Just before GulfRun I had a quick business trip that came up and had to take off to Amsterdam for 42 hours, two longs meetings and heading back to Kuwait. Luckily we had some time to spend sight seeing and walking around, and the first thing you notice is that everyone is on scooters and bicycles in Amsterdam, they even have their own roads.

I was surprised how much they speed but being neighbors with Germany I should have kept it in mind, they were flying down the highways and our taxi was flying which I honestly enjoyed, they knew how to drive. One thing to keep in mind, always use official taxis and not the mini-cabs which are random cars just to be safe. We checked into our hotel which was very nice and luxurious, the rooms were a bit small but the atmosphere was amazing. We went walking right away since our meeting was the next morning in The Hague which is about 25 to 45 minutes away depending on traffic.

We started walking from 3 pm until 12 am, you literally can’t help but enjoy walking in such a cozy city. We kept walking from alley to alley and walking around these canals. To my surprise a lot of shops close early in Amsterdam, most of them close by 7 pm which is rather early so after that we would go somewhere to eat and there were a lot of very nice places to check out.

The flower section was amazing, it was honestly beautiful seeing so many kinds of flowers and I know that a lot of flower shops in Kuwait import their flowers from Holland which have huge flower farms and it is a beautiful view. Then there is the cheese and they do love their cheese, lots of cheese shops all around. The one thing that surprised me is all these french fries shops and mayo, thats all they sell and their are people waiting in long lines for them.

What I found surprising are the Dutch themselves, I just had a mental image that they would be the same as the Germans, but I was very wrong. The first time me and my colleague held out a map someone came over and ask if we were lost or looking for something. They really wanted to help us when we were just looking at the map to get our bearing and to figure out where we are going next. The whole city is beautiful and I honestly really liked it and thought about coming back again to really check it out. There were so many bicycles and scoots around it was ridiculous, they rang their bicycles bells and honk their scooters, and they expect you to jump out of the way, it was hilarious.

I knew that illegal substances were legal in Amsterdam but it was very different knowing it and seeing it, specifically smelling it. You can smell the Marijuana a mile away, you get a whiff of it every once in a while and sometimes in front of cages that you don’t expect, you would think they would be dingy places but they turned out to be very nice cafes with people smiling and blood shot eyes which looked hilarious. Then there were the stores they were right on the main street, I thought it was a jewelry shop only into turned out to be designer store which sold drugs, it was hilarious they had so many different names and presented in nice lighting.

It reached a point where I had to double check if I was buying a normal muffin or if it was laced with something, maybe just a little bit too paranoid but I didn’t want to eat something I shouldn’t. Then of course there is the red light district that you could see a mile away. They are open about their rules and regulations about where these places are, and you can see people walking around. As expected the Dutch don’t care too much for these entertainment drugs as much as people would think, its mostly tourists who are smoked up and chilling in the cafes.

It is a very interesting city and there is a lot to it that I didn’t have a chance to see, and I really loved their highways, people were speeding normally and the police weren’t harrassing them. Turns out in Holland the policy is very anti police, so they aren’t as abusive as police officers in the US who have a lot of power so people seem to be more relaxed around them and speed a little. And I want to rent a scooter next time around and zip around town.

(Check Out The Pictures Below! There are ALOT)
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This has been one very hectic week with a lot going on with work, family, and other activities. Recently I had to take a quick trip to Amsterdam which is the first time for me. There was an urgent meeting that I had to attend and so we took off a few days later after confirming our meeting. I didn’t know what to expect from Holland but I was looking forward to it.

Traveling for work doesn’t always gives you the chance to look around much. But for a frist time visit I am sure I am going to repeat it as I have found the Dutch to be very nice and always helpful when I open a map and have no clue where I am. I haven’t seen so many scooters and bicycles in my life, it was -1 outside and everyone was on a bicycle or scooter, and I was wrapped up in as much clothing as I had but I loved walking outside in the cold. This city just felt so cozy walking around, we literally walked around for over 5 hours in every direction getting lost and find our way, I have a lot of posts coming up but when I sort out the pictures since I took a lot of pictures.

New Years is around the corner and its not really hitting me because I have a lot of work to do I’m trying to make sure that I get it all done. So it doesn’t feel like a huge vacation to me, but a lot of people took time off during this time and are making the best of it. To my surprise everyone is heading to one of two directions, UAE or Beirut, and the flights are packed. The schedule for Christmas & New Years is crazy there are so many flights and they are still fully booked on most flights in each day. Beirut is booked up to 105% and Dubai is booked up to 100%, the occupancy rate on these places have gone through the roof. And the thing that Beirut and Dubai are doing is that they have a minimum 4 Day booking for New Years, so you can’t just come and go stay a night and come back. Its these crappy marketing ploy that they kept pulling in Dubai back a few years ago that drove me nuts.

