Meant to be moving to Dubai in 4 weeks

[Medesres]

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.

None of the Middle East is glamorous even if it appears it from the outside. There is always an undercurrent of unrest in this part of the world.

I don’t know a single person who would want to live there. Regardless of the current situation.

Glamorous? I think you should use this opportunity to educate yourself about the country and its culture. It’s extremely ugly.

This is what the internet does though - it plays up how terrible paying taxes and bad weather is and plays down the benefits of living in a safe democracy, so people voluntarily give up human rights and safety for the sake of a nice house, a housekeeper and a glamorous life in the sun. And then are shocked when it goes wrong.

Lol @ not zooming out from the supermarkets. Good grief.

As a geographer I despair. Here's a quick run down for you. The Arabian peninsular is a massive dessert with loads of oil. The result are some glitzy energy and water guzzling cities that are totally unstainable and continuing to fuel these oil producing regimes and ultimately the demise of our climate.

Then there's the fact that most ME countries are authoritarian regimes with terrible track records for human rights abuses and in particular with concern to women and homosexuals. Not to mention the political instability in the region....Arab Spring, Syria, Iran, Iraq.

Have I put you off yet?

In case you haven’t noticed, people have run off the OP with their nasty posts.

Anything to say to them? Thought not.

This can’t possibly be true, can it? Tell me it’s not true!

I'm not sure I'd believe the no crime whatsoever. My ex employers had offices in the UEA and break-ins to westerner complexes/communities were rife and a female colleague was sexually assaulted.

Exactly! Thanks to this thread, I’ve just googled Skelmerdale @HelloDenise 😂

To be fair I have a friend who moved there 6 months ago and she’s pretty miffed too.
but she is a British Muslim and left due to the racism and general hate she was receiving here, so feels more comfortable there. So far it’s still worth it for her but let’s see how it plays out.

there is obviously crime. Otherwise who is living in their prisons?!? 🤣 it’s just common sense

It is madness to uproot and emigrate based on how glamorous people say a place is and not even have awareness of what countries are next to it 😱

I wouldn’t go. I can’t see this being a seamless transition.

I know someone who is there and they have already registered with the foreign office in case they need to evacuate. They have also been advised to stock up some food and water just in case. It doesn't sound like somewhere you should plan on taking your family.

I’m so grateful I live in the “wet and grey UK”

"everyone wants to move there"???????

you must be joking

many people see Dubai for what it is. If you don't then please check out human rights there and in particular women's rights

I find it incredible people would move children there without researching. I went there on holiday once, would never return, let alone live there. I would be cancelling, and staying in the UK.

You can get specialist insurance, but it's incredibly expensive. I used it to visit family during COVID.

OP just be glad you are in the UK and can reevaluate everything from a safer position. It's hard, but you got let time pass and evaluate the situation when more is known.

I worked in Bahrain about ten years ago. Lovely place and I was pretty safe due to my job but I have never understood this obsession with holidaying to the Middle East. Different world out there and people go there thinking it’s a safe lovely place. Don’t even get me started on Saudi and all the sports events that happen there despite the sort of country they are. I am hoping this is a bit of a lesson that if something seems too good to be true then it often is….

British embassy is advising no travel.to dubai unless essential. Surely dh work wont insist on the if embassy is saying no travel

@Medesres, if you're considering moving to a country, wherever in the world it is, please, please, do yourself a favour and do some proper research.

There are many, many aspects of live that aren't necessarily obvious but could have a huge impact on your wellbeing if they aren't what you were expecting.

For start, you could create a new thread in which you ask MNers who have lived there what everyday challenges they faced and what they wished they had known beforehand.

These places may look amazing and the stories you hear can make them sound very attractive but normal life isn't necessarily going to feel anything like them.

It's the idiocracy age we live in. Just viewing the world through empty vacuous Instagram and influencers.
Sounds harsh but true.

I have no idea why you would want to go in the first place, the “lifestyle” is built of slavery and a system designed to keep people in their place. By exception ex pats can live outside the system - but that could easily change overnight.

The Middle East is volatile with a largely draconian (to westerners) world view. As a woman I would never visit. The fact you didn’t realise how close to Iran it is suggests you have done very little research into the area beyond the “lifestyle” that lifestyle is contrary to the underlying ethos of the area and is by exception- an exception which could easily fail.

People are dunking on the OP, but how do they think Middle East tourism happens? People overlook local human rights records and geopolitical issues all the time.

My mum and dad moved all over the place for years. Before the internet. My mum would learn the language, pour over the atlas, stick notes to everything with the names of things, learn at the library.

Now with Duolingo, Google Maps and translate, people can’t be arsed to zoom the map out. Or learn the language. We are becoming stupider.