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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Meant to be moving to Dubai in 4 weeks

967 replies

Medesres · 01/03/2026 15:42

We've been planning a move to Dubai for a while now. Dh's work has an office out there and it seemed like great opportunity to live abroad and experience sth different. I've got a couple of friends out there already too who love the lifestyle.

Watching the news for the past 24 hours and I'm really starting to question things. I had no idea how close to Iran it was and who knows what might happen next. Part of me is hoping it will all be resolved soon but hard to believe.

My friend who already lives there has spent the night sleeping in one room with her dh and kids scared of all the missile noises.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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Crikeyalmighty · 01/03/2026 23:22

Doteycat · 01/03/2026 22:21

Jesus christ what have i just read.

My mouth has literally dropped open !

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 23:25

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 01/03/2026 23:06

So what? I would much rather have a trip that is a bit wet (yes the Lake District has high precipitation,) than go anywhere NEAR Dubai! So many reasons not to go.

I think it broadens the mind to go to places which are very different from home. Seems a pity to reject the culture, history, food, and people of a country because of its awful government. The people didn't choose it and it's not their fault. And many of them rely on tourism.

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 23:26

Crikeyalmighty · 01/03/2026 23:22

My mouth has literally dropped open !

Well, that's a very odd reaction. I described my experiences. Don't know what else to tell you!

T1Dmama · 01/03/2026 23:26

Christ I wouldn’t be going anywhere near Dubai and certainly wouldn’t want to fly anywhere near Arab air space for sometime!
Call off the move ASAP & I hope your employers keep you both on here!

Dontgetfooledagain · 01/03/2026 23:29

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 23:25

I think it broadens the mind to go to places which are very different from home. Seems a pity to reject the culture, history, food, and people of a country because of its awful government. The people didn't choose it and it's not their fault. And many of them rely on tourism.

Edited

Honestly, I dont think most people who holiday in Dubai go to experience it's history, culture or even food. Hotels, malls and pools are what most tourists seek. And maybe a night in the desert.

QueenOfHiraeth · 01/03/2026 23:30

I'd be very careful of taking too much advice from MN. I have been here "since it was all fields" and have realised over the years there are a lot of left wing, superior, sanctimonious attitudes on here that I never encounter in real life.
Of course Dubai is near to some unstable countries but so are many places.

I'd give this some time to settle then talk to your friends who live out there again but please don't make decisions based on the opinions of anonymous folk online

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 23:32

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 01/03/2026 23:07

😆

I'm guessing you're laughing because my dealings with Dubai were a long time ago, but it's got the same ruler now as then.

BadLad · 01/03/2026 23:44

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 23:32

I'm guessing you're laughing because my dealings with Dubai were a long time ago, but it's got the same ruler now as then.

Technically, no it hasn't. Sheikh Maktoum died in January 2006, and was succeeded by Sheikh Mohammed. But practically, it has, since Maktoum was so hands off, leaving everything to Mohammed.

FerryRoad · 01/03/2026 23:51

TheignT · 01/03/2026 16:23

Nomad says it isn't helpful to say that. You're probably on the naughty step with me.

No you are both on the totally boring unhelpful step, and by the looks of how this thread is going, you are going to be joined by other similarly limited types, so squeeze up!

levitational · 01/03/2026 23:56

Jerys · 01/03/2026 22:34

We loved Dubai marina at night and had such tasty food. The view from the Burj was fantastic.

Compared to how long it took to build the shard, they did the Burj faster by not having such a silly planing and approval process with a public inquiry.

I suspect you're trolling.

You're probably aware that, during the building of the Burj, human rights groups documented conditions that sometimes resembled debt bondage, which the International Labour Organization (a specialised UN organisation dedicated to promoting international labour rights) classifies as a form of modern forced labour.
Common reported issues during the 2000s construction boom in the UAE included:
• Recruitment fees charged in home countries (putting workers in heavy debt before arrival)
• Passport confiscation
• Low wages (often $150-$300/month at the time)
• Overcrowded labour camps
• Limited ability to change jobs or leave due to visa sponsorship rules (the 'kafala' system)
In 2006, workers on the Burj Khalifa site went on strike over wages and conditions.