Bierut

• 5 MEA Flights
• 2 Kuwait Airways Flights
• 2 Jazeera Flights

Total: 9 Flights

UAE

• 4 Emirates Flights
• 2 Jazeera
• 2 Kuwait Airways
• 5 Fly Dubai
• 3 Etihad
• 2 Air Arabia

Total: 18 Flights

While in NYC I wanted to get a shave and a quick hair cut, my problem is that I have gotten used to how they shave in Kuwait. With a single blade and they do it very well, honestly I haven’t found very many places that know how to shave your beard and give you that cut that the barbers in Kuwait do. Well I have known about The Art Of Shaving for a very long time and some of those stores have barber shops, not all of them do. It started off as a mom and pop business that grew to several locations across the US and was bought out by Proctor and Gamble who spread it all across the US and with them barbershops.

It has this old Gentlemen’s club feel to it and they have some fantastic products, especially their aftershaves which put out the fire on my skin after a shave. I shaved here once in February and the Barber was Puerto Rican and his name was Azreal, so I called and the guy was there. To say that he was an Artist with the a single shaving blade is an understatement, this guy was good, he was so good that I really enjoyed the shave and booked to come back a week later. For me its a pleasure to get a shave, you lay down, close your eyes get a warm towel and you get rid of that very annoying itch on your neck and cheek. He used the shaving cream and oils from the line of products that I like, and I always end up getting a few things from them on the way to take back to Kuwait with me.

They call their Barbershop the Barber Spa, and it deserves to because these guys are really good and talented. If you are ever in New York stop by the Art Of Shaving on 520 Madison Avenue, best place for a man to get a cut and shave. And I always want to buy some of their blades even though I rarely shave at home, still they have some great products which I use with my barber in Kuwait.

You always hear about the A380 and the double decker plane from Airbus and how many Emirates Airlines ordered from them. Recently I had a chance to fly on one from New York City to Dubai. I heard some conflicting reviews about it so I wasn’t sure what to expect but my expectations were not high. Usually I like flying on the Boeing 777 LR as they are comfortable planes with a very good configuration and long range for for those DXB to US trips.

Now for the first time on the plane I was impressed, it felt like I was going into a building, the thing is huge, no joke, it fits a lot of people. The Average plane fits between 180 to 250 passengers on long haul flights but the Emirates A380 can handle 644 Passengers which is an insane amount 143 of those passengers were in business class which I was a part of. You walk in you can feel that it was a bit cramped but also cozy at the same time, the seats were comfortable and go completely flat. It was a 13 hour flight that got a bit interesting because of a technical delay but the staff managed to keep people happy and we made our connection at the end. Overall there were a lot of short comings that would make me not want to get on an A380 again, it was an experience that I would not like to repeat.

My Overall Opinion:

• You are handling over 644 passengers and business class which is usually 40 seats increased to more then threefold to 143 passengers, and they didn’t increase the staff in the same capacity.
• You don’t get that personal touch that you expect in business class, its still there in first but it feels like you are just part of the cargo in business.
• Asking for a glass of water took 25 to 40 mins when usually it takes them 5 to 10 mins max.
• Overall the experience wasn’t that good, the price for A380 is even a bit more expensive then a normal plane yet you don’t get that extra service.
• Basically you are paying for Business Class seats with economy service, you really get lost with the crowd.
• The Entertainment system in Emirates is excellent as usual, that isn’t even under question and I hope they keep it up.
• The bathroom was another design disaster, usual business class is 2 to 3 bathrooms for 40 to 50 passengers, and in this case it was 4 bathrooms with two that the air staff closed so basically two bathrooms for 143 so initially it was 35 to 1 bathroom but in this case it ended up to be 71 to bathroom which you can imagine was a nightmare.
• All of this was just one thing to take into consideration, when you land into any country with 643 passengers the lines at passport control and customs is a huge disaster, even when passengers from First & Business Disembark from the different walkway then Economy we all end up together outside which is a huge amount of people and the number of bags is a also humungous. Basically its as if you are dealing with three planes landing at the same time.

The A380 may have been a success for Airbus with Airlines but it isn’t an experience I would want to repeat to anyone or one that I think is a success for individuals. As a business case its fantastic for airlines, basically packing more people in and the whole plane was full so they will be making more money, for now I’m going to stay away from any flights on that plane and I will try my luck with the Boeing Dreamliner. Boeing may have been very late with the 787 Dreamliner but that is one plane that I am looking forward to flying on. They designed it so it would be more spacious for the person riding and bigger room, more headspace, overall more spacious and more effecient way of flying. So they improved the flight experience of the travel unlike the A380.

Recently while traveling in Europe I wanted to see what options I had to get a data roaming packages and I always annoyed with overcharges. Looking around TEP Wireless seems to have the solution I needed, I wanted a Mifi type device that I could take with me wherever I am going and have internet the moment I land. They used the Huawei device for the connectivity which is standard use by telco companies.

What they are good for?

If you are traveling through multiple locations through Europe and need internet connectivity, they provide a good solution. Keep in mind that the service is based on the carrier such as Vodafone, Orange, or O2, not their own native network. If you want a smartphone when you travel you can also rent it from them but there are a few short comings which I will point out below. Overall for mobile network they did the job.

What they aren’t good for?

