Do you want to relocate to Dubai and you are weighing the odds If YES, here are 10 ways living in Dubai can affect your lifestyle positively or negatively.
Dubai is without doubt an intoxicating country that provides the potential for an unprecedented lifestyle. It is a true world class vision of a forward looking city that still holds onto a conservative tradition. Also, if you enjoy the buzz and excitement that comes with a lively city, Dubai could well be the perfect place to call home.
There’re some people who love Dubai and there are others who dislike it. However, what’s certain is that you can save an incredible amount of tax and potentially build much more wealth than you can ever imagine in the country. With some of the best business and employment opportunities, it’s no surprise Dubai attracts expats from all corners of the world. Dubai not only offers world-class comfort and luxury, but also a tax-free salary.
Dubai is not only known for its breathtaking shopping malls and exotic infrastructure but also it’s rich heritage. It has a preserved heritage from hundreds of years and it attracts the people who prefer to live in historically significant places rather than those that are freshly built.
But, the most interesting thing about Dubai is that it didn’t let itself end up merely as a historical place to be visited if you love to witness heritage. Instead, it improved itself and now it is one of the best and most sought after places on earth.
Have it in mind that Dubai doesn’t only provide the best residential areas but also opens the chances of making your life more entertaining. Surrounded by the sultry heat of the desert, expats will find that the lifestyle in Dubai largely revolves around activities best accompanied by air conditioning.
10 Ways Living in Dubai Can Affect Your Lifestyle Positively
Dubai is home to more than 8 million citizens of other countries who have each sought out an expat life. This has created a multicultural society where each nationality brings their own culture, social mores and food to the mix. This multicultural nature of the society forces every single person who chooses a life in Dubai to be more open minded and accepting of cultural, social and religious differences.
If you are thinking of migrating to Dubai permanently, you definitely need to know the various ways Dubai can affect your lifestyle positively.
- You become more globalised and more travelled
The Dubai over the years has maintained its rating as a cultural and national melting pot. In Dubai, one way or another, you will be rubbing shoulders with people from all over the globe. Just like you, most of them are temporary residents.
There is no path to citizenship – most of expats in Dubai will leave when they have either achieved their goals or when they are forced to leave by circumstances beyond their control. Dubai gives you the opportunity to mix with other cultures, and to both teach and learn.
Have it in mind that by being open and engaging, you have a chance to instruct by example about your cultural cornerstones, as well as see what informs your fellow-residents’ thinking and attitudes. Dubai will also allow you to travel well and pretty much anywhere. Dubai remains a major air hub for the Middle East.
- Eating out in Dubai
In Dubai, there are many restaurants and delicacies to suit varying taste. One not-to-be-missed eating experience in Dubai is the famous “brunch”. Hosted mainly by the larger hotels, brunch is an eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet, normally accompanied by unlimited beverages or house wine and beer, even champagne in some cases, and held on a Friday from 12pm onwards.
Note that prices vary greatly, as does the quality of the food on offer, so it’s best to get some recommendations before deciding where to go. Meanwhile, alcohol is only served at select restaurants licensed to serve liquor. In most cases, the impressive array of hotel restaurants satisfies this requirement.
Also note that dishes containing pork or alcohol are clearly marked on the menu. Pork products are only served in establishments that have a special licence. Also don’t forget that during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims and even some expats, fast.
You’re not permitted to eat or drink in public during the day for the duration of the holiday. Many restaurants remain closed until evening, although those in the larger hotels still serve food. Lunch-time dining takes place behind covered windows in order to show respect.
As take-away meals are allowed, many restaurants remain partially open to provide this service, or else do home deliveries. Fasting is broken after sunset, and restaurants will open as normal at this time, often remaining open into the early hours of the morning.
- Dubai Provides Great Quality of Living
UAE’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi emirates offer the highest quality of living in the Middle East and Africa region. In 2018, only two cities from the MENA region made it among the top 100, including Dubai, ranked at 75 (overall no.1 in the region, and Abu Dhabi, ranked at 81 (overall no. 2 in the region).
This is the fourth time in a row that Dubai has been ranked as the top Middle Eastern city for living. Note that the quality of life provided by the emirate of Dubai comes with the perk of being tax-free. Dubai goes in long in spoiling you with its line of restaurants, supermarkets and modes of entertainment.
Tourists from all over the world visit this city for its fantastic shopping experience during the Dubai Shopping festival. From the biggest brands to the gold and spice souks – Dubai has something for everyone — be it pocket-friendly or luxurious.
