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I had a plan. I was supposed to fly out of Kuwait Airport at 5AM via Qatar Airways, land in Doha, spend an hour and a half killing time before my second flight to Nice (France) also via Qatar Airways. I would have landed in Nice at 2PM, around the same time my best friend’s flight would have also landed. We were gonna pick up our rental, drive down the coast of France all the way to Marseilles, stopping along the way for some beach time and food.

Great plan if it wasn’t for the fact the Kuwait Airport luggage conveyer belt for check-in stopped working this morning. It was a disaster with bags pilled up all around and check-in taking far longer than it usually would. My flight ended up taking off over an hour late and by the time I landed in Doha, I had around 10 minutes to make it to my next flight. I realized I had a 90% I wouldn’t make the flight and let my friends know that before I took off from Kuwait. I stayed calm, I figured stressing wouldn’t solve anything and I accepted the fact I was gonna miss my flight.

Luckily, once I got out of the plane there was a Qatar Airways employee waiting for me, she told me we had to rush to my plane because they were waiting for me. I sent my friends a message letting them know I was miraculously gonna make it. While we were running to my gate the employee tells me they printed me a new boarding pass, just as she is giving it to me she notices something, the boarding pass was for August 18th.. the next day. Because my flight from Kuwait was delayed, they issued me a ticket for the next flight to Nice which was the same time but for the next day. I was devastated. I wanted to continue running to my gate but she told me it was too late, they would have closed it by now. I was mentally ready to miss the flight but then had my hopes raised only to be disappointed again. It sucked.

I stayed calm, I didn’t get upset or angry, I was a bit annoyed definitely but calm. We went to the transfer desk because I asked if there was a way I could get to Nice earlier. While waiting there everyone around me was screaming at the employees and I was just thinking how this must be the shittiest job in the world having to deal with all these frustrated and angry customers. The thing I found the most surprising was how they were finding me alternative flights to Nice. I thought there was some kind of sophisticated mechanism, a smart software with some sort of algorithm that would figure out the fastest way to get a person to a destination. But it wasn’t anything like that, it kinda seemed very manual.

First they came back to me telling me I could fly out through Zurich and I’d arrive in Nice 10AM the next day. I then asked if there was a flight via Paris, so they checked and came back to me 15 minutes later telling me there was, but it had a 12 hour layover and I’d arrive to Nice the next day at 8AM. I then asked them what about flights via London. They got back to me telling me there was a flight via London and I’d end up in Nice at 2AM, but the flight from London to Nice was fully booked. I told them they could put me in economy and that I didn’t care but she said it was against their policy. I told her to try at least, so she left and came back 15 minutes later, this time telling me there was another flight from London and I could be in Nice by 11:30PM. And thats the flight I’m taking now, boarding actually starts in around 30 minutes. Kinda weird that I had to come up with routes when I would assume their software could do that.

Overall, a pretty dramatic morning for what should have been a routine trip. At least I’m flying out now on A380 (my original flight was a Dreamliner), I think there is a bar with a lounge onboard which should be pretty cool. I was actually just thinking how Qatar Airways put me on a more expensive flight so I could still get to Nice today which was pretty nice of them. It wasn’t their fault that the conveyor belt at the airport stopped working, they could have just kept me on tomorrows flight. So definitely a good experience for a shitty situation.

The other day I posted a list of speciality coffee shops around Kuwait and it’s a pretty overwhelming list. Thats why I decided to create a much smaller list by sharing my personal favorite coffee spots:

% ARABICA
I’ve only been drinking coffee since around September of last year and I only started because of the Arabica team who got me to try a bunch of different coffees. Now I’m super loyal to the brand to the point where people wonder if I’m their brand ambassador. I’m actually typing this post while I’m sitting there right now having my coffee. I love their short hot lattes and on a super warm day when I’m craving something sweet, I like their iced Spanish latte. They’re where I get all my freshly roasted beans from and they also have the best pain au chocolat in Kuwait.

