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If for some reason you need to leave your house during this storm, you can find out about road closures via Google’s Live Traffic feature. Just go to Google Maps and make sure the traffic overlay option is turned on and any closed roads should be highlighted. [Link]

The Cross Cultural Diwaniya have a discussion coming up this Wednesday on Kuwait’s urban infrastructure. It’s a perfectly timed discussion after all the chaos that occurred last week because of the rain. So if have an opinion or want to hear other peoples opinion on this subject, register for this event. For more info, click [Here]

Luna & Beau is the hottest new pet store in Kuwait and I’ll be posting about them soon. But, for now, I do want to post about their Halloween party tonight. I passed by last night and saw them setting things up and it looks like it going to be a lot of fun. So if you have a pet and are looking to do something tonight then consider dropping by Luna & Beau. They’re holding the event in their cafe and its going to run from 7PM to 11PM.

Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account with more info is @luna_beau

Golfania is an indoor miniature golf park that’s located in the basement of Discovery Center. They’ve been around for a few years now, but I only tried them out for the first time last night. It’s not a large park but it does offer a bit of fun if you’re in a group or on a date. There are 12 holes in total and depending on how large a group you are, you could zip through them pretty quick. But even if you do end up flying through the course, once you’re done you could head next door to Cosmo for bowling or maybe a game of pool so your trip to Discovery Center would still be worthwhile.

The cost for one round of golf that includes all 12 holes is KD3 per person. It looks a bit lame but we were a group of 4 last night and had a pretty fun time. Here is the location of Discovery Center on [Google Maps]

Singarea, the popular Asian supermarket now carries live French oysters! They say they’re the first in Kuwait to carry live oysters but that can’t be true right? First or not first it doesn’t really matter though, if you want live oysters I don’t know of any other place you can get them. If you’ve never been or heard of Singarea then click [Here]

Just a quick update to my Kuwait Airport Terminal 4 post from last week. In addition to Kuwait Airways GCC and Middle East flights, Kuwait Airways flights to and from Europe (excluding London) now also use the new terminal.

If you missed my previous post check it out [Here]

Henley & Partners released their Visa Restrictions Index for 2018 and Kuwait ranked 55th with visa-free access to 93 destinations. UAE ranked the highest in the Gulf ranking 21st with visa-free access to 161 destinations. Here are how some other countries ranked:

1 – Japan (190)
5 – USA, UK (186)
6 – Canada (185)
21 – UAE (161)
55 – Kuwait (93)
60 – Qatar (85)
64 – Bahrain (81)
67 – Oman (78)
70 – Saudi Arabia (75)
75 – Philippines (66)
81 – India (60)
100 – Lebanon (41)
106 – Afghanistan (30)

How did your country rank? Check out the full list [Here]

Since the weather is getting cooler I decided to get my bike serviced in preparation for riding season. After having the bicycle parked during the long hot summer months, all the cables tend to loosen up, the gearing lubrication dries up, and all the air leaks out of the tires and shocks.

Luckily, I live walking distance from an Extreme Sports shop, so whenever I see the weather cooling down, I just walk my bike over to them to get it serviced. They’re my favorite place to service my bike mostly because they know their bikes, the guys who work there are super nice, plus they carry good brands in case I need to upgrade a part or purchase a new accessory. Once I get my bike back from them it tends to look and feel brand new.

So if your bike is lying around gathering dust and you want to get it ready for riding season, I’d recommend you take it to Extreme Sports. Their Salmiya location [Google Maps] tend to have the bike serviced and ready in under 24 hours and the cost is KD15. Here is a link to their instagram @extremesportskw

I love eating outside and I rarely eat home cooked meals, in fact, I don’t even remember the last time I ate a home-cooked meal. So, I’ve been wanting to put together a list of my favorite places and I finally got it done. I’ve divided my favorite places into categories, it wasn’t easy in some cases just choosing three, but I forced myself to do so to keep things consistent. Check out my favorites below and let me know what your favorite places are:

Restaurants
1- White Robata
2- Mana
3- Lavan

If I had to choose just one restaurant to eat at forever, it would probably be White Robata. I’m there usually once a week and would go more often if it wasn’t so freaking expensive. So much good food combined with incredible staff make this easily my favorite restaurant in Kuwait at the moment. Mana, on the other hand, is a lot more accessible and great for going to in groups. They’ve got the best guacamole in Kuwait and generally, everything I’ve tried there has been really good although the rosemary chicken is my goto dish. Finally, Lavan is my favorite Indian restaurant. I go there mostly for their tandoori grills since I’m always trying to eat healthy, but I always manage to convince myself to have one of their delicious biryanis as well.

