Brits who moved to Dubai, how's life?

[Southparkt]

I had several friends who moved to Dubai in the last 3 years and they are really loving it and have no plans to come back. We have been considering a move as we have young family and will be very thankful if we can afford to have nannies and driver etc as our friends have. They feel more relaxed in the sun and can afford big house with swimming pool etc. We are high earners here and used to have nanny for our oldest but if we keep spending at that rate, we can never retire here with the Cost of living increases.
I am looking to hear from Brits who moved to Dubai and how life feels like now?

@ThatUsernameIsTaken i presume they mean normal teenage behaviour. You know- parties, drinking a bit too much, sex etc. those are part of growing up and most teenagers don’t bother anyone else as they work out who they are!
Teens in Dubai still do those things. But the parents are scared to death of them getting found out

I really cant think that this is a real post... so goady.

"We are planning to get one of those Philippino servant ladies, I was told you can get them quite cheap, and they dont eat too much! All friends have one, they say they are marvellous - you just need a small room in the basement for them. Anyone has one? How is it going?"

How can CHAV's even afford the plane ticket there?

Living in Dubai strikes me as unsustainable - where does all its food come from? I do know that the Gulf states in general have a problem getting their drinking water. Also, Dubai's incredible heat and the fact that you have to retreat into air-conditioned shopping malls in order to escape it, another example of it not being sustainable. I wouldn't want my DC to grow up there. It all seems a bit shallow.

What about the 2 young western girls beheaded in the Atlas Mountains? Did that not bother you?

I saw a video recently about a British woman living in Dubai. She lived there without issue for years, but ended up being grabbed off the street and gang raped. She went to the police to report it and they basically just laughed at her.
She was injured and the hospital didn’t even want to treat her when they found out what happened. Someone from the UK embassy went to talk to her and they were horrified that she’d gone to the police as she could have been sent to prison.
As a woman you have no protections under the law.

@Whatwhat123 that's horrific

We lived in that part of the world (Abu Dhabi and Oman, mostly Oman) for 14 years, and were also very familiar with Dubai.
But we returned to the U.K. when dds were 10 and 7 (so dd1 coming up to senior school) and wanted to avoid what dh called ‘overseas daughter syndrome’, which we’d seen in other families with older children. They were sent to boarding school, parents still in the Middle East, so although it was never going to be their own country, they looked on it as home, and never properly settled back in the U.K.

Added to that, with teen girls, there was often too much date-interaction with considerably older men who were there on a bachelor basis.
We didn’t think it was healthy, and have never regretted our return to the U.K.

Added to that, the hotter months were truly horrible - I used to take dds back to the U.K. for 2 months. There was a big pool on the compound where we lived, plus we had a speedboat at the Yacht Club, did a lot of water skiiing/snorkelling etc., but for a long period we wouldn’t use the pool until around 6 pm, and just didn’t go to the beach - the sand would burn your feet and the sea was like hot soup - sometimes full of minute baby jellyfish, too.

There was one early summer period where we’d get the tail end of the monsoon - no rain, but dripping, 100% humidity - just a few minutes outside would have your top soaking wet.

THB it really makes me laugh back in the U.K. when people complain that the weather is ‘humid’ - they have no idea what the word can really mean!

I think when someone is speaking about a country they have to factor in all parts (like the poverty, human rights issues and in some cases even slavery that people have mentioned). But just assuming it's all shallow is a bit much. Can you imagine being an architect in Dubai? Forget worrying about planning permission, the sky's the limit. Can you imagine living in a cosy villa whilst writing a book while your kids are at School? Imagine opening a garden centre there? Yeah there will be shallow parts, shopping malls (imo shopping malls are always boring) but there might also be parts which aren't shallow. Most people's day to day lives are shallow in the UK. Most go to work, come home, have family and friend committments and a couple of hobbies and that's it.

I’ve known a few girls move out there to work for Emirates as cabin crew.

None of them lasted longer than a year.

I still can't understand why anyone visits. Tbh I don't know anyone so maybe I'm in the wrong area of the UK.

My sarky comments come from a place of despair. I am a brit fed up of fellow brits launching stones whilst we live in this boiling hot greenhouse. Human rights, women's rights, gay rights, refugee rights, children's rights, environmental rights etc. Who are we to speak on any other countries behaviours?!? We have a PM who is a HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER turning a blind eye to GENOCIDE! If someone chooses to be a Dubai portapotty then that is an adult choice they make in exchange for money. Plenty of people on here advocating for sex workers but only ones in England right? Brits really do think they are better than everyone else don't they. The hypocrisy is astounding

@DelleLdn What's the name of that Bangladeshi charity, if you want to share?

My main concern would be if you are there and get divorced through no fault of your own, your children usually go with the father and not the mother, although I understand the custody laws have changed in some UAE countries now. I have a friend who has held onto her marriage for years for this reason as she was worried about losing custody to the father. I am not up to date on this though, but it would be the first thing I would be investigating before considering moving.

Hi OP @Southparkt

Sorry you’ve had such negative comments on your post.
Myself and my DH have lived in Dubai for just over three years now, and we have never been happier! Our DDs are thriving in school / preschool and life feels easier here than it did in the UK.
Happy for you to PM me with any specific questions! 😊

UK poverty isn't the poverty you get in other countries. Living in tents and squalor. Our version of poverty is living in a council flat not living under a bridge, families here have access to benefits, free education, free healthcare, Foodbanks and charitys to help. We have days of celebrating homosexuality and diversity policys at every company including positive discrimination to ensure poc and women are represented. We let undocumented migrants live in hotels for goodness sake. I think we're more than tolerant here so your talking absolute shite about not upholding human rights.

I used to have to go to Dubai for work. A vacuous hell hole where life centres around being a consumer and nothing else. It’s a city in a landscape where cities shouldn’t exist.

I wonder if the OPs friends are those portable potty people one hears about.

I have no interest in going there. It sounds horrible.

Yeh I know some one who moved there a few years ago, currently doing 25 years for drug dealing, all as a result of trying to keep up with the insta lifestyle and looking good to his mates back home.

Most of Dubai is an illusion. A mirage in the desert. Been there, seen it, won’t go back. Go visit and see the hierarchy, how the Indians and Filipino are treated and spoken to, absolutely hideous.

This. Some places just aren't meant to sustain large urban populations. And the human rights issues are appalling. I can't fathom why anyone would be willing to overlook them because they get to have a nanny! 🙁

There's noone in the UK living under a bridge or outside a shop, no children living in squalor, no council estates ripe with antisocial behaviour, benefits given without humiliation, healthcare that isn't buckling because of government cutbacks. You also want to talk about our free education? Teacher here, our schools are buckling! Newly qualified teachers leave within the first 5 years because of the hell that is our education system. Teachers and schools are now having to act like social workers, food banks, CAMHS go-betweens. Our children are facing such adversity and such lack of support yet we still think we are better than the rest of the world.

Indeed. Fabulous.

Your other point being that atleast we have food banks and charities 🤣
Bravo! The UK is better than the rest of world because atleast we feed the poor with tickets to the food bank 🤣🤣

She knows nobody was being jealous or bitter, she was just attempting to cover up her innate selfishness and lack of awareness by attacking other people.

OP why don’t you just go and live in a shopping centre instead? Meadowhall or
something. Better weather, fewer pout trouts, staff on at least minimum wage. Other than that, same vibe.