VOL.1
Vol.1 is what started the whole coffee craze in Kuwait. They’re one of the first speciality coffee shops in Kuwait and it was their success that sparked the local coffee revolution. Their location in Mayar Complex in Shuwaikh (pictured below) has probably one of the nicest interiors of any store in Kuwait if not the nicest. My favorite coffee is their cortado.

CAFFEINE
Caffeine are also one of the first speciality coffeeshops to open up in Kuwait. I never liked their location in Souk Mubarakiya but their new location in Shuwaikh across from Mayar Complex is pretty sweet (pictured on the very top). The only downside is I have terrible phone signal there and they don’t have wifi, so take a book with you. My favorite coffee is their spiced latte.

RICHARD’S COFFEE
Originally started off as a pop-up (pictured below), Richard’s Coffee recently moved into their new permanent home in Kuwait City. Their interior is pretty minimal and chill with their atmosphere being the most hipsterish of the bunch listed here. My favorite coffee is their cold brew.

TOBY’S ESTATE
I actually crave the coffee at Toby’s, they have a drink called Toby’s Latte which is infused with vanilla and tastes so good so I usually drop by whenever I miss it. Their location on the same street at Vol.1 doesn’t have a lot of seating let alone tables so I usually just pick up my coffee and go.

Also, while we are on the subject of coffee, the Kuwait Aeropress Championship is being held next week so if you want more details or you want to compete, click [Here]

A lot of people are becoming vegetarian or vegan for some reason so I figured it was worth putting this list together. Below is a list of restaurants that have a large selection of vegan and vegetarian dishes (not salads). I’m sure I missed out on a whole lot so let me know what else to add below.

BE Cafe
Fed by JM
Ginger
Greenland
Healthy Feast
OVO
Saravanaa Bhavan
Super/Foods
The Bowl
Udupi
Wilgrow

Since I’ve gotten back from my vacation I’ve been asked that question over a dozen times. The truth of the matter is, although it is something I consider every year when I visit L.A., I don’t think I’m leaving anytime soon. Other than the fact I still have things I want to accomplish while here, when I talk to family and friends living in L.A., I realize the grass is not that greener over there. I mean I’ve always known that, ever since I was a kid and played the PC game Theme Park. If you wanted to start a park in a highly populated country, you had to pay much more for the land. If you didn’t want to pay for land, then you’d have to build in a country with a smaller population which meant less income for your park. There were things you needed to compromise on depending on what country you wanted to build your theme park in, and its the same in real life. We compromise on one thing, but in return we have something else going for us here.

When people living in L.A. ask me about life in Kuwait. I tell them about how things are here and their eyes get all dreamy, wishing they were living in Kuwait and had our lifestyle. We generally have it pretty easy over here and in my case, super easy.

So yeah things aren’t perfect here and I’m usually the first to point the issues out, but if you don’t appreciate what we having going for us right now (we really do have a lot going for us), then you’re probably not making the best use of your time here.

Over the weekend I updated my old post which listed the majority of speciality coffee shops around Kuwait by adding some new spots. While updating the list I realized it had grown to the point of becoming difficult to go through and so wasn’t very useful. Thats why I decided to painstakingly go through the list and divide up the coffee shops based on location. This should make the list easier to explore so check it out below:

Abu Al Hasania
Dose Cafe
Tripple A Cafe
V60 Coffee Bar

Al Zahra’a
BRW

Jabriya
RumorZ Cafe
Wing Cafe

Kuwait City
7 Grams
20 Grams
33 Cafe
Alpha Café
Arabica
Ark Coffee Co.
ASPRO + PRO Coffee Bar
Awake Coffee
BLAKK Coffee
Bon Coffee
But First Coffee
CAF
Caffeine
Caveman Coffee
Coffea
Commons
Cova Specialty Coffee
CRL Bar
Dose Cafe
Drip Cafe
East
Grace
His Majesty
Jumo
Kaffa Kuwait
Kôfē – Espresso Bar
Let’s Coffee
Mood Coffee Bar
Muse Coffeesphere
Muse Espresso Bar
Not Just Coffee
OIA Coffee
OZ Coffee
Pause Coffee
Perhaps Some Coffee
Pirate Cafe
P R E S S
Richard’s Coffee
Savage Coffees
Sisters & Co
Street Cafe
The Breeze Cafe
Three and Barista
Toby’s Estate
ÜSHK
Vol 1
Volta
Wish Cafe