Glad you enjoyed your meals, though.

Midsommermadness · 02/03/2026 00:26

Ignore everyone giving you a hard time for not realising just how close Iran would be. I do wonder just how many of them had to check google maps themselves, I would put money on it being quite a lot.

You will just have to play it day by day but just keep in mind that even if it does settle down soon, the situation in the Middle East is not going away. It’s not a place I’d want to bring up my kids but that’s for you and your husband to decide.

Do some research on the region so you can have a better understanding of the many conflicts and why it’s likely there’s more to come.

Bones101 · 02/03/2026 00:37

Jesus christ. Dubai is dangerous before any of this. It is a sht show for women. Take this as a sign not to move.

FloofBunny · 02/03/2026 00:39

levitational · 01/03/2026 23:56

I suspect you're trolling.

You're probably aware that, during the building of the Burj, human rights groups documented conditions that sometimes resembled debt bondage, which the International Labour Organization (a specialised UN organisation dedicated to promoting international labour rights) classifies as a form of modern forced labour.
Common reported issues during the 2000s construction boom in the UAE included:
• Recruitment fees charged in home countries (putting workers in heavy debt before arrival)
• Passport confiscation
• Low wages (often $150-$300/month at the time)
• Overcrowded labour camps
• Limited ability to change jobs or leave due to visa sponsorship rules (the 'kafala' system)
In 2006, workers on the Burj Khalifa site went on strike over wages and conditions.

Glad you enjoyed your meals, though.

Many, many countries around the world have thoroughly dodgy regimes and/or human rights issues, deep poverty and inequality, terrible treatment of women, and some are funded much by drugs and dodgy money, like some places in South America. At the same time, millions and millions of Brits and other Westerners travel to those places. Of course you have a point in what you list, but as a foreigner, you are not going to be able to change those regimes, and staying away hurts locals. You also deny yourself the opportunity to experience the positive sides of these places. They have wonderful culture and history, and the people are often so friendly. I have an Iranian friend who left years ago for the West. She comes from a historic city in Iran called Isfahan. I've seen pictures; it is absolutely stunning, with famous tilework. I really wish I could see it. If the ME was a lot safer, I would travel further in the region, to experience its history, culture, food, people.

The tilework in Isfahan was all done by an ancient technique. She explained it to me, but I can't remember the details.

Anyway, I'm not sure that it does us and them any good to remain entrenched in the West because of the dodgy things others have done, which are not the average ME person's fault, instead of experiencing these places for ourselves. (Obviously not at the moment!!) Travel broadens the mind and connects us to people and cultures we wouldn't otherwise be party to if we just judge a place on its worst aspects.

Isfahan:
Argh, the tilework isn't as clear on this image as it is on my monitor. Anyway, you can't see it as such, but each tile is tiny.

Meant to be moving to Dubai in 4 weeks
FloofBunny · 02/03/2026 00:45

@Midsommermadness Ignore everyone giving you a hard time for not realising just how close Iran would be. I do wonder just how many of them had to check google maps themselves, I would put money on it being quite a lot.

Exactly!!

I'm always suspicious of people who need to attempt to prove their superiority...

CurlewKate · 02/03/2026 04:16

FloofBunny · 02/03/2026 00:45

@Midsommermadness Ignore everyone giving you a hard time for not realising just how close Iran would be. I do wonder just how many of them had to check google maps themselves, I would put money on it being quite a lot.

Exactly!!

I'm always suspicious of people who need to attempt to prove their superiority...

I could not be more sure that if I was going to emigrate I would find out where the country I was emigrating to was!

MikeRafone · 02/03/2026 05:54

It’s not a case of being superior, it’s surprising that someone emigrating to another area doesn’t know where on the map that is.

