busybee2

hahahah 100 days of fog at ghantoot.. never!!! although the weather is changing... we just had "rain" the other day in "may". but i would agree 10 days or so a year when its really bad... and then you shouldnt go on that road..... just google it and see how many "huge" accidents there are... including 100s of cars.... just because people do not change the way they drive for the conditions... and you get caught up in it... thats to say every day on the road, not just in fog... most accidents happen when people do stupid things on the road... your sixth sense only works so many times... its not like a cat with 9 lives!

mohamed688

welcome ,
i am living in abu dhabi 10 yrs back
if you need any advice / information feel free to ask me

DXBtoDOH

I started my current job a few months back, returning to the UAE after a few years' hiatus. I'm squatting a friend's apartment in JLT while he's on work assignment in South Africa. Don't tell the landlord.

When he returns in October I will get my own proper place either in JLT or Marina. At first I thought I'd rather be in the Marina but JLT has grown on me, it isn't bad these days with a bunch of restaurants and traffic is, frankly, a lot easer. It's also nice not to have to deal with the Marina traffic after a long drive. The Marina is really vastly overrated.

The_Black_Panther

Haha. Your secret is safe. I decided to get something in abu dhabi now But thanks for your input. Highly appreciated.

Irishbeekeeper

THAT!! It really is!

btw another friend of mine does the same commute 4-5 days a week. JLT to AD. His company wants to relocate him to AD but he wants to shift to somewhere in the middle of both the cities, so he can come to Dubai when he wants to you know. I looked at google maps and all I could see were 2 places on that road Ghantoot and AlSamha where one can maybe live. Thoughts?

Brains1983

I'm in Al Ghadeer, which is technically in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. About 30mins to Marina/JLT and just shy of an hour to the Corniche in Abu Dhabi via the yas road. A wee bit remote, but suits us down to the ground.

https://www.google.ae/maps?q=al+ghad...ed=0CAcQ_AUoAQ

DXBtoDOH

Ghadeer is the most central location. If you have to live in AD emirate but want to be close to Dubai it is one option.

The downside to Ghadeer is that it's still 10km off E-11. If you stayed on E-11 for another 10Km you're only 10 or so minutes away from JLT and I'd rather drive that extra ten minutes to be in Dubai proper for the evenings and weekends. You will spend a lot of your time in the car on weekends if you live in Ghadeer.

Frankly, if the choice was Ghadeer or Abu Dhabi proper, I'd live in AD. Raha Beach is nice if you can afford it and it's only a hour from the Marina.

And I'm gobsmacked at how the rent balance between AD and Dubai seem to have shifted. When I was in the UAE last AD was always the more expensive city. But now you can get a nice apartment at Raha for 90-100k, whereas the same apartment in Dubai would be an extra 15-20K.

busybee2

fyi;you cannot live legally in any of the areas along the main ad/dxb highway.. only in al ghadeer as its private, and al reef or hydra otherwise then you must look at areas such as raha/kca/kcb etc

busybee2

hmmmm dxb is still less expensive than auh... and its not going to get any better as there is a shortage of units coming online.... some areas were mentioned just recently that they have declined in rental amounts... there is nowhere in auh because now there is no rent cap unlike rera in dxb which controls it to a certain degree.... auh is expensive being the capital and dont think its going change.... some areas will be affected by the expo2020.

GolfGardener

Get a place in Abu Dhabi! The only reason I can see to live in Dubai and commute is that Dubai is cheaper, but I'm not even sure that's so true any more. You're going to be earning a fabulous salary, so you can rent a great place in Abu Dhabi and have enough left over for a great life.

However you may be working long hours as well, so why spend so much of your free time doing that miserable drive from Dubai every day?

If you do find that your social life is more Dubai-based, just head there every weekend.

The_Black_Panther

I did factor in the long hours. No one likes a late drive home after a long day. Abu dhabi it is. Already seen a few places in al reef and al raha that I like.

Nice one GolfGardener.

Irishbeekeeper

Thats a great find mate! Gonna have a snoop around there for tomorrow with a property guy. Cheers!

Yeah, budget...thats the issue! The money bracket either allows for disco gardens or this Ghadeer place and on paper Ghadeer is starting to look better

al dente

Rubbish, as one of the few posters who lived here in 1984 I can state that it was indeed rather different.



I love how DXBites can only find the provincial bits of AD.

busybee2

hahahah auh "has" changed "hugely", for one nothing was off the island before... i was one of the first people brave enough to move into kca, and the looks i got when i said thats where i lived way back some 10plus years ago there when it was first built... because you had to go over the bridge and people always said i needed a passport as the only things out there was the airport and the unopened new golf club. agree with al dente.... its vastly different. at least now it only takes around 1 hour to dxb rather than the 3 it used to take on the old road with the millions of speed bumps!... they have built yas island, they have "moved" raha beach "out" as well as the original corniche, thats all been moved out into the water... many new malls, the first being marina mall built in 99 and 6 months or so later ad mall.... lots and lots and lots of things have changed!

busybee2

be aware that al ghadeer rates are being raised just the same as the rest of abu dhabi.. as the housing stock is always much less than dxb, hence why in dxb you always get more for your money! even with the housing tax.