24 Times Beirut Made You Feel Broke AF

Beirut is paradise indeed, and was once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East. Well, this name certainly remains but in other ways – the ridiculous price of just about everything. It’s not just you, it’s us too, so let’s hold hands and cry about it together.

1. Walking half the distance so your trip will be one service instead of servicein.

2. Getting caught at the door of a resort smuggling a bottle of water in, because you really didn’t want to pay that 5,000 LL.

3. Smoking Cedars cigarettes and acting like you care about promoting national products.

4. Walking for 10-minutes to the nearest dikkeneh instead of paying 2,000 LL extra for cigarettes at a bar.

5. Drenching your hair in beer/lemon juice/oxygen peroxide so you don’t have to pay for your highlights. Then dealing with being an awkward carrot top for the rest of time.

6. Forcing yourself to down four Pepsis because you paid for the refills so you may as well have them.

7. Ordering a water at a cafe and promptly asking for the WiFi password.

8. That time of the month when you transition from Starbucks lattes to the dekkaneh’s Nescafe.

9. Parking your car on the corniche and walking to Zeituna Bay because who needs 10,000 LL parking?

10. Ordering a Long Island Iced Tea so you get fucked up and only need one drink.

11. Pretending like you want to make use of public space with your friends and meeting them for a walk on the corniche, when really you’re just looking for something free to do.

12. Slightly panicking and checking your bank account when your over-excited friend starts ordering appetizers for the table.

13. Taking your bottle of water home because it’s the 8,000 beach water.

14. Being the only person dancing at Decks at 9 PM so you avoid that door charge.

15. Waking up at the crack of dawn when you hear you can get into a beach for free before 10 AM (ladies only, sorry guys).

16. Yelling at the waiter to stop refilling your waters, nobody needs 60,000 LL worth of water. WE ORDERED ONE.

17. Snacking on hella free nuts/carrots at bars instead of ordering an appetizer.

18. Putting off doing blood tests for 4-years because they cost 200,000 LL.

19. Finding out that drink you ordered was the only one excluded from happy hour. And getting really upset.

20. Stealing cable tv even though it’s like, 10,000 LL.

21. Pre-drinking? More like pre-eating before you go out to dinner.

22. Friday nights at A7la 3alam/Abdo.

23. Feeling furious when your bank charges you $5 for withdrawing YOUR OWN CASH.

24. Being one of those people drinking beer on the sidewalks outside of Radio Beirut.