Page 3 | Would you go to the UAE?

Sleepdeprivedbadger23 · 2025-08-14T15:57:41+00:00

I’ve always had zero interest in a holiday in Dubai because it’s not my scene - I am more a European villa or active holiday person and not into designer gear so politely nod along if friends tell me about their Dubai holidays. I also know the human and women’s rights etc are generally very poor. I’ve heard from relatives who have lived there for periods and they also found migrant workers in the hotels they were working in were treated really badly. My in laws have now moved there. I’m not keen on visiting, but obviously DP wants to see his family. Would you go for a visit to family? There’s lots of places I would rather not spend loads of time in (the US at the moment to be honest!) but if someone bought me a trip to NYC I would probably go…!

kim204 · 15/08/2025 08:47

Charlthg · 15/08/2025 08:19

It’s always hilarious to see little islanders on an increasingly poor and irrelevant corner of the world taking the moral high ground over somewhere their own country folk are flocking to make new lives.

There is some kind of astonishing superiority complex in this country where people cannot afford heating in the winter, air con in the summer, pay taxes through the nose for almost nothing in return, get locked up for saying the wrong thing, forced to say that men can be women, and actual women’s safety being compromised in the name of diversity and ‘be kind’.

The UAE at least looks after its own. And doesn’t screw them over.

Mate, you just sound like a twat. Ironic to refer to people as 'little islanders' and then say they're the ones with a superiority complex, no?

HelplessSoul · 15/08/2025 08:48

Sleepdeprivedbadger23 · 15/08/2025 08:39

I can’t say I agree with any of this, and have a close family member who’s recently had the all clear from bowel cancer after a gruelling but exceptional treatment by the NHS.

Do you really think the UAE would help someone heat their home (or rather, AC their home!) if they were unemployed, or on a low income? There is no welfare state.

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Thats exactly why the UAE is far more successful than the woke-n-broke UK.

They dont pander to all this welfare state shit other than for their nationals.

Like it or not, its a far better, cleaner, safer and more prosperous country than this place.

TheGrimSmile · 15/08/2025 08:50

Not even if you paid me.

TheGrimSmile · 15/08/2025 08:52

HelplessSoul · 15/08/2025 08:48

Thats exactly why the UAE is far more successful than the woke-n-broke UK.

They dont pander to all this welfare state shit other than for their nationals.

Like it or not, its a far better, cleaner, safer and more prosperous country than this place.

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It's only successful if you are wealthy. And your selfish attitude sums the place up for me. But that's fine. Selfish fuckers love it there so it clears them away from the UK which is a positive in my eyes.

Judgejudysno1fan · 15/08/2025 08:57

Simonjt · 14/08/2025 16:59

No, my very existence is against the law and our children wouldn’t be considered our children.

Whose children are they considered to be, the children of the middle east?

Judgejudysno1fan · 15/08/2025 08:58

OwlBeThere · 14/08/2025 17:21

No. I wouldn’t spend time in a place that thinks my child shouldn’t exist.
and I think less of anyone who chooses to live there.

Can you elaborate, please

reversegear · 15/08/2025 08:59

Not to derail but the poor treatment and migrant worker situation is also a huge issue across large Asian city’s as well, Singapore is built on migrant workers from Bangladesh. So Dubai has its issues but these are relative to any newly formed city.

I’ve been once for a holiday during Ramadan and had a great time but to be fair it was a week!

I’d go to visit family for sure.

Charel2girl5 · 15/08/2025 09:00

I lived there and was happy but we had a good lifestyle because of my husbands job. Generally people who were employed by international companies were paid and treated well but I was also aware of those who worked fourteen hour days and slept in tents in the desert (freezing at night). They usually worked for other Asian countries and not necessarily emeraties.
I socialized a lot with Arab men from all over the ME due to the endless drinks and dinner culture there but I have to say I found most men that I met were very respectful and friendly. Sometimes I think we have a very narrow view of the culture there.
Go for it and enjoy and ensure you go Ras Al-Khaimah which is a short drive and utterly stunning.

reversegear · 15/08/2025 09:00

@Charlthg you make a good point but the brits love nothing more than bashing wealth and things they don’t understand without spending some significant time in Dubai I wouldn’t judge.

Judgejudysno1fan · 15/08/2025 09:01

PurpleChrayn · 14/08/2025 22:28

I wouldn’t go.

People of my religion and nationality aren’t exactly adored there so it could actually be dangerous.

What's your religion and nationality, please

cheezncrackers · 15/08/2025 09:01

I'd go to see family, because I do go somewhere I don't particularly want to go to visit my ILs. I wish I didn't have to waste holiday going there tbh, but we all have to do things we don't particularly want to do from time to time!

