I'm waiting for my departing flight and have realized Kuwait as a tourist destination has a lot of work to do before it's ready for tourist. I spent four days here the issues started right away. First off, I had to get a visa on arrival. That seems to be the case with anyone coming from any country that is not part of the Arabian Peninsula. The visa is free for US citizens, it's just a lot of waiting to get it. I tried to get it online before I left but couldn't. It looks like it wouldn't have mattered though because the process is the same for everyone. You get a lot of conflicting information from everyone in Kuwait.
After getting the visa, I then went to pick up my rental car. I rented from Hertz and it looks like all the companies follow the same procedure. They first charge you a mandatory drivers license insurance. That is how it was described to me. It's a flat price for rentals less than 15 days. It goes up after that. The price is about $50. I declined all of the other insurance since I'm covered with my credit card. They wouldn't let me decline the insurance for damage to the car. They said it was mandatory. When I told them I had it through my credit card, they thought I meant my insurance back in the US. I showed them it was from my credit card for Kuwait and they said they never heard of it before. When I was leaving the airport with the car, I had to pay the airport parking fee. Rental car companies don't cover that here which was a first for me.
Kuwait has several museums but they are not reliable. I went to the main Kuwait museum which is quite large. When I got there, the whole museum was empty. No employees either. I could walk in and walk all around the museum but all of the exhibits were gone. I met a guy from Australia as I was leaving who was just getting to the museum. We compared notes and he told me about all of the other places he visited that were closed despite the sign and Google maps saying they were open. We decided to go to another museum together since I had a car and he was walking everywhere. When we arrived, that museum was closed as well. I went to a few other places that day with all of them being closed. The next day, I went back to a few places I had been previously to see if they were open. Some were, some weren't. The two I was finally able to visit, one had no information to what I was looking at and the other was the Kuwait Oil Company. They give guided tours and the museum is really good but since it's a guided tour, you are rushed and not able to read anything or play with the exhibits since they have a lot of hands on things to do.
The country as a whole will remind you of visiting India and not really a middle east country. It's very chaotic with no one following social norms. I was waiting in line at the grocery store to pay for my items when a bunch of guys rushed the register to pay for cigarettes. The cashier ignored me. When I told the cashier I was in line, he told me cigarette purchases come first. Driving is a lot like driving in India as well. The roads and infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired. You do not feel like you are in a rich Muslim country. In fact, you know the country is Muslim but they are not strict Muslim. I saw so many Christmas trees and heard way too much Christmas music. Some of the county feels like it really wants to be the next UAE but they have a long way to go.
Gas and grocery items are very cheap while everything else compares to the prices in the US. I filled my car up with gas from empty to full for $8. I bought a candy bar and a bottle of Sprite and the total was 93 cents. If you want to visit, I would definitely wait until they know how to handle tourists. If you like to visit a country before it becomes a tourist destination, then this is the country for you.