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Kuwait City, Kuwait

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Kuwait City, Kuwait

Recommended Things to Do:

Kuwait Towers – The Kuwait Towers have a magnificent observation deck where you will have an incredible view of the city.

Al Marsa Restaurant – Al Marsa is an Arabic restaurant with very good food.  Expect the full service – from dates at the beginning of the meal to hot tea and coffee at the end, you will enjoy the experience of having a traditional Arabic meal.

Souk  Al-Mubarakiya – You could spend a day at this local market soaking in the sights, sounds, and tastes of “the good old days” of Kuwait.  Inexpensive shopping and huge variety of things to explore and find.

My Adventure – My team and I arrived in Kuwait on a hot summer night.  The locals told us that it had cooled down recently and that 95-100 degrees in the middle of the night felt pleasant.  (That gave me mixed feelings about the 122 degrees that I felt the following afternoon!)

We were assigned a group of guys to make sure that we made it to each of our performances over the next few days.  I’m told that Kuwait is a very safe country, but after looking at the size of these guys it felt a great deal like we had been assigned a private security detail.

Famous highway sign in Kuwait.

Famous highway sign in Kuwait.

Over the next five days my team of entertainers and I performed several private shows at different locations in the country.  Our days were filled with meeting VIPs and entertaining them with sleight of hand and mind reading, and our evenings consisted of staging a 90-minute show of comedy magic, incredible mind reading, and interactive sleight-of-hand.  I’m happy to report that all of our shows were massive successes.

When you get a group of professional entertainers together, there is no doubt that we absolutely love entertaining audiences. The sounds of laughter, ‘oohhs and aahhs’, and loud applause fuel our engines, so I would definitely say that the shows were the highlights for us. However, we did have a day set aside for sightseeing, and we had a blast!

We started the day by visiting the Kuwaiti Towers, which gave us incredible views of the city.

We then made our way to the local mall.  This place was huge…absolutely huge.  We spent a couple of hours looking around and somehow I ended up inside every single watch store that I passed.  I decided it would be a great story if I bought a watch in Kuwait.  After marveling at Tags and Rolexes, I settled on a Fossil with a special travel kit.

Each member of our team had one or two things in mind that they wanted to do or purchase while we were in Kuwait.  That meant that our next stop was at a local market.  We were specifically looking for a new travel bag for Michael and some local coffee for Katalina.  We found plenty of both!

We finished our day off with an incredible meal at a restaurant called Al Marsa.  Part of the fun of travelling to different parts of the world is experiencing the local culture.  Al Marsa served us a vary tasty Arab meal with far more than we could ever eat in one sitting.  And somehow, I ended up at a table of locals performing a few of my favorite sleight of hand pieces!

Our trip to Kuwait was a blast.  Every time I leave the States and visit another country two things happen: my mind is opened up to experience other cultures and appreciate them, and I am reminded just how fortunate I am to call the United States of America my home.

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I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book. I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!

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    Arba Minch, Ethiopia

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    Arba Minch, Ethiopia

    Introduction - Since the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped virtually all international travel, I’m remembering and reporting on some wonderful memories of trips and adventures I’ve taken over the years. This one is from 2015.

    My Adventure - Air travel is always more interesting when you fly in on a small plane. Even if there is nothing in particularly memorable about the flight, the fact that you are in a commercial airplane that has propellers makes you think twice about where the heck you’re going.

    After flying in from Addis Ababa, Stephen Bargatze and I were met by our hosts at the airport. We traveled through the city of Arba Minch to an absolutely beautiful resort where we were staying and performing two shows.

    Read the entire article here.

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    Baghdad, Iraq

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    Baghdad, Iraq

    Have you ever flown in a helicopter under the cover of darkness and known that somewhere beneath you in all the lights there are people who wish you harm? I have. Let me tell you all about it…

    From time to time I volunteer my time and services to the U.S. armed forces. I look at it as my way to give back to the brave men and women who give so selflessly so that I can live safely in this great country. That takes me to different places in the world to entertain the men and women of our military and give them a taste of home. On one of my trips I found myself in Baghdad, Iraq.

    Read the full article here.

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    Frankfurt, Germany

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    Frankfurt, Germany

    Recommended Things To Do:

    Entertain the security officials!

    My Adventure - Ok, let me be totally upfront.  My time in Frankfurt wasn’t really an adventure, but it was very indicative of international travel and some of the crazy (and funny) stuff that can happen to you.

