Gary and Sally

It seems that there is an opinion by some people that Dubai is an amazing place to work, where you can save loads of money and have a great life style as well. I agree that you can save some money, if you choose to do that, but the cost of living here is going up annually and the salaries are not, so saving potential is going down. It is possible to do two out of three things as I stated in an earlier post – see this post.

Going out in the evening in Dubai is something that most people dread.

Traffic here is a nightmare – the road system is undergoing major redevelopments and will be amazing when it is done, but the road to and from Sharjah is a standing joke here, as are the bridges. It is possible to spend up to 2 hours plus on the roads for what should be a 15-20 minute either way.

So check out carefully where you are housed by the school, as you can spend ages on the journey to and from school.

If you live in, or near, Sharjah :

In the morning, there is a basic equation, for every minute later you leave from home you will spend another 5 minutes on the road. So if you leave 10 minutes later than usual, you will spend another 50 minutes on the road, fact! That is not fun. Many people will leave for work before 5am to avoid the traffic, and then get back home after the rush – that makes for one very long day! Having a life is a bit difficult if you put in such long hours.  If you are used to traffic in central London and other large itie, then it should be no problem for you, but if you want some quality of life outside of your work then you might want to go elsewhere.

Most expats here manage to put up with the conditions for a few years as it is short term, and leave having saved some money, but then of course there are the others who are here long term (7-10+ years) and will not hear a bad word said about the place they live and call home – bless them. Enjoy!