- You Feel Safe in Dubai
Dubai doesn’t have a constitution that let’s its citizens or residents the right to own and bear arms. Curiously, violence and gun-related deaths are virtually non-existent in Dubai – or any other of the seven Emirates that comprise the UAE, for that matter.
Dubai is ranked #40 globally on the safety parameter and follows Muscat regionally. It doesn’t matter what time of the day you step out; you can freely walk on the streets without the fear of being attacked or mugged.
According to reports, crime-rate in the emirate is close to non-existent and the police is efficient and fast. Businesses are known to thrive in secure circumstances and Dubai provides an investor-friendly environment coupled with stringent business laws to accommodate foreign investors.
- Nightlife in Dubai
Expats in Dubai can enjoy a vibrant social atmosphere as the emirate dishes up a heady dose of everything from indoor snowboarding to phenomenal music festivals to world-class restaurants. Note that most of Dubai’s nightlife is centred on the hotels due to the strict liquor laws, and it’s not uncommon to find expats gathered around hotel bars until the wee hours when last rounds are being called. But a few clubs and nightlife spots do exist outside the hotels; Arabic nightclubs have become increasingly popular with locals and expats over the years.
- Internet Censorship
While surfing the internet, there is a possibility that you won’t be able to browse many websites as they would be banned in Dubai due to offensive material. The government blocks all web sites that it deems “offensive” to the “religious, moral, and cultural values” of the UAE.
Also note that all VOIP access and related websites are blocked. Instead you can call using the analog service provided by the government-owned telephone monopoly, but it will cost you a whole lot more. The government says VOIP is blocked for security reasons. Your only option is to get a quality VPN.
- Very Warm Climate
Living in Dubai is like living in hell in terms of the weather. The city is really hot round the year. In summer time, temperature can reach as high as 54 Celsius and remain around 45-50 Celsius most of the year. Except from November to March, it is far too hot to walk in Dubai. Hot as in 120 degrees with nearly 100% humidity. You can’t even trust the wind for relief. This is the equivalent of pointing a hairdryer full blast directly at your face.
- No Standard Housing Address System
In Dubai, learning address is somehow difficult and no matter how much you try, the letters won’t reach your house, no matter how important they are. If you are new in Dubai, driving a car might be a huge issue for you because the roads are built in quite a weird way.
It requires a lot of time to get used to the road infrastructure of Dubai. There is no standard address system making mail-to-the door delivery impossible. In fact, it makes everything nearly impossible.
When you purchase something that requires delivery, they do not have an address line but a box where you are expected to draw a map. You will have to explain like this: I live on the street after the airport road but before the roundabout. Go past the mosque and make a U-turn.
- Unchallenged Laws
In Dubai, if you have the wrong passport or you are the wrong sex in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may experience hardship and unfair treatment. This reality is generally not talked about, and certainly not challenged – and for some it is unpalatable.
The emirate also encourages businesses to hire people from other poor countries to come there and work. They have them sign contracts that are a decade long and then take their passports. Even though taking passports is supposedly illegal, the government knows it happens and does nothing to enforce the law.
These poor people are promised a certain pay, but the companies neglect to tell them they will be deducting their cost of living from their pay checks, leaving them virtually penniless. Note that these companies hold back pay checks for months at a time.
When the workers strike as a result, they are jailed because protesting is illegal. These people will never make enough to buy a ticket home and even if they do, they do not have their passports. They live crammed in portables with tons of others, in highly unsanitary conditions.
- Dubai Taxi Drivers
Aside the fact that roads in Dubai are weird and hard to understand, taxi drivers in Dubai are dangerous. Taxi drivers work very hard here to earn a living because travel by taxi is still relatively inexpensive, even though the cost of living is not.
That’s the more reason you may have a driver who has had little sleep or has had no opportunity to shower for several days. Many of these drivers have just as much difficulty finding their way around as you do, but add to this a third-world country driving style and extreme exhaustion, you get beastly driving lifestyle.
Also speeding is an Emirati sport and the roads are just an extension of the Dubai speed track. Visions of flashing lights can get you blind in the highway. Local nationals are somehow able to get the sun-protecting dark window tint denied lowly expats and use it to hide their faces as they tailgate you incessantly at unbelievably high speeds.
It doesn’t matter that you can’t get over, or if doing so would be particularly dangerous, they will run you off the road to get in front of you. If you try giving someone the finger; the offence could land you in jail. Tailgating is, unbelievably, legal in Dubai.
Indeed, there are benefits to living in Dubai but it’s advisable you reconsider your plans to move if you feel you can’t cope or meet up with some influences present in modern day Dubai.