of the airport showing the current status. According to the video the terminal is meant to be completed in August 2022 which I find hard to believe based on the progress shown. But, they do mention that although the airport construction is going at full force, due to covid some of their suppliers aren’t working at 100% and so that might end up causing delays.

In any case, right now I miss traveling so much that I don’t mind our old airport, so they can take their time with T2 as long as we get to fly out again soon from any of our airports. To stay posted on the progress of the airport you can follow @t2.engineers on instagram.

Thanks LovelyKuwait

This list has never been as unimportant as it is now considering it doesn’t really matter what passport you have at the moment (well, unless you want the vaccine) because we’re all stuck here and can’t travel anywhere. But I wanted to share this years ranking since Kuwait has moved up the list of most powerful passports coming in 28th place up from 36th last year. Kuwaitis can now visit 44 countries (10 more from last year) without requiring a visa and they can also get visa on arrival in 39 other countries. Here are some countries with their rankings:

1 – Germany
4 – United Kingdom
12 – UAE
15 – Canada
16 – United States
26 – Qatar
28 – Kuwait
36 – Bahrain
41 – Saudi Arabia
42 – Oman
58 – India
62 – Egypt
67 – Lebanon
76 – Afghanistan

Want to see how your passport compares? Check out the full list here.

Found this video and some photos on the @t2.engineers Instagram account showing the current status of the new T2 terminal that’s under construction. I had heard that work on the airport never stopped throughout the pandemic which is how I guess they’ve managed to get so much done.

There is another video I found below taken from @arabaviation that shows how the interior is coming along as well.

I know it feels weird talking about Kuwait Airways and plane interiors when most of us aren’t planning to travel any time soon (or at least until the 2-week quarantine on arrival rule is removed) but, around a week ago, Kuwait Airways took delivery of the world’s first Airbus A330-800.

This is a brand new plane built from scratch for Kuwait Airways and can accommodate 235 passengers, 203 in Economy Class, and 32 in Business Class. The interior is as current as you can get and the Kuwait Airways Business Class finally looks competitive. Check out the interior yourself in the video above.

So earlier this week I took my mum to the airport since she was leaving for the States and the experience felt really strange. I think being at the airport after so much time away and seeing it basically deserted felt a bit eerie. The long term park for example was completely empty which I’ve never seen before and Emirates which used to have flights every few hours now has only one a day and it’s barely filled.

For those of you planning to travel out of Kuwait, here are a few things that I noticed are different:

• No more porters. Don’t know why we needed so many porters in the first place but just by them not being there it made the airport feel a lot emptier. You now have to get your own cart and push it around yourself #firstworldproblem

• You’ll have your temperature taken as you enter the airport.

• Before arriving to the check-in desks there is a checkpoint where they scan your Kuwait Mosafer QR Code. I was accompanying my mum who had a QR code but I didn’t have one and it wasn’t an issue. I also saw some other people pass through without having to show a QR code either.

• The same checkpoint also checks your PCR test results. In my mums case the guy also called a number to confirm the result of the test, I guess that’s to stop people who are using fake test results.

• I read that you aren’t allowed into the airport unless you’re traveling or accompanying someone elderly. I never got asked why I was in the airport but not sure if that’s because I was with my mum or if it was because the rule wasn’t being enforced.

• My mum traveled with Emirates and the check-in area wasn’t busy at all. There were clear markings on the floor to show the distance you need to keep between other travelers in line and that spacing was being enforced.

• While at the check-in counter about to finish up with my mum’s check-in, some airport guy came up to us and was like we both can’t be standing next to each other. I tried to explain she was my mum and we came to the airport together and I’m helping her check-in, but he insisted we social distance. That was very bizarre and I would have gladly continued arguing with him to find out the point but by then we had already finished up with Emirates so didn’t bother.

• Waiting area seatings after passport control now have dividers.

• Kuwait Airport isn’t allowing carry-ons, neither is Emirates supposedly, so to my mum’s dismay I forced her to pack a small backpack (which according to the guy I spoke to on the phone was allowed). Once my mum boarded the plane the first thing she did was send me pictures of people who had a carry-ons and I’m now no longer her son.

• Restaurants inside the airport are open and adhering to social distancing rules. (update: supposedly just Shake Shack and Starbucks)

Hope the above was helpful, I might have missed something so if you want to add anything to the above just leave it in the comments below.

The Civil Aviation just announced a few moments ago (3:15PM on the first day of the airport reopening) that there are in fact countries that are banned from flying to Kuwait. The countries on the banned list are the following:

Armenia – Bangladesh – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Brazil – Chile – China – Colombia – Dominican Republic – Egypt – Hong Kong – India – Indonesia – Iraq – Iran – Italy – Kosovo- Lebanon – Macedonia – Mexico – Moldova – Montenegro – Nepal – Pakistan – Panama – Peru – Philippines – Serbia – Singapore – Spain – Sri Lanka – Syria (source 1, 2)

So if you live in one of those countries and had booked a flight to Kuwait, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to fly back for the time being.

