January 26: Kuwait
The last day of our trip was a post-cruise day in
Kuwait City, the capital of
Kuwait. To get there, we had a morning flight on FlyDubai.
 |
| At the Dubai airport--a Big Mac meal is about $10.00 |
 |
| Part of the FlyDubai fleet |
 |
| Terminal 3 at Dubai Airport, the 3rd largest building (by floor area) in the world |
 |
| Flying into Kuwait City |
 |
| Another aerial view of Kuwait City |
When we arrived in Kuwait, it was raining, albeit very lightly, We discovered that FlyDubai uses the (very nice) general aviation terminal at Kuwait airport. This meant that there were no taxis available, and we wound up taking a limo, which cost about 3 times what a taxi would have.
 |
| General aviation terminal at Kuwait Airport |
We stayed at the Grand Majestic Hotel, which occupied the top 10 floors of a building in Kuwait City. While not entirely majestic, it was still very nice.
 |
| Our grand, if not majestic, room |
Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world, but Kuwait City was not as spectacular as Dubai or Doha.
 |
| View from our hotel room |
 |
| Another view from the hotel |
Since we only had part of one day in Kuwait, we immediately ventured out to walk the streets of Kuwait City. Among other things, we discovered that Kuwait was more conservative than the UAE or Qatar. Alcohol (not that we needed it) was unavailable anywhere, even in our hotel. We also discovered that Kuwait has virtually no tourism. We actually tried to book a day tour of Kuwait city, but there were no tours available.
 |
| The street outside our hotel |
 |
| A little further down the street |
 |
| Liberation Tower, which symbolizes Kuwait's liberation from Iraq. |
 |
| A few impressive buildings in downtown Kuwait City |
 |
| The Grand Mosque |
 |
| Sief Palace (where the emir lives) |
 |
| An impressive skyscraper, near the mosque |
 |
| Apartment buildings and a gas station |
We continued walking toward the Kuwait Towers, a major tourist attraction (if there were tourists).
 |
| Along Arabian Gulf Street |
Unfortunately, after about an hour of walking, we still hadn't found the Kuwait Towers. If we had, they would look like the picture below.
Having given up on the Towers, we took a taxi back to the hotel.
 |
| Nighttime view from the hotel |
January 27-28: London, and home
The next day, we flew to London, where we overnighted near Heathrow Airport.
 |
| Departing Kuwait city |
 |
| The desert, just outside Kuwait City |
 |
| A British town near Heathrow |
 |
| Miami, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York and Raleigh-Durham(!) |