DeafLeppard · 15/08/2025 09:03

The UAE is astroturfing pretty much any and all online forums…

Judgejudysno1fan · 15/08/2025 09:03

Probablyshouldntsay · 15/08/2025 07:44

No, I would like to see it with my own eyes but I’m a single, unmarried mum. My children don’t have the same surname as me. I’d be worried about what might happen if things went wrong

Funny enough, the Mother of Muslim children have a different surname to her husband and kids. In islam, you dont take your husbands surname. You keep your fathers surname.

thornbury · 15/08/2025 09:05

I've lived in the UAE since 2018 and holidayed here before that. I'm not a huge fan of Dubai and prefer Abu Dhabi. It's the cleanest, safest, friendliest place I've ever lived.

InterestedDad37 · 15/08/2025 09:13

I'd go to visit family (not that any are ever likely to move there!) but the idea of air-conditioned malls, casinos, etc and artificially-created environments is horrible - zero interest. Also, I'd bang on about human rights all the time and probably get myself arrested. So probably not a good idea 😀

Yuja · 15/08/2025 09:18

Yeah I’d go. I’m from SE Asia and migrants are treated just as badly - the whole place is build around their cheap labour and they have mimimal rights , but you don’t see people refusing to visit Singapore and Hong Kong - it’s only ever the UAE.

HelplessSoul · 15/08/2025 09:19

TheGrimSmile · 15/08/2025 08:52

It's only successful if you are wealthy. And your selfish attitude sums the place up for me. But that's fine. Selfish fuckers love it there so it clears them away from the UK which is a positive in my eyes.

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Successful if wealthy?

Proves you know fuck all about the UAE then. But please do, continue in your ignorance - highly entertaining. 😂

GlastoNinja · 15/08/2025 09:26

A few reasons for me, all based on feedback from people who have either lived or visited there (so not uninformed).

The focus on wealth and conspicuous consumption as a marker of success.

The way women are treated less favorably than men.

My child is gay, if they go they have to pretend that their husband is their brother. Not OK.

The treatment of less wealthy people and slavery.

Any one of these alone, make it a place which is not for me, the bottom two combined make it a place I will never visit on principle.

CoughCoughLaugh · 15/08/2025 09:38

Having lived there for a number of years and pass through for a few days on a regular basis I would go in a heartbeat to stay with family. The UAE is what you make of it. Yes, it most definitely has its downsides, but that is the same with every country in the world. If you look at our own Island with an outsiders eye, wouldn't you argue that it's a place you wouldn't want to travel to? It's dirty, poverty stricken and many systems, such as education and the NHS are broken. But there are many amazing and beautful things about the UK too if you bother to look outside the cities and propaganda. Yes, in the UAE, the malls are shiny, boastful and honestly, quite tedious, but if you make the effort to get to know the locals and go to non-touristy areas, it is naturally beautiful and quite interesting. The UAE is safer for women than the UK for one thing.

The UAE as a modern entity is really only about 50-odd years old. Yet look how far it has come from a few huts along a creek to a huge, modern metropolis. Yes, early on, lots of it was been built with a work force that was treated abominably. There are better laws in effect now to protect labourers. But you don't have to go too far back in most countries history to find much worse treatment of labourers. Laws and tolerance in the UAE are making much quicker progress than other countries ever did in 50 years from their inception.

But the problem is, many people just believe what they are told and hold the UAE up to standards they don't expect other countries to uphold just "because". They listen to outdated rumours and perpetuate them, assume the worst because it's culturally different and refuse to acknowledge that NOWHERE is without issues.

OneCoralCat · 15/08/2025 10:00

CoughCoughLaugh · 15/08/2025 09:38

Having lived there for a number of years and pass through for a few days on a regular basis I would go in a heartbeat to stay with family. The UAE is what you make of it. Yes, it most definitely has its downsides, but that is the same with every country in the world. If you look at our own Island with an outsiders eye, wouldn't you argue that it's a place you wouldn't want to travel to? It's dirty, poverty stricken and many systems, such as education and the NHS are broken. But there are many amazing and beautful things about the UK too if you bother to look outside the cities and propaganda. Yes, in the UAE, the malls are shiny, boastful and honestly, quite tedious, but if you make the effort to get to know the locals and go to non-touristy areas, it is naturally beautiful and quite interesting. The UAE is safer for women than the UK for one thing.