Update: One airline had to inform their passengers that only Kuwaitis would be allowed to land in Kuwait after the late Civil Aviation announcement barring planes from certain countries from flying to Kuwait. That must have been so disheartening to the passengers who thought they were finally coming back home. Link

The Civil Aviation have posted a list of requirements for passengers that are flying in and out of Kuwait. Check them out below:

Departing Passengers
• Must register in the application (Kuwait Mosafer) and submit the relevant barcode throughout the phases of travel.
• Must obtain health certificate issued by laboratories approved by the Ministry of Health, confirming negative infection with COVID-19 disease, if required, depending on the requirements of each country, together with adhering to the required period of its validity.
• Citizens must obtain health insurance for the period of travel, covering treatment of infection with COVID-19 virus.
• Must abide by the health requirements respective to wearing masks and gloves, using the sanitizers and adhering to physical-distancing.

Arriving Passengers
• Must register in the application (Shlonik) prior to boarding the aircraft.
• Must obtain approved health certificate (PCR), proving negative infection with COVID-19 disease, with 96-hours validity from the testing date.
• All arriving passengers will be subjected to home-quarantine for 14 days.
• Body temperature of all passengers will be checked prior to boarding the aircraft and upon arrival.
• A random (PCR) test will be conducted on 10% of the passengers of each flight upon arrival.
• Must abide by the health requirements respective to wearing masks and gloves, using the sanitizers and adhering to physical-distancing.

If you leave or arrive to Kuwait August 1st onwards, let us know in the comments about your experience.

Source

Traveling next month into or out of Kuwait? The Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority has launched a web-based application to help make it more convenient for travelers that are departing or arriving to Kuwait post-August 1.

The app provides a variety of different services including booking your airport check-in visit time so you don’t have to wait at the check-in counters, you’ll also be able to get your boarding pass online (finally, it took a worldwide pandemic to make this happen) and the app also gives you baggage notifications which I am assuming is so travelers don’t huddle up around the conveyor belt waiting for their bags to come out.

The app looks pretty impressive and you don’t need to install it since it’s web-based, just visit kuwaitmosafer.com

Thanks Zaydoun

Yesterday I got an email from Qatar Airways letting me know that they’ve resumed daily flights from Kuwait until the end of the month:

Mr Makhoul, in these challenging times, we are here to support you if you need to travel home. We recently resumed flights from Kuwait so that you can now fly daily to select destinations, until 30 May 2020.

As we understand your travel plans might change, we are offering you more flexibility. You can change your date of travel free of charge, or exchange for a future travel voucher*.

Your safety, security and well-being are our first priority. As always, we provide the highest standards of hygiene on our aircraft, so your journey back home is seamless and safe

All flights are one way only and there is no mention that I need to fly specifically to my home country. So I guess I could fly out to any country that is currently allowing non-citizens/residents to come in. They had some offers mentioned in the email but when I checked their website none of the prices there matched the offers in the email. For example, a one-way economy ticket to London was listed as KD85 in the email but the lowest ticket price I found online was KD168.

I don’t think there are any other airlines flying out daily so I guess whatever they ask for you’re gonna have to pay if you want to leave Kuwait. Also if you’re Kuwaiti, it doesn’t seem like you’re allowed to fly out.

While on vacation I read an article that said expats who were in countries with high rates of the coronavirus like Thailand and Italy wouldn’t be allowed back into Kuwait while Kuwaitis would be quarantined either at home or at a government chosen location depending on which country they would be arriving from.

It got me really worried since it meant if while in Tbilisi a large outbreak occurs, I might not be able to get back into Kuwait.

Yesterday a friend was telling me it happened to her expat friend who was in Italy on vacation. He wasn’t allowed to get on the plane back home to Kuwait. I know everyone is freaked out about the coronavirus but I really think this is unfair since a lot of people like me count Kuwait as our home. If it was me in Italy and I wasn’t able to hop on a plane back here I wouldn’t know what I would do or where I would go.

I booked a week-long vacation starting next Wednesday to Tbilisi, Georgia since I heard a lot of good things about the city. The last time I took a proper vacation was back in August 2018 and it was also for a week so I’m really really looking forward to the time off. I’m taking Jazeera Airways since they fly to Tbilisi directly and then going to rent a Land Cruiser LC76 while there so I can also drive over to Armenia next door.

I’m looking for things to do, see, and places to eat at so if you have any recommendations please let me know!