Mahboula
Ace Coffee
Made Caffe
OROMO Coffee Bar
Swing Coffee House

Mangaf
Mug
Vibes Coffee

Messila
Majnoon Qahwa

Rai
Amo Cafe

Salmiya
Magnet
Muse Lounge
Mr Koobs
New Brew Coffee

Shuwaikh
Arabica
Boost Cafe
Caffeine
Car Wash Cafe
Days*Cafe
Force Bar
Keys Coffee Shop
Shuwaikh Coffee
Ves Vas
Vol 1

In case I missed a place let me know.

Remember the Kuwait Bookshop that was located in the basement of Muthana Complex and shutdown? Well all the books from that bookshop are now located in the basement of a building in Hawalli, and all the books are now being sold for really cheap.

I passed by yesterday evening and I’m not sure I can recommend going to anyone. The basement is packed to the brim with books, too many books for the size of the space. Not only that but a third of the basement has books semi organized on shelves, the other third is just books and books piled up on top of each other, while the final third is just piles of boxes on top of another filled with random books inside. Trying to find a book is gonna involve a lot of digging and scrummaging and I’m not sure it’s worth it. To add more to the misery, only half the basement has air conditioning and the whole place is definitely a fire hazard. If you’re claustrophobic you’re definitely not gonna want to be down there.

In case you’re still interested in passing by, they’re open from 9AM to 7PM. Finding the location is slightly tricky, on Google Maps search for “Dana Arab“, it’s a name of a bakala. Once you find the bakala the books are located in the basement of the building to the left of the bakala. You’ll find the entrance to the basement and just walk down. Their phone number is 66036943. Good luck!

Thanks dragonarab

There is so much to go over in regards to things you can do in L.A., so I decided to split it up into categories and also show you how to find stuff to do yourself. The most important thing is to keep an open mind (when it comes to doing things you might not usually do), don’t be lazy and be ready to spend a lot of time in traffic commuting all across the Greater Los Angeles area.

Transportation
Unlike cities like New York and London, Los Angeles is extremely spread out and so I wouldn’t recommend relying on public transportation or cab services like Uber and Lyft as your only means of transport. Instead I highly recommend renting a car. I always use Avis since they tend to have the best prices and I’ve never had a bad experience with them. I tend to pick it up from the airport when I arrive and then drop it back there on my way out. You don’t need an international driving license to drive in L.A., your Kuwaiti driving license is all you need. Prices are also not that expensive, a Ford Mustang convertible is for around $65 a day which includes unlimited mileage and full insurance, so you can imagine how much cheaper regular cars would be. If you don’t want to use a rental company for some reason or if you’re looking for a very specific car (like a TRD Tacoma or a Tesla) you can also use Turo which is a service similar to Airbnb except for cars.

First Time in L.A.?
If it’s your first time in L.A. then definitely hit up all the touristic spots like Disney Land, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Griffith Observatory, The Getty etc.. You should also probably drive out to Las Vegas and check that as well.

Off the Beaten Track
If it’s not your first time in L.A. or are looking for something less touristy to do then it really depends what you’re into. Below are a few things I like doing:

Museums: I didn’t like The Getty, but I loved The Broad and the Petersen Automotive Museum. If you want to check out The Broad make sure you reserve your tickets in advance, it’s free entry but they limit the number of people per day. If you’re planning to visit L.A. this year between October 21st and January 1st, then I’d recommend you also reserve your ticket for the new Yayoi Kusama exhibit called Infinity Mirrors. Tickets will be released on September 1st and they’ll most likely finish quickly, here is a link with more info on the exhibit [Link]. On my last trip to L.A. I got to experience Yayoi’s previous exhibit, “Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away“. I had to get to the museum one hour before opening and line up outside so that once the museum opened I could then rush in and wait in another line for 30 minutes so I could then get a number so that when my turn came two hours later, I could spend 45 seconds in the Infinity Mirrored Room trying to take a photo. Insane. If you’re into cars I’d also recommend you do the extended tour at the Petersen Automotive Museum which includes a tour of their vault which is their car collection in the basement which isn’t on display in the main museum.

