Kuwait is not at all like I expected and I've been here a few weeks now so I'll have to back track a bit.
I arrived here on May 4, 2006 after a long trip from Boston first to Frankfurt then to Kuwait. I had heard that Lufthansa was a premier airline, not necessarily true. The planes had been recently refitted with seats etc and the business and first class cabins seemed very nice. But I was in coach and I've yet to fly coach on any airline and call it a great trip.
I only had a 1 hr layover in Frankfurt and Frankfurt isnt exactly user friendly ( Frankfurt makes O'Hare look easy) so there wasnt even any time for a last beer (Kuwait is a dry country) or even to exchange a dollar for euros just for fun.
I cant really sleep on planes and total flight time is around 14 hours including layovers so by the time I got to Kuwait Int'l I had been awake for about 28 hours. Not a great way to come in to what I would describe as a shady customs process at best.
Kuwait Int'l is alot like your typical small US airport like TF Green, Chicago Midway, etc. Its got one main strip of gates, a main entry area with a Burger King, a couple ATMs, thats about it. Pretty much a typical airport experience, except for the folks walking around in traditional Middle Eastern garb and me not understanding a single word of arabic.
The most interesting part of the trip over by far was getting through customs. Im not exactly sure how widely known this process is, and its only allowed for people with military IDs, but it doesnt seem to be a secret.
You walk to the end of the terminal and theres a desk that says "Visas". You walk right past that desk and take an escalator down to where the Kuwait Customs Agents are. You wait in a line and when its your turn you hand the agent your military ID (called a Common Access Card - CAC). The agent takes a white label, sticks it on the back of your card and writes a number on it. Then the agent waves you through the gate. That's it, no questions, no papers for you to sign, no limit on how long you can stay, nothing. At no point in the process do you ever show anyone your passport. So like I said, shady at best.
So after that process, which admittedly had me nervous, a Bangladeshi guy grabbed my bags (whether I wanted him to or not) and had me in the hotel shuttle. I had gotten Kuwaiti Dinar at an ATM but I didnt have any small bills. I tipped him $3 US (about 1 Kuwaiti Dinar) and he seemed glad for it. Found out later that these guys make about 40KD a month so a 1KD tip is far more than expected (they must love us americans).
Stopping here for today. Maybe Im providing too much info I dont know but what the hell . . . blogger is free.
Next installment . . . Kuwait looks alot like Miami.
