2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 13: Qatar to Kuwait

Here we go… another day living in luxury. We got dropped off at the airport around 10am for our 1:30pm flight to Kuwait. We have finally discovered the best way to avoid all the hassle of traveling; just fly first class. We checked all our equipment and baggage without a problem (this was definitely the first place that didn’t even seem concerned/overwhelmed that we were there); from there they escorted us to the “first class terminal”. We had our own terminal to hang out in until the plane boarded.

This terminal was unbelievable. Whatever you wanted they had it and it was free. You want to take a nap? No problem, there’s plenty of beds in the “relaxation room”. Hungry? Ok, there’s a full gourmet buffet with beef medallions, sushi, shrimp, etc… Need a massage? That’s no problem either; the spa is over there complete with a hot tub. This whole place was crazy and it was also pretty evident that all of our incomes combined don’t equal the next lowest person’s in there.

We had a blast just soaking it all in and talking with all the people helping us out and waiting on us. They probably don’t see too many bands from America so we signed some CDs and took some pictures with them too.

We didn’t want to leave but since we were flying first class the plane wasn’t even that much worse. They drove us in a private bus from the terminal to the plane where we again got the royal treatment. Unfortunately, again it was a quick 1-hour flight before we landed in Kuwait.

We were met at the airport by Sam and Travis, our MWR Contacts, and a slew of other people including armed security. We got through customs easily and were off to the base. This was our first experience of driving in Kuwait and it sure was an exciting one. We had a convoy of 4 or 5 GMC SUVs all driving real fast and all being just a few feet away from each other. Anytime we turned or merged into traffic a security vehicle would block traffic and then speed up to catch us again. It was quite surreal.

We have seen lots of bad drivers on this trip. Starting in Bahrain where everyone drove hanging outside of their vehicle, to Djibouti where they just drive wherever the hell they want to, Qatar, where they just drive stupid, and finally in Kuwait, put all those other bad habits together and then increase the speed by about 75 mph. This place the drivers are insane. There are cars all over the side of the road and you can’t go 20 feet without seeing a guardrail that’s been destroyed.

At one point on the trip a Cadillac Escalade going 100+ mph tried to merge into our motorcade as we were getting onto an off ramp. The drivers didn’t budge and came within inches of a collision at atleast 100 mph. They made it through the turn before security took off after the other car going at least 120/130mph. We don’t think anything happened to them but we’re pretty sure our security scared the hell out of them.

This is our first experience with armed security, motorcades, and Kuwaiti traffic but so far it is awesome!

We got to the base around 5pm, took a quick tour, checked into our new “hotel” and had the rest of the day off to relax. Some of us went to a movie, some passed out, some called home, etc… it was nice to have a few hours to do whatever we wanted to. That has been extremely rare on this trip.

Loading up the gear again.....

First Class!!!!

This is the first class lounge with free everything...

The restaurant.... 

Amazing food

A fruit tray.... we know there was melon, dragon fruit, and strawberries. Other than that your guess is as good as ours.

What kind of airport has a spa/hot tub in it?

This is one of the many guys that got us anything we asked for. They were very nice and fun to talk to. It seemed like they didn't get too many people in there that looked or acted like us. They thought we were hilarious.

Onboard the private bus taking us from the terminal to the plane.

We'll get more (better) pictures and videos of the "motorcade" up soon but this is a taste. There is no zoom on this picture and we are going very fast. It really is cool.