Work in Abu Dahabi, live in Dubai

[MABS]

Here we go again girls, would appreciate any advice on this. Dh has been offered a great job in Auh, with full expat package. Co have said that housing now far cheaper in dxb, so advise us to live there and put kids to school there and he commute each day. Any thoughts on that advice?

secondly , we have 2 children , girl in year 10 and boy in year 4, any good English schools i should contact? or any to avoid?

TBH we are not sure whether to leave uk or not but dh flying out to have big chat with employer on Thurs this week. Really appreciate any thoughts.

In same dilemma with slightly younger children (so will watch thread with interest !)

intersting Sagacious, are you defo moving out?

intersting Sagacious, are you defo moving out? apologies for incorrect spelling in title!

Dh is
I'm not sure about relocating TBH (I've never been there !)

Originally dh was going out for 4 weeks then back to England for 1 week (repeat ad nauseum) but circs have changed (family health problems mean I'm stuck ATM but his work will be there whatever we do )

right, difficult situation for you.I have been out there loads and love it, great for kids. Dh not in airline industry is he?

oh, so it might be back on again then MABS? A friend who moved to Dubai when I moved to KSA had her DC at the JESS school on Arabian Homes. She said it was very good. Can't help with other questions but it would be great if you moved out this way, we could meet up more regularly than when I'm back 'home'.
Shame your DC leaving Hurst though. I know my DS has only been there since September but I'm thoroughly impressed with it and we are talking about changing our plans so DCs 3 and 4 can go there.

Hope to catch up when I'm back end December/beginning of Jan x

MABS

Take a good look with the search fuction of www.expatwoman.com. Many people are in the same situation as you.

JESS Arabian Ranches (not homes) is certainly a good solid UK curric school, primary and senior on same campus, although they ahve another junior campus in Jumeriah (dont go there if you can avoid it, only for travelling reasons, its an excellent school). At the AUH end of town there is only 1 selctive school and its always heavily oversubscribed (senior only, no junior school) called Dubai College.

There are other good schools but you are getting further away from the AUH end. Meadows and Springs are on SZR, AR is further back. Generally I think most people agree it takes about 1 and 10mins depending on the traffic and where exactly you are working and living.

Getting into schools in either town can be difficult. Try www.khda.com for more info on schools. Just because a school has a quintessentially English name does not make it an English school, be warned.

Sagacious - its much harder to get younger kids in school, so start looking now and asking your questions.

Def more house for your money in DXB. Springs are smaller, 2/3/4 bed terrace/semis. They go in reverse order so a 1E is the bigggest on the end, an M is middle. 3 is 3 bed and 4 is a two bed. Go figure. It also takes a while to get to them from SZR - the main road.

Meadows are all detached and go from 3 bed upto 6 bed, some with pools. Lakes is the opposite side of the road to Meadows and has houses of all sizes in nice community. AR comprises of lots of smaller areas with houses of a similar type in each area. Much easier to get to now the new roundabout is finshed. (Its so much more than it sounds lol).

There are other areas but not really any really non expat areas. The areas above are the only places non locals can purchase. So whilst there are many other lovely areas theya re getting towards the centre of DXB and then your travel time creeps up.

Any other questions fire away.

starmummy, sorry, got confused with Arabian Homes which is a compound here in Saudi!

How is the weather there at the moment? Hope it has warmed up a bit

Hi mumos,

The weather is perfect, clear and a very pleasant 27, bit chilly in the mornings though. And drum roll please........ we had the first rain of the winter!!!! It was all over so quickly no time to even get outside and dance around . lol.

don't want rain, we are coming over next week and want nice warm sunny weather please

It will be gorgeous. I'm looking out my kitchen window eating my breakfast with the windows open. It is really the best time of the year, IMHO of course .

Plenty of sunbathing, shopping etc. If you are coming for EID dont forget the dry night/s. It appears "they" are trying to stretch from just tonight (Wednesday) to include after sundown Thursday night. Still you'll be used to that wont you [bigger grin].

