RWS

Good morning/ Afternoon guys, I am currently in talks with a company about moving to Dubai to live and work for them. As I have never been there before I am just looking for some general info so I can make my decision.

I’m a 24 year old single Scottish guy so would be coming on my own, Part of the contract is I cannot go on any holiday leave for the first 6months so again going to be a lonely first 6months. Where does the Brits hang out, is there any general meeting places where people go?

What is the average monthly gym member ship fee?

I know the fuel is cheap and no road tax, but what about car prices. Is there a large second hand market and if so would you say they were less than back in UK? Do I need to swap my UK driving licence or can u just remain using it?

Food shopping- searching various website, some have listed some everyday good’s prices. I am not sure how up to date these are so could you please give a small list of your general goods i.e. milk, bread eggs just so I have rough idea.

Is there many people living out in Dubai around my age? As it is going to be classed as my home then I would wish to make it as homely as I can and have group of friend around similar age.




Thanks for taking you time to read this, but I guess everybody has gone through this before they moved.
Richard

lionheart

Please tell me that you are not another financial adviser?

RWS

Lol no no, I work in the Private Marine industry

kittycat1

Hiya Richard and welcome,

Do you know what salary you are being offered? I'm a single girl and earn 20K AED a month and live quite happily and save a good whack of my salary. You could live on a lot less than that but would suggest you look at that as a minimum if you want to save anything.

For second hand cars check out www.dubizzle.com and there are some good deals for new ones, including insurance, servicing etc You need to change your license over once you get your residence visa through so make sure both parts of your license are up to date before you move out here.

Lots of people your age out here and where to go pretty much depends what your into, you can have a great social life here but for a guy it isnt cheap ( thank god for ladies nights)

I would say its worth you visiting before you accept so you can see what you are getting yourself into.

Average Gym membership- most apartment blocks have a gym and pool in them so no fee, there are gyms here as well but I have no idea what they cost as I just use the one in my building.

IS your employer supplying your residence or will you be finding/paying for your own place?

As for food- I wont bother going through my grocery bill as dont think theres much on there a guy would eat.

Good luck

Kittycat

Hello.Kitty

Just to fill in what KittyCat hasn't written:

- there is a Road Tax of sorts - it's basically a series of automatic tolls on the main highway through Dubai. Ofc, it depends what route you take and how many times you take it, but we're paying about 8AED a day (£1.20?)
- gyms, depending on what kind of thing you want to do vary from session passes (50-75 AED per session) to membership of 350AED+. As KittyCat said though, almost every building has its own, so unless you are looking for group classes, you can do it for free.
- groceries are on a par with UK prices - some things are cheaper, some are more expensive, so it rounds out the same. They don't, however, have the BOGOF or 2-for-1 deals you can find in the UK.
- count London Prices for alcohol in bars... and then a bit - 35AED for a beer/ glass of wine (£6) and 50-75AED for a cocktail (£9-14).
- as for the rest, I can't say, since, even though I occasionally feel in my early twenties, I'm not any more... /sob

Blue Cat

excellent and welcome to BE, my husband is Glaswegian and is also in the Marine Industry, you however are young enough to be his son, hope it goes well! tons of young people here, you will be fine

Spugsy

Loads to do mate, plenty of places to see and things to do.

I am out with the lads a lot, out for meals with teh wife, normal cinemas and stuff, plus play in a 5 a side league twice a week and play in the aprk on weekends, you can go out on boats, go down teh beach, gym, shops, water parks etc etc

You'll be fine. Just make sure you can afford it all first as it's not a cheap place to be.

auzdafluff

I moved out here in July and I'm loving it so far. I've not had much time to get out and about because of my job, but regardless, I know I'm having a much better time of it here than I would be back in the UK.

I know the six month rule seems hard, but I'm almost through it and going back on the 22nd. You'd be surprised how quickly it goes. That's also helped by the fact that you're surrounded by so many people who are in exactly the same situation as you.

As the others have said, depending on where you move to, you might get a gym included. I live in JBR in Rimal. I can sometimes sneak into the gym in the next sector over, but once I get back after Christmas, I'll be joining a gym. I'm looking at paying around AED400 a month (about £70, which unfortunately, is standard) for something like Fitness First.

As for driving, it's fairly cheap compared to the UK. You can't hire-purchase a car in the same way you would in the UK, but you can lease them for a little more than what than what HP costs. Also, as people have said, you pay Salik, but to be honest, I commute from JBR to Media City (a five-ten minute drive depending on traffic) and don't pass any Salik charges.