Concerts: There are concerts taking place on a daily basis in L.A. When I was there for example a lot of cool musicians were performing including Nine Inch Nails, Iggy Pop, Metallica, BUSH, Tears for Fears, Lionel Richie and Slayer. There were hundreds of more bands performing while I was there if not thousands. The best way to see what concerts are taking place while you’re visiting is to check Ticket Master. You can plug in the dates you’re going to be in L.A. and then scroll through pages and pages of concerts taking place during that time. If you can’t find tickets for sale because they’re sold out, check Stub Hub, thats where I usually buy my sold out tickets from. For electronic music I’d recommend checking Resident Advisor for club dates.

Events: There are soo many things happening every day in L.A., so much that its nearly impossible to go through it all. While I was in L.A. there were a bunch of things that interested me that were taking place including UFC 214 which I sadly ended up missing. There are two ways of finding events that I’d recommend, the first is using Facebook. Facebook allows you to explore events taking place near you and you can be pretty specific about the kind of event you’re looking for and the date you want to check. By being more specific, instead of navigating through thousands and thousands of entries you end up having to dig through hundreds. Still a lot of events to go through, but not as bad. The second way to find events is to decide on an area you want to visit and then see whats taking place there. So for example I wanted to visit Huntington Beach and it turned out the Vans US Open of Surfing was taking place there so I checked it out. When I went to play volleyball on Hermosa Beach, the Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament way taking place up the road in Manhattan Beach so me and my friends ended up heading there after our game. Actually now that I think about it, there is a third way of finding events, you find one based on your interest. You could just google your interest like “yoga event los angeles” and end up with a bunch of cool things like hip hop yoga or a cannabis infused yoga event.

Beaches: I went to four different beaches on my trip and my favorite two were Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. I went on weekdays and weekends and both beaches were pretty much empty. Because the beaches in L.A. stretch across the whole coastline, and because the beaches are so huge, it never gets packed, I love it. Even when we were playing beach volleyball on Saturday afternoon, there were two other courts next to ours that were not occupied. And that was on a weekend! You could also rent a bike on one beach and ride it all along the coastline through the other beaches since they’re all connected. The bike path is called the Marvin Braude Bike Trail and stretches for 35KM. The only thing you’ll have an issue with when beaching is finding parking. My tip for that would be to park far away and then Uber it down to the beach.

TV Shows: L.A. is home to a bunch of cool TV shows and you can sign up to be part of the live audience. Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Maher, The Price is Right and Jeopardy all tape in L.A. and you can watch them all for free. All you need to do is sign up ahead of time to make sure you have a higher chance of scoring a ticket. To get tickets, just visit your favorite shows website and you’ll find a link to sign up for them there.

Other Random Things: There are a few places I personally enjoyed while in L.A. If you’re into video games you might want to combine it with alcohol and visit a couple of barcades like The One Up or EightyTwo. I would also highly recommend you go bowling at the Highland Park Bowl which is the oldest bowling alley in L.A. It opened up back in 1927 and is still alive and kicking today. Its by far the coolest bowling alley I’ve ever been to and has great music and even a bar. L.A. is also home to the largest IKEA in North America if that’s something you’re into. Oue Skyspace in downtown have a glass slide outside the skyscraper which is a quick thing to try out if you’re in downtown. Finally, visit The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard for some great comedy in a small cozy space. Tickets are usually just $5 and lots of great comedians are regulars there like Joe Rogan, Joey Diaz, Marc Maron, Jamie Kennedy and David Spade. It’s also the home of my favorite podcast Kill Tony.

Eats: I already posted a bunch of cool places to eat at in L.A. last week and I’ll be adding more to that list probably later today or tomorrow. If you haven’t checked that list out already, here is the [Link]

I think thats all I have to share for now. Like I said there is so much to do and you really need a car to be able to freely move around. If there is anything else you want to know, just let me know in the comments below.