I was looking to get a chip for an iPad or iPhone, or a chip for BB service while roaming. They don’t provide this service which would have been very useful, they provide you a full smartphone or blackberry but not the sim card by itself, so with a Blackberry its useless, your groups and emails are synced to the device not the sim.

Overall:

For 75 GBP I had roaming internet at a very 2 to 6 MB speed which is very good, but when the cell service is bad you don’t get any connectivity. I had it working in a few remote locations which isn’t bad, and the device worked fine but after a few hours of being on it would hang so I would have to restart it every few hours but thats a problem with the device. I think its worth it if you are roaming a lot and need data connectivity, but if you are only based in the UK you have other options.

Being disconnected from internet when you have a lot of activities feels slightly strange. Its not that I was completely disconnected, just that I couldn’t really use the internet available very well since it worked at a snails pace. I tried using the internet at the hotel but it would time out a lot and take a lot of time to load normal items such as my email and very light browsing, I tried downloading an attachment but that took so long I had to cancel it.

I was lucky that I got a Vodafone UK Prepaid chip which works fantastic in Europe with Data, just top it up comfortably and even Data works while roaming in Europe in even remote locations but it wasn’t enough to go through my RSS feeds, but I could go through my emails and get on Twitter & GooglePlus. I am loving the Google Plus application on my Android, really streamlines it and gives you lots of options for uploading when roaming. Even the Vodafone UK Roaming chip is 100 times cheaper then Data Roaming on your Zain Chip and much better service and connectivity, I do wish that Zain Services improve until it reaches the levels of Vodafone, but doesn’t look like it any time soon. And before I had a problem with my RSS Feed being over 1000, but now that has gone way past 1000, I think its close to 12000 articles and it would take me at least 3 months to bring it down, and my problem is that I HATE using the “Mark All As Read” button.

Lebanon is known for its service, restaurants and night life, I probably haven’t seen any people with so full of life and wanting to party and go out 24/7 seriously, I for one can’t keep up with them. There is an after club for every club and then lounging in some beach type club the next morning, and always the best of service in any restaurant, and they love rebranding the same places every year and coming up with new concepts for the same place and keeping it fresh. I had some work and break trips to Lebanon over the past 6 months and had the chance to experience the hotels and their services thoroughly on many different aspects, and levels, from personal service to cost of room service. These are the four five star hotels that I had a lot of experience with and the ranking is from best to worst, from top to bottom in all the categories.

Below is the list of hotels by ranking and which one I prefer to stay in:

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome Hotel Beirut
• Phoenicia Beirut

Concierge Service: Le Gray out did everyone in every scale for level of concierge service, if you are willing to pay they can get you into any place and any reservation or anything you had in mind even in very short notice and keep following up with you which is fantastic, that is what made Le Gray the best of the list for me, what set it apart from the rest.

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

Hotel Interior: The Four Seasons Interior is very fresh, very much like the rest of the chain but from a touch of Lebanon

• Four Seasons
• Le Gray
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Rooms Size & Quality: Le Gray has rooms which are about 20 to 30 % bigger then Four Seasons but both have excellent quality

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Room Service: Le Gray and Four Seasons both had amazing food

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

Hotel Location: I like walking around and Le Gray had the easiest access to shops and restaurants around it without the need for a car.

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Cost: From Most to Least Expensive

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

The I DRAW CARS Sketchbook & Reference Guide is an indispensible tool for students, designers, hobbyists, artists and car enthusiasts. We’ve designed the ultimate car design field guide by pairing commonly used industry reference materials with a ubiquitous and iconic moleskine-style sketchbook.

I have always thought about being an vehicle designer or an industrial engineer, some one who gets to design those amazingly cool cars. Matt Marrocco and Adam Hubres are two designers/engineers who work in this industry and wanted to provide a book and tool that can help people develop this skill. I love that they have gone with the Moleskine look for this book and they have put a lot of effort into it, all the different perspectives and designs. I for one have zero skill in drawing even though I sketch a lot in my Moleskine so I pledged right away, I love that they have a sketch over section so I can improve my horrible skills and I would love to add this to my collection. If you like this sort of thing check out their website and then head over to Kickstarter to pledge for the book. I hope this is a first edition and they come up with other design books soon.

Link: IDRAWCARS
Link: Kickstarter

A little over a month ago I went to Canada and before that I had to apply for a Visa and to my surprise it takes a little while to get the Visa because you have to send it out of town. And they are very particular about all the details to make sure your Visa goes smoothly, and if there are any mistakes your back to square one and the timer resets back to zero.

Details:

• New Passport Pictures (They will check if its like your passport pics and if its more then 6 months old they will ask you to take new ones and send them, so take new ones when you want to apply)
• Give 3 weeks or 21 working days for you to get the Visa
• You pay a bank fee to process the Visa and send that form as well
• They ask for your 3 month Bank Statement
• The Visa processing center is in Abu Dhabi not in Kuwait

On another note they were very nice upon arrival, pretty much everyone in Canada was very nice during our visit and helpful. I got a lot of pictures I will be posting up at a later time, and when we were there it was during some Hockey games and they are intense about their Hockey.