To want to go to Abu Dhabi?

[ReturnoftheWhack]

Ok.

Here's the deal. A good friend of mine is living in Abu Dhabi teaching in a primary school and living on a western compound. She wants me to go and stay with her, I'd bloody love to. Thinking of three or four days in February.

Here's the sticking point.

DH is super scared by tales of terrorism, ISIS, threats etc. Currently doesn't want me to take kids to London due to perceived danger.

What are your experiences of Abu Dhabi? Do you consider it to be a dangerous place at the moment? Anyone got some facts I can throw at him?! This isn't a case of him not allowing me to go, I'll pay for myself out of my own money...he just worries, and that comes from a good place. How harsh would I be to just go anyway? To be honest, I'm desperate for a break. I've got two kids, 2 and 5, I work full time...the idea of a kid free few days is just blissful.

It's fine much prefer AD to Dubai, it's smaller and less pretentious. Safety really isn't an issue.

God I hate Dubai. People walking round with t

Fucking phone.
Women walking round with oversize handbags thinking they are celebs in LA. Get over it you are a bloody nursery teacher.

You will have a wonderful time, please ignore the naysayers whose experience of the UAE is gained from Google and an armchair.

A previous poster sums it up: UAE is tolerant, respectful and friendly. As a woman I can drive, work, go out alone and that is no issue. We respect each others belief, respect each others celebrations and my DC have friends from all over the world. The many Muslims, local and expat, are as horrified and against ISIS and terror attacks as everyone else.

Come and see for yourself!

Hysterical, now now, let's not turn against one another in the UAE! Dubai is a wonderful place. You must have been to the wrong places.... :)

The one thing I really dislike is the UAEs treatment of its labourers. The people that build the hotel's are treated so badly and work and live in such poor conditions.

I live between Dubai and AD. My husband works in Dubai and I am next door. We divide our time up pretty well although he is a school principal so he is only at work through thirds of the year. I find Dubai tedious because of the expats. I miss Doha. That's my favourite place to live.

I work in construction as a safety inspector and it's true. It's not the locals it's the bastard middle managers who refuse to adapt their treatment of people outside of India where human life holds no value. I am proud we recently sent a supervisor to prison for refusing to allow his workers any PPE, even gloves when they were working in a high risk area. There was a store full of supplies, he just shrugged and said no need. He was genuinely puzzled as to why we would give a shit about a group of young Nepali labourers. I think the message will slowly start to get out there.

It's a horrible soulless place, I went to visit friends a couple of years ago, my they turned into the bees knees overnight. Plus the way people from africa or subcontinent get treated us dreadful. Plus most of it looks like a building site. BUT it's an interesting place to go in terms of opening your eyes politically.I'm glad I went but it's not somewhere I'd ever ever go back to. No culture, just miles of glittering glass.

I feel like that about London. I hate it. Full of twats who think they're trendy and tourists. It tries so hard to be cool when it's really just an expensive, dirty tourist trap with a very high risk of being caught up in a major attack. It's horses for courses.

To add, there's no way I could work in the UK at the level I do because I'm a woman. It's not a pleasant or safe job when you are surrounded by stupid, sexist baying men who pretty much break the law everytime they speak. I was at a project meeting last week in London and the two construction managers were sharing rape jokes to try and piss me off. Idiots. I never, ever get that here.

I'm another one living in Abu Dhabi (ish - AlAin) going WTF :)

Hysterical, when did you move from Doha? We were there for ten years until earlier this year and I certainly do not miss it. It was a fantastic place in the beginning but has really gone downhill over the last four years or so. So many long termers have left with the job losses recently as well.

I'm with you on dislike of Dubai though. I could probably cope with my Abu Dhabi but I like still living in a place where you remark on seeing a Ferrari on the street.

I fully shifted 2 years ago. Was 10 years as well. I don't miss the roads though. I reckon I must have spent a year of my life queuing at al Saad.

Just seen your username. I also miss Zikreet beach..we used to walk the dogs there every Friday

I live in Dubai.
Just 90 minutes up the road from AD.
Go. Its safer here in the UAE than it is at home.

I live in London were there is always a high risk of being caught up in a terrorist attack but I have to go to work and live so I take my chances. I can understand people who are reticent to visit London. When choosing a holiday you are not obligated to go to a particular part of the world there is no consequence for simply deciding not to go unlike your workplace. Even though I live in London I would not contemplate visiting most of the Middle East because i've, to me, many lesser risk countries in the world to holiday in

What's your husbands position on bees and wasps??? Given that he's just as likely to die of an insect sting as he is of terrorism in the uk then he must be petrified come summer time.

Fear of terrorism in the uk is irrational, it happens but it's so rare that when it does it makes the papers for weeks and feeds the impression that there are beardy weirdies in exploding vests everywhere.

Obviously travelling to the UAE does increase the risk a bit but if you are going to live your life in fear then bear in mind you only have one and you're going to spoil it.

Go and have a great time and tell the giant chicken you're married to that he should think about relative risk. Sitting in the house worrying about terrorism is definitely more likely to kill him than actual terrorists are.

Thank you all so much! Really useful thread.

Hysterical, I'm really sorry if I offended you by saying western compound. That's how my friend describes it, in that the building is mainly westerners. It has its own security etc, I though I would mention it in case it was relevant in terms of safety as to if it was safe.

Thank you all for your input.

Sorry I didn't mean to be so aggressive. I do think he sounds a bit silly though. Anyway, there's a few of us out here you are in touch with now, if you do run into trouble you can message us!

Hysterical - I'm sure we will have met at some point then - there aren't that many people who were in Doha over that timeframe (although your job is unusual and not ringing any bells!) :) I miss the sea in general being in Al Ain but I really miss camping at Zikreet. That said, sand dunes and baby camels (well they're decidedly teenage camels now) on the school run makes up for it a bit. I do love hearing people complaining how high Qatar school fees are though! I don't miss the pollution - the air's so much cleaner here and the traffic speaks for itself. 2015 was a really hard year in Doha. I'd say 80% of our friends left - either made redundant or moving on before they were made redundant (and a few just because the right opportunity came up). The same has been happening here a bit but not to anywhere near the same extent.

OP - seriously, we went to France on holiday this year and I did have a brief discussion about the terrorism risk with DH. Generally the UAE is a far lower terrorism risk than most places in the western world and I have never spoken to anyone with the smallest amount of sympathy for ISIS. Those people exist of course but they're a tiny minority. Racism is endemic but it's everyone not just the locals. The joke goes "what's the difference between an expat and a racist? Two weeks in the gulf."

There are still safe places in the Middle East, I lived in Jordan while ISIS were in the next country and felt safe. Some countries have brilliant armies and security and any infiltrating threat is dealt with. I have a friend who works in Iraq and has never had any trouble. I think the media trys to make us believe it's one big hellhole.. I've often read the line "We should just blow the whole thing up!" when there are millions of people living normal, unaffected lives there.

great answers here from someone who has never been to AD and is enjoying the chat from insiders!

go, op and have a great time.

that meant I've never been to AD but am enjoying finding out about it from this thread {just in case my above post made no sense!!}

Oh he is the silliest goat going. I try to be annoyed but it comes from a good place.

I'm sure we will have met. I was in Glow once and the lady next to me was talking about how she had left London after her husband had an affair and went into great detail about his job, the OW etc. I'm sorry to say the OW was my sister. It's such a small world. I have met so many people in Herefordshire who I didn't know but recognised from Marks and Spencer or school events!