Healthy
1- Super Foods
2- Leila
3- Little Rubys

There are a lot of healthy places nowadays but these three are my goto ones. Super Foods doesn’t need much of an introduction since I think they’re the most popular healthy food place. They’ve got great snacks, cold bowls, delicious sandwiches, and even healthy desserts. They also have a lot of drinks to choose from including my favorite, their Blue Majik. The next place would be the Lebanese restaurant Leila, like most Lebanese restaurants, it’s a great place for healthy options since they have salads and grills. But, what sets Leila apart is their light menu which contains food options with even lighter dressings and more healthier sides. I know Little Rubys might seem out of place on this list since they’ve got delicious burgers and crazy good fries, but they also have my favorite salad in Kuwait, their pumpkin salad. It’s a baby spinach salad which I usually have them add grilled chicken too, so delicious.

Breakfast
1- Cocoa Room
2- Lunch Room
3- Baker & Spice

I had difficulty deciding on the number one spot here, it should be Lunch Room but since it’s more convenient getting a table at Cocoa Room I chose them as number one. Lunch Room is my favorite breakfast spot at the moment but the place is small and so there is always a waiting list. And unlike Cocoa Room, you can’t call ahead and put your name on the list so you have to go there, put your name and then just sit in your car since there isn’t anything else around them to do. Cocoa Room is also always super busy but I tend to call them an hour before I plan to be there to put my name on the list. Then, usually by the time I get there, my table would be ready or I just have to wait for one or two tables before it’s my turn. Baker & Spice is my healthier choice here, but during the summer months, I tend not to go to Baker & Spice since I enjoy the place more sitting outdoors especially at their Souk Sharq location.

Delivery
1- Joa
2- SimSim
3- Clean Eats

Before Carriage came to be, I think I used to only ever order food from Hardees. Now I’ve got a whole list of places I order from but these are my favorite ones. JOA I love ordering from when binge watching a show with a friend or when I’m having movie nights. Their poke bowls are the best and they’ve also got affordable sushi rolls if I want. SimSim is a place I find delicious but I try not to order them a lot because they’re all carbs. SimSim easily have the best flatbreads in Kuwait (get the pumpkin or musakhan) as well as a delicious rose water flavored knafa for dessert. Finally, Clean Eats I heard about at first because of their delicious yoga bowl which is what I used to order all the time but then I started making my own bowls. Now I tend to mostly order their banana and chocolate chip overnight oats since its a great source of energy before I hit the gym.

Cheat Meals
1- CHKN
2- Arby’s
3- Eighty Six

This was another category I had trouble trying to pick a favorite place. Both CHKN and Arby’s have perfect cheat meals but I decided CHKN was slightly better because of their sides. I tend to order their Slaw CHKN sandwich with the original CHKN bites on the side. So soooo good, it’s like the best fried chicken burger ever. Arby’s on the other hand, I just order their Double Roast Beef N’ Cheddar sandwich but that’s all I really want from life sometimes. Full disclosure on the third spot which is Eighty Six, they’re one of the brands I work for at the moment so I literally go to sleep thinking about them. So although I might be a bit biased here, I’m really a huge fan of their Billie Jean burger as well as their Saku Saku chicken burger.

So there you have it, my favorite spots around Kuwait right now. I might more add categories to this if I think of anything but this should be good for now. Don’t forget to let me know your spots!

So yesterday I posted about how you could 3D print yourself at the new Best Electronics store in Boulevard. Well, I spoke too soon since you can’t anymore.

From what I’ve managed to understand, due to religious reasons Best have been told to stop the 3D printing. I thought it might have been fake news at first but last night I passed by the store from outside and noticed they had removed all the 3D printed figurines from the display. Oh well…

Best Electronics have a new service which uses tech by the company Doob to 3D scan your full body and then print you out as a miniature figurine. The result looks pretty realistic and they have a lot of different examples on display for you to check out. I held one figurine and it felt light and fragile, so I wouldn’t give it to a kid to play with, they’re more for displaying not for playing with.