AleaEim · 02/03/2026 06:04

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 21:54

I don't believe a WORD of all the halo-polishers here doing down Dubai! Not a word of it! I reckon if they had the chance to escape dreary Britain for a bit and live at the crossroads of a continent, they'd grab it with both hands! Dubai is much more than its dodgy royal family's bad deeds, and it's a great base from which to explore the ME. (Not at the moment, obvs.) Plus, how many of the halo-polishers have never holidayed in a place with problems? I bet they're all sitting there in glass houses! That's the trouble with throwing stones - you have to be spotless, and I bet they're not!

Sitting in the West and judging on high does nothing to open one's mind to aspects of a country other than its bad stuff.

But you enjoy your holidays to the Lake District!

You seem too narrow minded to understand that some people have standards and wouldn’t live somewhere that isn’t in line with their standards.

AleaEim · 02/03/2026 06:05

MikeRafone · 02/03/2026 05:54

It’s not a case of being superior, it’s surprising that someone emigrating to another area doesn’t know where on the map that is.

I’m not surprised, have you met the kind of people that move to Dubai?

mrssunshinexxx · 02/03/2026 06:25

There is no way I’d be taking my children there. And even still if it were just my husband and I , it’s a hard no,

BlimeyOReillyO · 02/03/2026 06:35

VaccineSticker · 01/03/2026 23:07

@Medesres you have my sympathy.

As for everyone else who is being sarcastic and mocking the OPs choice of moving to Dubai, or the lack of her geography knowledge. It is not funny. How many of you know what countries Russia borders in Europe? Won’t be many I guarantee you.

The conflict is very serious and whilst we are miles away from the conflict, spare a moment and think about all these innocent people who are getting injured /dying and all
these soldiers who are putting their lives in danger.

No one knows what war feels like until you’ve experienced living through one.

Stop spouting hatred and have some compassion.

Stop looking down upon other cultures and nations because you think yours is better. Such a blinkered way of viewing things.

The UAE has one of the lowest crimes in the world. Why? Everything is on CCTV, criminals are caught within hours if not minutes, whilst in the uk if you ring the police when your house had been robbed they will tell you it’s not urgent (true story happened to a friend). We have broken policing, broken nhs, broken education, people who work hard and pay their taxes get nothing back. Pot hole here, pot hole there. Pot holes everywhere! And then you wonder why people are moving abroad?

My very well travelled cousins went to the Qatar football World Cup few years and said Qataris are the most generous and welcoming community they have ever met and wouldn't mind moving there if the opportunity arises. I have teachers friends and extended family dotted all around that region ( and no they are not blingy or rich - sorry to burst your bubble) but they all love the standard of living there and would never change it for the world.

Pack it up with your hate for others will you?!
Sheer arrogance!

Edited

As pointed out many times, if you’re moving to a country, you might just have a little investigation as to where it is, what borders it etc.

I mean it’s not difficult to find out what’s around you is it?

You would surely look at what’s around you with any move?

I mean look what not looking around her has done for OP?

Ridiculous.

She decided to move there because her friends told her the weather was better and it’s glamorous. Says it all really? Typical type of person that moves to Dubai!

BlimeyOReillyO · 02/03/2026 06:39

Midsommermadness · 02/03/2026 00:26

Ignore everyone giving you a hard time for not realising just how close Iran would be. I do wonder just how many of them had to check google maps themselves, I would put money on it being quite a lot.

You will just have to play it day by day but just keep in mind that even if it does settle down soon, the situation in the Middle East is not going away. It’s not a place I’d want to bring up my kids but that’s for you and your husband to decide.

Do some research on the region so you can have a better understanding of the many conflicts and why it’s likely there’s more to come.

“Sigh” those people that had to check google maps aren’t supposed to move there in four weeks!

The OP was intending to move her whole life for the blue sky in Dubai, without even knowing where it was.

As had been shown the area is a massive issue, and it’s not going to change is it?

So next time OP decides to make a life changing event, perhaps she should do some research? The grass is not always greener.