    I actually saw Frankfurt twice, but both times were so brief it wasn’t even like being there.  The first time was because I had to transfer from my flight from Kosovo to the plane that was going to London.  The second time was because I was leaving after my eleven city tour of Europe was over and headed back to the United States.  Frankfurt was the departure point.  I’m going to share with you about the first time I dropped in.

    We woke up early that morning, around 3:30 am.  We had to catch a 6:00 am flight and we were an hour away from the Pristina airport in Kosovo.  After a crazy cab ride that felt like the Daytona 500 we made our flight to Frankfurt.

    Immediately after landing we taxied to our spot on the runway and I was immediately irritated.  Sometimes when you fly on international flights you step off the flight, walk down a set of stairs, step directly onto the runway, then get on a large bus so they can drive you to the terminal.

    Walking onto the runway so we could get on a bus was novel the first few times I did it, but now it gets on my nerves.  I’ve flown so often in this business that I am easily annoyed when I have to travel.  And stopping on the runway just adds in a bunch of unnecessary steps that tick me off.  In the United States, I have only stepped onto the runway to get on a plane in the rarest of circumstances.  It usually only happens if you are getting on a very small plane and going somewhere that has a very small airport.

    So, I’m immediately annoyed.  Then the bus drives around and under the Frankfurt airport for at least ten minutes just so we can get to customs and get our bags.  Annoyance number two.

    Annoyance number three happened when we got through customs, picked up our bags , and realized that we were going to have to go through airport security again (!) in order to board our flight to London.

    After another super enjoyable wait in another long line (is that sarcasm I detect?), Kevin, Bart and I  finally make it to the checkpoint to go through the body scanners and have our bags x-ray’ed.  Kevin goes first and Kevin is told that they are going to have to manually inspect his bag.  I go second and am told they are going to have to manually inspect my bag.  Bart goes last and is told they are going to have to manually inspect his bag.  We’re batting three for three.

    At this point in the process all of my annoyances are starting to get humorous to me.  Kevin, Bart, and I were all standing in a single file line as the happiest airport security agent I’ve ever seen starts to go through our bags.  He starts with Kevin’s.

    “Sir, do you have any liquids in the bag?” he asks.  “Liquids? No. No liquids.” says Kevin.  Five seconds later the security guy holds up a large clear plastic container of shampoo/soap.  As he is lifting it in the air, he smiles and, in the most amused sounding German accented English, asks, “What is this?  What is this?”

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    That’s when I said, “Yeah Kevin, what is that?”  I thought Kevin was going to poop himself.  He looked shocked.  He stammered and muttered something about that not being his normal travel bag as the security agent told him that he would have to throw the container of shampoo away.

    I was up next.  The super happy security agent opened my bag and started going through all my stuff.  What I haven’t explained to you, dear reader, was that my entire show was packed in this carry on bag.  So, this guy is taking out all sorts of interesting props.  He’s looking at all of them until his curiosity finally gets the best of him and he finally asks, “What do you do?”

    I’ll be honest with you.  I had rehearsed my answer to this question.  I was fully prepared to tell anyone who asked that I was a comedian there to do some shows.  Why tell them I’m a comedian, you ask?  Because of what happened next.

    Instead of telling the guy that I’m a comedian, I tell him the truth…that I’m a magician.  He very excitedly asks, “You do magic?  You do magic?”  I said, “Yep.”  And he said, “You do magic for me!”  I looked at the crazy long line of people behind him that I had just been standing in a few minutes before and ask, “Right now?”  And he said, “Yes!  Right now!”

    So I did.  I took out a deck of cards and proceeded to do a card trick for this guy while I’m sure that the people standing in line who could see what I was doing were wondering why the security agent was watching a card trick while they were waiting to get through airport security.

    At the climax of the trick, the guy almost squealed he was so happy.  Then he looked at me and said, “This is why I love my job!  I get to meet so many interesting people!”  That did it for me.  Any frustration that I had from that day’s travel was instantly gone.

    The truth is, that’s the exact reason I do magic…to give people a wonderful moment in their day.  I never know when I’m going to be given the opportunity to be a much needed bright spot in someone’s day.  It was nice to be reminded of that.

    That got me through security.  Bart was the only one left.  And after a few minutes of security guards asking him why he had so much electronics in his bag (for the show) we all got through the Frankfurt airport security and made our flight to London.