Although it’s pretty cool, especially if you end up getting a 3D scan of you and your friends together, there are two big negatives. The first is that they print these figurines in Germany, which means you need to wait around three weeks to see the results. The second thing is the cost. They can print different sizes figurines but the smallest one which is shorter than your iPhone costs KD40, while the largest size is KD230. If you and your friends get a group shot you have to pay per individual. So if you’re four guys and you want to print out the smallest size that’s 4 x KD40 for one copy.

If you’re interested to check this out, the “Doob” booth is located in Best Electronics at Boulevard in Salmiya. [Google Maps]

Thanks Sabah

Although Kuwait mail has improved over the past few years it still needs a ton of work. Imagine how great online shopping would be if we had a mail system that wasn’t so archaic. [YouTube]

Thanks K

Three years ago I posted about how I plastidipped parts of my FJ Cruiser. Plastidip is non-permanent paint which you can just peel off to revert back to the original color. I had plastidipped various parts of my car and the paint had survived pretty well except on my wheels where it started to peel off (pictured below) and look gross. I needed to get my wheels permanently painted but that meant I had to find a paint shop and then keep the car with them for a few days which I didn’t have time for.

Then, last week, I found out a friend of mine started a new business called Dr Dent. He sent me the profile over instagram and I half-jokingly told him what I was interested in was a service where they could come take my FJ wheels, get them painted and then drop them back off to me. My friend told me that was a service they actually offered and it would be done at my place without having to take the wheels away. After a bit of back and forth of me trying to confirm I had understood him correctly, I called them up and booked an appointment.

Dr Dent offer a number of services that include dent, windshield and wheel repair, as well as wheel painting. They came over in their large van which has a built-in paint shop and started work right away. They first took off the wheels from my car, prepped them by removing the old plastidip, and then cleaned them up before taking the wheels one at a time into their paint booth to get painted. I had requested ahead of time to get the wheels painted in the Toyota TRD bronze color, so they got the paint code and mixed the paint for me before coming over.

It was incredibly convenient, I just gave the guys my car keys, got into my Lotus and headed to Avenues to do some shopping while they worked on my car.

The cost of this service varies from car to car depending on the size of the wheel and if there is any damage (like deep scratches from swiping a curb) that need to be fixed but the maximum it would cost to repair or/and paint a wheel is KD50. So if you’re looking for a convenient way to get your wheels painted or repaired, you can check Dr Dent out on instagram @drdentkw

Over the weekend I got a tour of the soon to open Kuwait Airways Terminal 4. I hadn’t seen that many photos of the terminal and so was really surprised at how beautiful it was. I took a ton of photos so I’ll take you on a quick tour of the airport starting from the entrance all the way into the plane, and then I’ll go the other way, from the plane all the way to the exit. Here are some interesting points first:

– The new terminal is located on the right just before arriving at the main airport. There are signs up now that point to terminal 4 and there is also a new exit that was constructed. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

– The new terminal is only for Kuwait Airways flights.

– In the photos, you’ll notice signs for E-Gates. Yes, it’s happening but I wasn’t able to get any information on it other than the fact they’re going to implement it. I was not given a timeline but it could be very soon which would explain the urgent move to new passports for Kuwaiti citizens and the voiding of old ones.

– The only area I wasn’t allowed to photograph was the business lounge. It’s located on the far right of the departures terminal and spans two floors. It has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the runway, and unlike the Kuwait Airways lounge in terminal 1, it didn’t look tacky.

– The security check area is going to be proper, similar to setups you see in large airports abroad and it will also have full body scanners.

– Terminal 4 will be managed by the South Korean Incheon International Airport. The Incheon airport holds the record of being ranked the Best Airport Worldwide for 11 consecutive years so it’s going to be in good hands.

– The boarding gate for US flights has an extra security check, the rest of the gates don’t.

– The plan is to eventually have US Border Control at the terminal similar to how it is in Abu Dhabi. This would be huge if it happens.

– All the waiting area seats throughout the terminal have both power ports and USB ports.

– The terminal is expected to start operating on July 25th, although I’ve also heard the date August 8th being thrown around. In both cases, the terminal will start operating with a limited number of flights with the first route being just Dubai. They will then continue to add other GCC flights before adding the rest of their destinations.

That’s some of the most important points I wanted to highlight. If you have any questions or things you’re curious about let me know in the comments and I’ll try to answer them for you. To check out pictures of the terminal as well as the full tour from start to finish, click [Here]