I’m at LAX right now, leaving L.A. in a bit and heading back to Kuwait. My irresponsible self wants to stay here for another week or two, and maybe even just move out here for good. But thats not gonna happen, I’ve just become too responsible to do something like that (sadly).

Do I miss Kuwait? I miss my Lotus, but other than that no, not really? Usually I’m looking forward to getting back home, but this time, something is different…

I’m heading back to Kuwait in a couple of days and it looks like I missed out on a bit of drama while I was away. Shaab Park, Sultan Center Shaab, the football fields and everything else in that block have been closed down and cordoned off by a fence. Whats going on? Sultan Center Shaab was my goto supermarket so I can’t imagine not having it there anymore.

Photo by @7ammoud

This is going to be one of my venting posts on Salmiya. The sidewalks situation on Salem Mubarek Street in Salmiya is a horrible mess. It’s a very pedestrian heavy strip, and probably gets the most amount of foot traffic compared to any other strip in Kuwait, yet the sidewalks are miserable.

There are a number of issues with the sidewalks in Salmiya including:
– lack of wheelchair or stroller friendly sidewalks
– building construction occupying the whole sidewalk
– large bushes taking up the whole sidewalk (pictured above)
– sidewalks that have deteriorated
– sidewalks that were opened up for work but never put back together right

Yesterday I spotted the woman in the photo above with her two kids having to get off the sidewalk and walk in the street because of a large bush. Recently I’ve also been noticing a man in an electric wheelchair roaming around Salmiya occupying the same road as the cars. It’s a total mess but of course nobody cares.

/end rant

While we’re on the subject of airlines…

British Airways
Not sure how its possible but BA always seem to have the cheapest business class tickets to the States; at least to LA, and by always I mean whenever I want to go. And I’m talking like 40-50% cheaper than anybody else. So if you’re planning on traveling to the States check out their prices now since there is a promo running. [Link]

Qatar Airways
If you missed out on the Qatar Airways offers during Eid it came back yesterday. I got a ridiculously great priced ticket for a trip to Europe next month, literally half the price of competition. So again if you’re looking to travel soon, check their prices out as well. [Link]

Etihad
Finally, in case you missed this bit of news yesterday, you can now carry electronics onboard your flights to the US if you’re flying with Etihad. They’re the only airline in the region which you can now carry electronics onboard US flights. [Link]

Cinescape have finally given their website a much needed facelift and just in time before Eid. The new website makes looking for, and booking a movie a much faster experience with a lot less clicking and page reloads.

When you first enter the website you have all the movies currently showing listed, if you’re looking for movies playing in a specific Cinescape location, you just click on the location on the left sidebar and it will filter out all the movies not playing in that location without having to reload the page. Booking is also a much quicker process now with the quick book option and overall you can do a lot more now without having to leave the main page. The website also looks pretty great on mobile browsers.

The only thing that seems to be missing in the new redesign is the banned movies section. Cinescape used to have a page where they would list all the movies that were banned by the MOI and it seems they’ve now removed that in this new version of the website.

If you want to check out their new website, click [Here]

New bylaws were passed yesterday that now allow some businesses to operate legally with a license from their homes (aka home business). There are some requirements to obtain this license including the following:

– Kuwaitis only can apply for a home license
– Must be older than 21 years old
– You need permission from the home owner
– The license is mostly for services such as designers, calligraphist, illustrators, photographers, web and app developers, watchmakers, gardeners, technicians, event planners, translators, museums, and so on.
– No cupcakes, or burgers or any other food businesses can be licensed from homes

The Ministry of Commerce does not want to turn residential areas into commercial areas, they still want homes to be homes but a lot of businesses don’t involve a lot of interaction with customers or require customers to come over and so it doesn’t make sense that those businesses require a commercial space. The ministry has stated that the above law will come into effect first day after Eid.