The UAE as a modern entity is really only about 50-odd years old. Yet look how far it has come from a few huts along a creek to a huge, modern metropolis. Yes, early on, lots of it was been built with a work force that was treated abominably. There are better laws in effect now to protect labourers. But you don't have to go too far back in most countries history to find much worse treatment of labourers. Laws and tolerance in the UAE are making much quicker progress than other countries ever did in 50 years from their inception.

But the problem is, many people just believe what they are told and hold the UAE up to standards they don't expect other countries to uphold just "because". They listen to outdated rumours and perpetuate them, assume the worst because it's culturally different and refuse to acknowledge that NOWHERE is without issues.

I completely agree. I never hear people turning their noses up at holidays in south east Asia - and some countries there have diabolical levels of poverty, a lack of human rights and devastating child sexual exploitation records. America treats its own citizens appallingly in terms of welfare and look at the treatment of migrants there now. And someone saying they were visiting Disney World wouldn't be met with this level of judgement.

It almost feels a bit racial/religion based to me. People from certain demographics are held to much higher standards than others.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 15/08/2025 10:10

Sleepdeprivedbadger23 · 15/08/2025 08:39

I can’t say I agree with any of this, and have a close family member who’s recently had the all clear from bowel cancer after a gruelling but exceptional treatment by the NHS.

Do you really think the UAE would help someone heat their home (or rather, AC their home!) if they were unemployed, or on a low income? There is no welfare state.

Show quote history

The people with citizenship are very well looked after by the state and do not need to work at all unless they want to.

Foreigners are not and it is impossible to obtain citizenship if you are not born with it.

Judgejudysno1fan · 15/08/2025 10:31

I wonder also is it because In Muslims countries that homosexuality is a sin.
And a a lot of people support LGBTQ here in the uk/west.....
Yet people say this is a Christian country. Pretty sure the bible condemns same sex relationships/marriages.
Ironically, alcohol is also a big no in islam. Yet, bars and clubs in dubai happily sell them. Very strange.

Locutus2000 · 15/08/2025 10:34

Charlthg · 15/08/2025 08:19

It’s always hilarious to see little islanders on an increasingly poor and irrelevant corner of the world taking the moral high ground over somewhere their own country folk are flocking to make new lives.

There is some kind of astonishing superiority complex in this country where people cannot afford heating in the winter, air con in the summer, pay taxes through the nose for almost nothing in return, get locked up for saying the wrong thing, forced to say that men can be women, and actual women’s safety being compromised in the name of diversity and ‘be kind’.

The UAE at least looks after its own. And doesn’t screw them over.

The UAE at least looks after its own.

Ah well slavery is okay then.

Locutus2000 · 15/08/2025 10:38

CoughCoughLaugh · 15/08/2025 09:38

Having lived there for a number of years and pass through for a few days on a regular basis I would go in a heartbeat to stay with family. The UAE is what you make of it. Yes, it most definitely has its downsides, but that is the same with every country in the world. If you look at our own Island with an outsiders eye, wouldn't you argue that it's a place you wouldn't want to travel to? It's dirty, poverty stricken and many systems, such as education and the NHS are broken. But there are many amazing and beautful things about the UK too if you bother to look outside the cities and propaganda. Yes, in the UAE, the malls are shiny, boastful and honestly, quite tedious, but if you make the effort to get to know the locals and go to non-touristy areas, it is naturally beautiful and quite interesting. The UAE is safer for women than the UK for one thing.

The UAE as a modern entity is really only about 50-odd years old. Yet look how far it has come from a few huts along a creek to a huge, modern metropolis. Yes, early on, lots of it was been built with a work force that was treated abominably. There are better laws in effect now to protect labourers. But you don't have to go too far back in most countries history to find much worse treatment of labourers. Laws and tolerance in the UAE are making much quicker progress than other countries ever did in 50 years from their inception.

But the problem is, many people just believe what they are told and hold the UAE up to standards they don't expect other countries to uphold just "because". They listen to outdated rumours and perpetuate them, assume the worst because it's culturally different and refuse to acknowledge that NOWHERE is without issues.

But you don't have to go too far back in most countries history to find much worse treatment of labourers.

This is the worst argument ever when it comes to the abuse of immigrants.

Laws and tolerance in the UAE are making much quicker progress than other countries ever did in 50 years from their inception.

Still illegal to be gay though.

Criminalisation of LGBT People in The United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates criminalises same-sex sexual activity between men and between women. The gender expression of trans people is also criminalised. Sentences include a maximum penalty of death.

https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/united-arab-emirates/

Timeforabitofpeace · 15/08/2025 10:42

I doubt it. I think their politics are scary, and I’m not sure I’d feel safe. It seems it would be so easy to accidentally land in trouble.