The managing editor of the popular travel website The Points Guy recently flew with Kuwait Airways to JFK in First Class and wrote about his experience. Overall for the price he paid the experience was pretty decent, but the terrible airport and transit visa runaround were negatives that were too big to ignore.
Other issues included First Class not being up to First Class standards when it came to food (cellophane wrapped biscuits, cheese, and butter in supermarket wrappers etc). Check out his full post [Here]
Update: Turns out the managing editor and not the CEO of “The Points Guy” traveled with Kuwait Airways. Post was updated to reflect that.
Last month I posted a list of our terminal numbers that was put together using whatever information was available at that time, and a bit of common sense. But a few days ago, the Civil Aviation Authority released the official list of terminal numbers and the list I put together was pretty much on point.
When I posted my list there was a bit of a disagreement with the Terminal 3 name. I had used it for the Sheikh Saad Terminal but a reader noted that it was most likely reserved for the expansion of Terminal 2. I did a bit of research and turns out that was a possibility since the only time Terminal 3 was ever mentioned online was when they mentioned the Terminal 2 mirror expansion. Well now looks like that’s not the case and Sheikh Saad Terminal is actually going to use the Terminal 3 name.
Check out the official list of terminals below along with the descriptions by the Civil Aviation Authority:
I was on my way home when I spotted the billboard above near my house in Salmiya about the BK Whopper Donut. Turns out its National Donut Day and Burger King created a donut to mark the occasion.
They basically took a Whopper and cut a hole in the middle to create the first Flame-Grilled donut ever. They then took the middle part they cut out (the donut hole) and turned that into a “free” mini slider.
The Whopper Donut is only available TODAY, June 1st, at Burger King Salmiya Coop and Sadiq Branch so if you want to try it you’ll have to hurry up.
I’ve had a few friends ask me about places to store their cars and I didn’t have any I could recommend until I found out about The Vault, a hidden underground parking that provides vehicle management and storage solutions.
Parking in Kuwait is a mess, majority of homes and apartment buildings have outdoor streetside parking that’s usually overcrowded and messy. Unless you live in a pretty fancy area, you usually don’t want to park your nice car out on the streets. Kuwait’s weather is also pretty harsh so you also don’t want to leave your car parked outside all summer long especially if its an older classic car. That’s when a service like The Vault comes handy.
Accessing The Vault is an experience by itself since to get down to the basement you’ll have to take your car via one of the two car lifts. When I arrived at the complex someone was waiting for me outside and helped me take my car down. Once the doors of the lift opened up in the basement, I drove into The Vault to find a bunch of interesting looking Porsches parked on one side, and then a line of Ferraris parked on the other. I instantly knew I was in for a treat. I love cars so it’s always exciting to check out other peoples special cars, no matter what they are. Special cars don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be interesting or unique. Since The Vault can only hold 45 cars, the owner is being choosy with what cars he accepts, think of it as being a boutique parking lot. And like I said, it isn’t about how expensive the cars are. Inside The Vault I spotted the super cute Nissan Figaro and a 1975 Land Rover Defender, both of which aren’t that expensive. But then you also had a like-new-condition classic Ferrari 348 and Zaid Ashkanani’s championship-winning Porsche GT3 Cup car parked nearby.
The Vault stores both cars and bikes and their “promotional” prices right now are as follows:
They offer trickle charging for your car so the battery doesn’t die, they also offer car washes and they’ll check your car routinely and notify you in case your car develops a leak or something. Anytime you want to take your car out you can come to the facility, park your current car and drive off with the stored one. Really practical especially since The Vault is located near three major roads, the 6th Ring Road, Highway 30 and Gulf Road. If this is a service you’re interested in you can contact them on 94083166 or send them a DM @vmskw
Update: Their promotion is over and the prices have now changed.
There is a new inflatable water park on the Gulf Road next to the Swimming Pool Complex and Corniche Club. You might have spotted it when driving by since the setup is pretty big and uses brightly colored yellow and green inflatables. They’re open from 10AM to 6PM on weekdays and 8AM to 6PM on weekends (not sure about their Ramadan timing). They’re charging KD2 for an hour of fun or KD5 for a full day. There is a lifeguard, but if the children are under 8 then they require an adult with them. If this looks like something you’d be interested in, here is their location on [Google Maps]
When the all-new Lincoln Navigator concept car was previewed two years ago with its butterfly doors and futuristic looking seats, Lincoln brought the Navigator back into the spotlight. The Navigator was a pretty popular car for Lincoln when it had originally been released, but over time, it started looking dull and outdated (along with the rest of the Lincoln line up). The concept car was a way for Lincoln to show the market they were still relevant and it worked. A year later they released the all-new Lincoln Navigator and although it didn’t have the butterfly doors or the cool looking 3 piece fold out steps of the concept car, it pretty much retained everything else including the cool looking seats.
I’m generally not into large sized family SUV’s, but when I was asked if I was interested in reviewing the new Navigator I had two questions, did the test drive car have the cool seats and, did it have the cool car unlock light show? When I was told it did, I decided to borrow the car for the weekend.
First impressions, I was extremely impressed with the interior. The dashboard was pretty sleek with a large digital display that had super minimal but premium looking graphics. The buttons were all nicely laid out in the center console along with another large information screen. Even the gear change buttons were beautifully laid out in the center console. The interior oozed luxury and I wasn’t even in their top of the line “Presidential” model that used a more premium quality leather.