I want to dedicate this post to my dear friend Ahmed Al Gharabally who recently passed away. Ahmed was a lobbyist and an activist that worked really hard on bringing this law to life through @legalizekw, a campaign that was launched to make home business in Kuwait legal. May you RIP Ahmed. It is great to see young Kuwaitis actively suggest new laws, and the new and young minister of commerce and industry Mr. Khaled Al Roudhan has done a wonderful job listening to their suggestions and attending their events.

For any legal inquiries, please email me on [email protected] and my team or I will get back to you within 24 hours.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

A couple of months back, Fitbit sent me their latest fitness tracker to review, the Alta HR. I’m a mechanical watch kind of guy and so don’t own an Apple Watch so figured this would be a good alternative. I’d be able to keep wearing my mechanical watches on one wrist, and a fitness tracker on the other.

The Fitbit Alta HR is a pretty great looking tracker, it’s slim and looks like a regular rubber bracelet and so can be worn on the opposite wrist of your watch and not look like you’re wearing two watches. The biggest selling point for me with the Fitbit was the fact it had a heart rate monitor. I’ve been going to spinning quite a bit and was curious to know how many calories I was burning exactly. Since the Fitbit could monitor my heart rate, I assumed it would be great at that one job… it wasn’t. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

The Alta HR has a pretty simple and straight forward screen that can display the time, your heart rate, how many steps you’ve done, how many calories you’ve burned and a bunch of other information. You flip through the screens by tapping the screen and using the Fitbit app on your phone, you can even customize what information you want to show on the screen and in what order. So in my case the first screen would show me my heart rate, second screen the calories burned, followed by my active minutes and finally the battery life.

I like the screen because of its simplicity but I hate the responsiveness of it. I have quick view turned off since I don’t want the screen to turn on randomly when I raise or flick my wrist, so to turn the screen on I need to tap it. Problem is, 99% of the time it doesn’t turn on with the first tap, 70% of the time it doesn’t turn on with the second tap, 30% of the time it doesn’t turn on with the 3rd tap either. I have to tap the screen a few times to get it to wake up and thats very frustrating. The other major issue I have with the Alta HR is that the heart rate monitor doesn’t seem to work when I’m sweaty which is when I need it to work the most since thats when I’m working out. During spinning when I’m curious to see my heart rate, I need to tap a few times on the screen to turn it on and when it finally would come on I’d get “–” which means it can’t read my heart rate. Then the screen shuts off again and I tap it a few times to wake it up and I get “–” again. Then the screen shuts off and I tap it again a few times and suddenly its reading my heart rate and showing “148” or whatever my heart rate is at that moment. So much work and in the middle of spinning its really unpractical.

The worst part is it doesn’t seem to be accurate at all. Saturday I ditched my gym and didn’t do any exercise other than binge watch season 2 of “F is for Family” and my Fitbit says I burned 2,995 calories that day. Yesterday on the other hand I had 45 minutes of spinning and my Fitbit says I burned 3,084 calories all day. It won’t do the one thing I wanted the Fitbit to do which is let me know how many calories I’m burning during spinning. It doesn’t make any sense.

On the bright side, it does seem to be good at doing one thing really well, monitoring my sleep. The Fitbit is pretty accurate in knowing when you fall asleep and when you wake up. It also uses your heart rate to monitor how much deep sleep you’re getting, if you’re waking up in the middle of the night and how much light sleep you’re getting. So if you want to monitor your sleeping patterns this is actually a pretty great tracker for that. Another great feature is the ability to vibrate when you get a phone call or message. My phone is always on silent and I tend to not notice it vibrating sometimes. Now my wrist vibrates as well and so I haven’t missed a call ever since I started wearing the Fitbit. Battery life on this thing is also fantastic, it lasts around a week of constant use which means you don’t have to constantly be charging it.

Overall though I’m pretty disappointed with the Alta HR. The biggest selling point for me was the ability to monitor my heart rate and let me know how many calories I was burning but that didn’t work out as planned. The FitBit Alta HR is selling for around KD54 on [Xcite] and KD59 on [Blink]. Here is a link to the official Fitbit Alta HR product page [Link]