I was stationed in Bahrain during the First Gulf War. When the war was over, we were allowed to go off-base to Manama, the capital city.

Bahrain is not a bad country for being in the Middle East, or at least, it wasn't bad then. Great restaurants, some beaches, scuba diving (but lots of sharks), horseback riding, a horse track with gambling (first-rate), and legal ALCOHOL (although very expensive). For shopping, a majority of the shopkeepers speak at least some english. Women can drive and don't have to wear a pillow case. Unfortunately, lots of fundamentalist trouble has been brewing there for years. I went to a military conference there in 96, and when we showed up, the other conferees were astonished that we drove a plainly military vehicle in military uniforms through downtown. They said we should have been warned that such a move would almost certainly bring us under attack.

Lots of expats live in Bahrain; mostly Brit, and they mostly work for ARAMCO, the oil company.

The other large Brit contingent is Flight Attendants. Women I knew in the military referred to the Gulf Air F/As as "Gulf Air Matresses." They had quite a reputation for sleeping with any wealthy Sheik. A new A-320 F/O wouldn't get such preferential treatment. They do tend to be very attractive, however.

Accomodations, at least on Bahrain, were first-class. I stayed once or twice at the Gulf Hotel on Air Force business, and ate in their restaurants; the hotel chain is (or at least, was) part of the Gulf Air op.

Gulf Air will probably always stay in business, as it is a matter of Arab "pride" to have an indigenous airline.

Gulf Air crashed an A-320 by flying a perfectly good airplane into the sea about 3 or 4 years ago at 250 kts. Spatial misorientation. Nether the Capt nor F/O was an expat. Other than that, I think they have a decent safety record.