'dry nights'! What even in the hotel?
Bugger, its DH's birthday on the Thursday

Hi, I live in Abu Dhabi. Accomm here is very expensive and it is true that you will get something much nicer and cheaper in Dubai. The commute for your hubby between Abu Dhabi and Dubai will take at least 1.5 hours each way (probably quite a lot more in rush hour, but I have never done it then, so not sure). The driving here is pretty scary at times. Plenty of people are living in Dubai and commuting to work in Abu Dhabi because of the accommodation costs. You should also consider what his working hours will be like - if his hours are not going to be too long, then the commute would be ok. But if he is doing long work hours and also commuting it could be a bit tough on the family. It also obviously depends what package you will be getting and in particular what housing allowance you will be getting. If you are getting a generous allowance, then I would live in Abu Dhabi. Another good site is abudhabiwoman and this type of topic comes up quite often so do a search there and you will get more idea about accommodation and other living costs (e.g schooling). The best schools have long waiting lists and are expensive.

Hope that helps a bit.

I live in AD and yes accommodation is significantly cheaper in Dubai BUT TBH if our living allowance wasn't enough to allow us to live in AD I would return home - it is a long commute (AD - DXB is at least 1 hour but bear in mind that it can take 1.5hrs to cross Dubai and 50mins to cross AD so possibly much longer), and driving here is dangerous. IMO to have to commute very day would be waaaaaaaaaaaay to stressful.

Good luck.

I also agree that if the company is not allowing you to live in the same city as your DH is working then I would not want him to take the job. That sort of commute offers no family life during the week. The UAE has one of the worst accident records in the world despite having a decent road network. The less driving he does, the better.

Then there is the fog which hits every winter makes an already hellish commute near impossible.

Companies know what the cost of housing is in AD but sacrificing the quality of life of employees' family to save is just not on, IMO.

thanks all, not ignoring you, i didn't say they wouldn't fund accom in auh, just that i heard it much better value in dxb. also heard schools in dxb better than auh at secondary level, any opinions on that? we pay a fortune here for private in UK, so am not t bothered re it being pricey, will be less than current! x

foxytocin are you that name on ADW? I have no idea who you are or anything but I luuuuuuurve your name

MABS My DC's aren't secondary level but I know there is more choice in DXB, although couldn't comment on standards. Also not sure you'll find school cheaper than UK. DC's fees here are same as they would be in UK and once at secondary level most seem to be in the 10-15k+ bracket. Certainly when the GBP was weak earlier this year friends were saying it would be cheaper to have their DC's boarding in UK than in day school here and opf course standards are generally better in UK than here.

thanks tinker, ac you recommend any in auh? dd is currently £18k and we pay it all in uk, least out there some will be paid for!

thanks tinks. it is me on ADW. but I am not in AD at the mo.

Wouldn't do it, your poor Dh will move with the traffic every time, Mornings there's heavy traffic south to AD, evening there's gridlock back north to Sharjah. It's a total nightmare and someone also mentioned the driving. Your Dh will be risking his life every day because those fuckwits cannot drive properly. They come over from India, etc. and don't even have to get examined, off they go cramming 12 people into an SUV, kids on the middle console and overtaking left and right. My DH has a driver if needs to go to AD and we have the biggest SUV available but still, it is such a hassle.

The weather is okay at the moment, but tbh, I'm already dreading the summer and no beach and tax regime could make up for the dearth of culture and good doctors and healthcare. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my Dh but it's only 2-3 more years so I try to get on with it.

PS: If you're looking at schools, have you checked out Repton? Your dcs could easily transfer back to the sister school in the Uk if need be. Very good and fab teachers.

Repton Dubai is not the same as Repton UK. Same parent school name, owned by a conglomerate with financial issues. Be very sure youa re not swayed by the anme with this school.

MABS the best schools accademically for Uk curric are Kings for your Y4 and Dubai College (DC)for your Y10. Both are much closer to AD than Repton which is bloody miles from anywhere.

DC has excellent GCSES and is the only real entrance tested school in DXB regardless of what the otehrs might say. You must also remember that till Y9 Arabic is compulsory, not well taught and not much is learnt as techers are appointed by teh government and not by ability

Regardless of all that is written about Dubai in the papers, school places are still hard to find. Contact the schols now!!!! Just to get you on the page. Remember there is a 4 hour time diff and schools here start around 7.45am and finish at 3pm ish.

sorry for silence, but only just heard last nt night that dh has been offered the job. We won't know exct package til mid Jan, but we are quite keen at mo i think.

what are best schools in Auh? year 4 and year 10, think we prob would live in abu dhabi after all