One of the things I was looking forward to were the seats because of how customizable and comfortable they supposedly were and I wasn’t disappointed. The seats had 11 different parts I could individually adjust as well as a built in massage feature and cold air ventilation. It had 30-way seat positioning so finding the most comfortable setup was super easy to achieve. Shorter people are also going to love the fact that the foot pedals are electronically adjustable and so can be brought in closer to the driver. The car I drove had a large panoramic roof which brought in daylight that lit up the incredibly large interior. Large is an understatement actually, the car is huge! The second row passengers have more legroom than most people do in the front seats of their cars, and then you have the third row seats to hold more people and you still had room behind those seats for your luggage. There is loads of storage space all over the car for your stuff as well as a huge storage compartment under the armrest and below the center console. The car also had multiple USB ports everywhere and even a wireless charging area.
The model I drove had a bunch of driver assist technologies including a lane keeping system, parking assist, brake assist, 360-degree cameras and adaptive cruise control. The combination of all these technologies made driving the humongous Navigator a lot easier and made driving, in general, a lot more comfortable. The adaptive cruise control works like cruise control on regular cars where you set a speed and the car would stick to it, with the Lincoln it also applied the brakes and slowed down for you when the car ahead would slow down or stop. Combined with a lane keeping system that can control the cars steering to keep you in your lane, you basically end up with a fairly autonomous vehicle when on the highway. The parking assist also made parking super easy. The car can perpendicular or parallel park for you and based on my short experience with the car, it worked pretty well all although it still scares the crap out of me everytime I let a car park for me. As you can see in the video above which I shot, the car takes full control of the steering and acceleration and all you need to do is apply the brakes to stop.
After spending a long weekend with the car I had to give it back and I was fine with that. The car was just too big for me and is clearly meant for large families. For a single guy like me the car felt overwhelming although I do miss the comfort and the serene interior. I had the car on the first day of Ramadan and even with all the traffic, I wasn’t bothered with the chaos that was taking place outside the car. It felt like I was sitting in my living room which is anice feeling to have while stuck in traffic. I do have some issues with the new Navigator though, none major but still worth mentioning. I really dislike the rear of the car, although I think the front of the car looked good, the back just looked super boxy and not in a cool way boxy, but more like the 90s outdated way. Then the stereo, even though the sound system in the car was pretty good, my issue with it was how the dashboard and doors rattled with the bass, and I’m not talking about rattles when I’m blasting the music really loud, I was hearing rattles at low volume as well. Not something I would expect from a premium car. Finally, I thought the suspension was too soft, it made the ride comfier obviously, but the car also tended to bounce a lot after going over a speed bump or hitting a pothole.
The price of the all-new Navigator starts at KD27,000 but the model I drove was the “Reserve” edition and that retails for KD29,000. For more information you can check out the Lincoln Alghanim webiste [Here] or their instagram account @lincolnalghanim
In my last post on accessing F1 TV in Kuwait, I wrote about how you can access it if you used a VPN and that it would probably start working with SmartDNS soon. Well two weeks later and my prediction came true, F1 TV now works in Kuwait using Smart DNS!
You no longer need to use a VPN which in my case improved streaming speed considerably. I’ve only tried it with my smartdnsproxy.com service (the same one I use for Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc..) so not sure if it works with another provider. [Link]
Dylan’s Candy Bar is a chain of boutique candy shops around the US and they’re now coming to Kuwait. They’re opening their first location at The Avenues and I believe this will also be their first location outside the States.
I’ve only been to their LA location at The Grove and I remember it being pretty huge. Chalhoub Group is bringing the brand to the region and they’re expected to open six to eight stores in UAE, Kuwait and Qatar. They’ve got a few job positions open if you’re interested including a marketing position [Here]
I passed by a few dealerships last week to check out some cars with a friend of mine and below are some of the ones that interested me. These are approximate prices since they will vary depends on the options fitted, but it should give you a general idea of what the cars cost.
The best deal? Has to be the Alfa 4C pictured above. Used to be priced at KD24,000 but now selling for KD18,000. The most disappointing car, on the other hand, had to be the Volvo XC40. The local dealer got the most boring color combos and basically turned whats supposed to be a fun car for young people, into a boring looking car for my parents.
Kuwaisiana is a New Orleans-based band led by Kuwaiti singer-songwriter +Aziz. The 7-piece group is an indie rock band and they recently launched their debut album titled “Chapter 1”. The album is in Arabic and English and you can stream it below or by going directly to [SoundCloud]
For more information on the band, check out their [Website]
If you grew up watching WWF (now WWE) and have access to HBO NOW, then you have to watch this new film by HBO. André the Giant is a documentary on the life of the professional wrestler, André Roussimoff starting from when he was young until his death in 1993.
I grew up in the 80s watching WWF, and André the Giant was one of my favourite wrestlers along with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and a bunch of other legends. My favourite part of this documentary was when Hulk Hogan talks about the lead up to Wrestlemania III where he was meant to fight André the Giant, I laughed out loud throughout the whole interview. The whole documentary was really entertaining to watch and made me miss the old WWF.
If you want to watch this documentary you need to have HBO NOW. If you don’t know how to access HBO in Kuwait, check out my previous post on how to access Netflix [Here]