    LEARN MY POWERFUL LIVE B-I-G SYSTEM FOR FREE!

    I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.

    I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!

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      Comayagua, Honduras

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      Comayagua, Honduras

      We touched down in one of the top five most dangerous airports in the world – Toncontin International in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

      My team and I met our point of contact right outside of customs and were whisked away on a ninety minute drive to Soto Cano military base right outside of Comayagua, where we were scheduled to perform a show for the men and women deployed there.

      While on our drive, our host Steve, told us that the reason the airport is so dangerous is because of its really short runway. The runway is situated right after you fly over a mountain range. Basically, you have to drop straight in to land…

      To read the full article and watch the video, click here.

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      Djibouti, Djibouti

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      Djibouti, Djibouti

      Djibouti, Djibouti (2015) - No, that’s not a typo. Stephen Bargatze (my friend and fellow entertainer on this tour) and I flew in to Djibouti, Djibouti (city and country). Yep, the Djibouti in Africa. The crazy hot Djibouti in the middle of August. That’s the same Djibouti that is really comfortable at 5:30 in the morning when we landed and which scorched us at around 118 degrees by the afternoon.

      What the heck was I doing in Djibouti, you ask? Take a guess. Yep, doing some shows. Woohoo! I get to go to the most interesting places. I don’t lack for adventures, that’s for sure!

      Click here to read the full adventure!

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      Thule, Greenland

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      Thule, Greenland

      My Thule, Greenland Adventure – It’s 2:00 am and the plane I am sitting on is taxiing out to the runway to take off. Suddenly I hear a voice behind me firmly say, “Sir, sit down. Sir, you have to sit down!”

      I’m often surprised by the stupid things that people do on airplanes, so I don’t think too much about it. It’s only a few minutes later when one of the flight attendants makes an announcement over the intercom that one of our fellow passengers has gotten ill and we have to return to the terminal so the flight attendants can sanitize the cabin.

      This is what we look like at 2 a.m. after having to disembark the plane and wait.

      “Really?” I think to myself. I had seen and heard a very rowdy group of passengers drinking and partying pretty hard in the bar right next to our gate earlier that night. As it turns out, the party was a little too intense for this one guy and he has now gotten sick all over himself and delayed our flight to Greenland. Oh fun!

      Click here to read and enjoy the entire Thule adventure.

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      Magic in a Wine Cellar

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      Magic in a Wine Cellar

      On my 2018 European tour I made some memories that I’ll never forget. One of those was on a day that my team (Jessica Jane Peterson and Ben Young) and I had off in Portugal. We were asked if we had any interest in going on a wine tasting and we emphatically said, “YES!” I had never been on a wine tasting before and doing my first one in Portugal was an opportunity that I wasn’t going to miss!

      This tasting was really special because we did the tasting in a special tasting room and then we were served an incredible Portuguese meal that had specific wines paired to the foods. The food was scrumptious and the wine exquisite…

      Click here to finish the story of the adventure and to watch the video of the insane card trick that I performed for our hosts.

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      Book Excerpt - The School Play

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      Book Excerpt - The School Play

      I like to talk a lot about doing the impossible. You might say I’m obsessed with it. From magic tricks that appear to be impossible, to overcoming barriers that seem to be - the subject just speaks to me.

      In today’s blog article, I wanted to share an excerpt from my book You Can Do the Impossible, Too! where I do something that others thought might not be possible for me to accomplish.

      My hope, by sharing this, is that you might see yourself in this story. And if you don’t see yourself exactly, maybe the story will speak to that part of your soul that needs to hear it - because I firmly believe that you can do the things that feel impossible in your life, too…

      Click here to read the full article.

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      With Thanks and Gratitude

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      With Thanks and Gratitude

      Several years ago I got a phone call from my agent. He asked me if I had any interest in performing some shows for the military. My heart rate sped up as I answered, “Yes! I’ve wanted to share my magic with the men and women of the United States military for years.”

      After chatting with him for a few minutes about what those shows would look like, I hung up the phone, not sure if anything would come of our conversation.

      You see, my interest in performing these types of shows came to me from a very honest, organic place. Growing up as a child, into my teenage years, through my college years, and then into adulthood, my Grandfather on my Mom’s side was someone I had a very special bond with.

      As I look back…

      Click here to read the entire article.

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