Have you been lately or would you go to Dubai

[MozzchopsThirty]

Yes I know about quarantine on return (2weeks currently I think)
Negative test must be done 96 hours before travel and further test maybe done at airport

Just wondered if anyone has been recently? Or lives there and can tell me what current restrictions are like?
Or are there any additional rules I've missed

We would be in an AI hotel for 5 days, won't be going anywhere else

Emirates insurance is NOT valid from the U.K.

😩😩 that's probably because this country couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery

@MozzchopsThirty oh don't be going there at this time of year, it's too hot! Inlaws have just decamped to go skiing to cool down wait til sept/oct

Dubai have been brilliant in their control of covid and of course 99% of folks have adhered to the rules. You'll certainly be safer there than england

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion how is it remotely cheap?

Thank you to all the helpful posts

@greybow, I’m not doubting you, because I know the situation changes daily, but can you send me a link to where it says it’s not valid from the UK? (This could be the difference between my mum coming out next month or not )

@AgentProvocateur are you in the Brits in Dubai Facebook group? This and the testing and insurance is being discussed daily. It's apparently hidden in one clause in their terms and conditions and people have phoned emirates to confirm. Not that THAT means anything as I know Emirates often say utterly contradictory things 😆 and yes, it could all change anyway.

There are a couple of insurance companies recommended on their though that do cover Covid 19 fairly cheaply. Battleface and Heymondo are talked about.

*there

Ffs.

I do know the difference, promise 😁

Thanks @GreyBow will have a look at those

@MozzchopsThirty just search "insurance emirates" in the group.

It could all change though 🙄 So many of my friends got stuck one side or the other in this 😆

I see the Emirate's insurance covers funeral costs if you get diagnosed with Coronavirus whilst there. I'm not sure that's a great selling point actually

Agree with the ‘its too bloody hot’ comments having lived there 4 years as a teenager. Honestly, even sitting by the pool is really unpleasant! Anyone living there will be going from their air conditioned house into their air conditioned cars and trying to spend no time outdoors!

Unless things have changed tremendously (and I have friends still living there), Emirati’s do work.. but there is a big reliance on very very poorly paid immigrant third world labour on hugely restrictive working contracts. Sorry to join the ‘human rights’ chorus but it’s a fact.

Dubai is largely just sea and sand and shopping but if you are prepared to travel a bit out to the desert and the mountains, there is more to see. Hatta is nice if you hire a 4 wheel drive. Fujairah might be a pleasanter place to go OP as it’s in the mountains and cooler. It’s a next door emirate and about a 2/3 hour drive from Dubai through the mountains. As well as wadi’s and mountains, it’s got old forts and mangrove swamps so offers something a bit different. No idea what it’s like now but the Sandy Beach hotel there has a lot of water sports and a small island to snorkel around.

Can I just add - as I do with all the dubai posts over the years - unless you have seen the sheer deprivation as I have in Bangladesh and India where many migrant workers come from, you have no idea why they would choose to work in very harsh conditions in the Middle East.

It's not a "dubai human rights" problem, it's a world economic issue. In Bangladesh villages, men queue to earn 1 dollar a day lugging salt on their heads. It's backbreaking. When a construction company comes to the village and offers to built bathrooms, put in sewer systems (which will save lives!), and pay enough for a man to send home to put his children into school for the first time, yes, they will go.

Making sure companies keep to the guidelines and migrant workers are treated fairly IS an issue, but there are lots of people working in that area who are trying their best to ensure fair treatment.

Don't judge this on developed country standards as it's a world economic issue. Talking to many many construction workers over the years, their common phrase is "this ends with me." One fork lift driver I met had a daughter in law school back in India and another three children in school. Did he have any other options to make that happen? No. None.