BlimeyOReillyO · 02/03/2026 06:48

FloofBunny · 01/03/2026 21:39

Well I wouldn't live there now, would I!

Why not? I mean it’s still tax free, glamorous, blue sky if you squint and block out the missiles!

I suppose all the ex pats are going to be running back to the UK now, whinging about the tax. Losing their jobs and spending all their tax free money on cost of living whilst they try to find jobs.

Shame they didn’t realise that an inevitable ME war in Iran would unsettle them, because you know it’s close to Dubai!

FloofBunny · 02/03/2026 06:59

AleaEim · 02/03/2026 06:04

You seem too narrow minded to understand that some people have standards and wouldn’t live somewhere that isn’t in line with their standards.

I never understand all the blowhards on here who are all "Well, I would NEVER go to such and such a country!" You see it all the time on the US threads, and I think it's really silly. Firstly, you not going won't make a shred of difference. Secondly, withholding your input into the economy doesn't help the locals. The problems in their country aren't their fault. Thirdly, when you focus on the worst aspect of a country, you also reject all the good things about it and all the things you might have learned from going there and experiencing it and talking to the people. You don't get to experience the country's history, architecture, art, culture, food, sights, ways, and people. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I don't think those are what I'd call standards. I think it's judgement of a kind that limits your experience of the world.

And, you know, Britain is a pretty nasty little country in many ways. There are many reasons for foreigners not to visit our country. They could decide they are not going to come here because of their moral standards. Would you understand that? If so, do you think that all tourists who come here have no standards?

When I say that Britain is a nasty little country in many ways, where to start?

We have a serious, endemic problem with child abuse. It's been going on in dozens of towns for a couple of decades. Remember Rotherham? There have been SO many similar rings in SO many towns here that have gone on for SO long. Child abuse is baked into our country, but no one ever talks about that fact, and the press are good at not ripping that veil off. They report on one town at a time, but they don't stitch it all together and say "Look - we are a national of child abusers. Why is that?" In addition to all the child abuse rings, there were all the famous child abusers, like Glitter and Savill and Harris.

“We’ve always known that the scale of sexual abuse, particularly of children – but all types of abuse – in the UK is absolutely massive,” said Dr Jon Bird, operations manager for the National Association for People Abused in Childhood. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/2/6/the-uks-celebrity-sex-offenders.

Our disgusting record on child abuse would be a fantastic reason for foreigners to hold the standard that they will not visit such a gross place, no?

Then there was the vile Post Office scandal. Countless lives ruined, suicides....a national disgrace.

Then there is the undercover police scandal. They were trusted by their targets, and they repaid that trust by shagging them and impregnating them, living with them for years.

Then there's the fact that we have been lurching to the right for years.

And for a small island, we've had no shortage of unhinged murderers over the years. Plus, we only made marital rape illegal in the Nineties, and we have one of the most hide-bound and snobbish class systems in the world. I overheard a foreigner once say that it's really a caste system, and it's true, socially.

Not to mention that we have an inherently unfair system ourselves, with an utterly pampered and spoilt royal family that's threaded into our national culture and history, one which is showered with dozens and dozens of millions per annum that would be going to the public good if it wasn't being poured into the pockets of the RF via the duchies. And even with being treated to a lifestyle beyond imagining, some of them have been directly involved in rape and child abuse, or have been benefiting from connections with the American running such.

So, would you like it if foreigners with standards boycotted our country, making our economy even worse than it already is, and straining local businesses? We have MUCH to be ashamed of ourselves.

Buddinghell · 02/03/2026 07:08

Stop looking down upon other cultures and nations because you think yours is better. Such a blinkered way of viewing things.

ALL humans should expect basic human rights. It’s not “cultural” to use slave labour, and treat women as inferior to men.
Democracy is better than dictatorship,even a benign one.
Every culture contributes something of value to the world. That doesn’t negate that in other ways they are problematic.

VaccineSticker · 02/03/2026 07:08

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