I do have to pay them when I'm doing interviews, but that's a mute point. Besides, if you work in the Marine industry, you'll probably be based along the seafront, which means you might be able to avoid them entirely.

As someone said, Dubizzle is your friend when it comes to cars. It's also your friend when it comes to flat hunting. I really wouldn't recommend getting your own place straight away. One, it's easier to meet people our age (I'm 25, nearly 26 and live almost exclusively with people my age, aside from my landlord who lives in the apartment I'm in).

Two pieces of advice, avoid Horizon Tower and definitely avoid an Iranian American landlord called Adam. Most people who've recently looked in the Dubai Marina/JBR area will know who I'm on about.

As people have said, food prices are around the same, maybe a little more, and there's a number of quirks, like milk rarely lasts more than 3-4 days, while eggs seem to last forever.

Milk that's enough for breakfast and the occasional cup of tea/coffee will set you back about AED 6 (about a quid) if I remember right. Eggs are a little more. Breads a bit funny – don't expect Hovis quality over here.

As for where Brits hang over, you'll find them everywhere. You'll definately bump into them at the various brunches that Dubai is famous for (I've only heard through my flatmates – I still haven't had the time to go on one because of work and constantly being out the country on press trips or on deadlines – grrrr.)

Believe me, unless you're an introverted hermit, you won't struggle to make friends here.

Just to give you an idea of costs: I get paid AED 15K a month, and after 4900 on a room in a beachfront and view flat with its own private balcony and bathroom (you can easily pay less if you don't mind sharing a bathroom and not having a sea view). I will be paying around AED 2000 a month on a car when I get back after Christmas, AED 400 on the gym. As for going out, I spend around AED 1200 a month going out every Thursday after the working week ends with work friends, but I'd spend around AED 2500 on going out twice a week (Thursday night and a brunch) if I had the time. Add on may 200 on food a week, and another AED 50-70 for the occasional takeaway (everything delivers here, from McDonalds to Wagamamas).

Basically, I have around AED 3500 – AED 4000 left over to treat myself or save.

BTW. Just a quick note – things like bedding and that aren't cheap here. Whereas you might be able to pick bedding up in Asda or Tesco for around £30, expect to pay closer to £60-£80.

Hopefully, that'll help you out. If there's anything else you want to know, let me know.

EDIT: I forgot to say, most Brits are based up the Marina/JBR end (you do get a couple based in the 'Old' Town area (it's not old btw, it's one of the newest areas), but they tend to be those 'financial' types that work in DIFC). So consider that – and factor in commuting if your work is down the other end of town. To get from JBR to the Bur Dubai/Deria area takes about 30 mins to an hour depending on traffic. That said, if your work is based in anywhere to the left of Jumeirah on a map of Dubai, you'll be fine.

kittycat1

seriously fluffy- would you spend your precious luggage allowance bringing bed linen over?

There is Ikea here you know!

auzdafluff

Haha. I had to leave my Xbox behind when I moved out. That's how little space I had

And I know there's an Ikea, but it's all the way down the other end of town from JBR and by the time you've paid taxi fares, it's not worth it

kittycat1

fluffy fluffy fluffy, just buy more and then its worth the visit!

auzdafluff

I like your approach haha.

kittycat1

Just call me a problem solver!

RWS

Thanks for the replies

The job includes an apartment so don’t need to worry about searching for place.

I would be eating on boat during day so only really evenings and weekend I would be buying food.

One thing that I don’t like the sounds of is Relationships over there, I read that it’s illegal to be with a women which is not married to you. How does this work out in clubs etc. Are you not allowed to kiss women in public etc.

auzdafluff

One thing you'll quickly learn living in Dubai is it's one thing what they say is against the rules, whilst it's another thing all together of what you can and can't do in reality.

Believe me – any over the top behaviour might get a whistle from the bouncers to make you stop it, but there's nothing that will get you into trouble with dating or 'sleep overs' – unless of course you do something to annoy others around you.

Bear in mind, any practicing Muslim (i.e. the type who has a legitimate reason to be offended at any overtly sexual behaviour between the opposite sexes) shouldn't be in a nightclub anyway. The malls are a slightly different story.

Oh, and the women you'll see walking around with their cleavages out and wearing clothes you'd consider inappropriate to wear in a shopping centre in the UK are 99.9% of the time Russians. It's funny to see even the Emiraties won't dare complain about a Russian.

Just remember, you're in a Muslim country, and just as we expect them to live by our rules while out in 'public', you should at least be mindful of theirs.

BTW. Has your work told you the area you'll be living in?