A bit of an opportunity has come up. One of my oldest friends and his wife have invited us to come and stay with them in Dubai for a couple of weeks. We have never been to that neck of the planet before. My wife and I are quite keen especially as we all get on very well. He's even got a spare Discovery we can use while there and he has a large house near the beach. Sounds perfect.
Only reservation is our ten year old son. They have no kids and are very much into the ex-pat social whirl.
Have any of you ever spent a family holiday there and if so would you say it could provide enough to occupy a wee boy ?
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sun 21 Mar 10 at 17:38
|
...and are very much into the ex-pat social whirl...
Humph,
A pal of mine was involved in that a few years ago.
It's a very high-spending environment, designer goods, expensive restaurants, Thailand for the weekend, that sort of thing.
I know you are to be a guest, but I'm guessing 'paying your way' could cost quite a lot.
A couple of people I know who've been to Dubai say they enjoyed it, were pleased they went, but wouldn't want to go again.
Oh, and no holding hands in public, we don't want two weeks in the beach house to turn into two months in the big house, do we?
|
I lived in Dubai for 18 months, left town last April.
It's a great place for a short holiday, and my 2 sons (10 and 6 yrs old) loved the week's holiday they had there last year.
Good weather + beach + pool = fantastic for most kids! Wild Wadi water park is a hoot too.
Most restaurants are pricey, although there are plenty of western supermarkets so you can cook-in if you like. Booze widely available, but a bit pricier than the UK. Buy yourself a bottle or 2 at the Arrivals hall when you land, much cheaper.
Cars/petrol/taxi fares cheap as chips. Traffic used to be awful but I gather the recession has helped empty the roads now. Still 2-3 deaths on the road per DAY though...
Holding hands is fine, just not PDA.
Go for it!
|
Not been there but heard there is no income tax!
|
|
quite a few residents now have no income either.
|
As others have said, it is fine for a kid for a couple of weeks holiday ... its a lot quieter there now than the last time I passed through.
The construction bubble has well and truly burst there and unlike neighbouring countries , they do not have the oil or gas resources to keep them solvent.
I know a lot of people who got their fingers well and truly burned in the property market out there.
|
Don't take any drugs that are illegal there, even if they've been prescribed by your doctor, unless cleared first. Don't take any pork pies or salami, etc.
www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/middle-east-north-africa/united-arab-emirates
|
dont go to a party and allegedly get thrown of a balcony
and dont stroke the llamas
Last edited by: Bellboy on Mon 22 Mar 10 at 13:37
|
It seems a lot stricter over there than I had originally believed. From reading some of the news reports it seemed like a bit of an ex-pat party town, where a blind eye was turned by the authorities (in terms of how strict they were with ex-pats vs locals).
There was the case of the couple that were alleged to have had sex on the beach (which would get you in trouble here too), but then the recent case involving kissing and drinking, along with some drug arrests has made me realise that it really is a bit more strict. I am not clear if the drinking charge was actually "public drunkenness" rather than just drinking (which I thought was legal there).
I do not think that I would be comfortable travelling there, given that people seem to get in trouble for what, in this country, would be fairly innocuous things. That is not to judge how they do things out there, just that I would really not feel comfortable.
|
I know that there's no smoke without fire and all that, but I think it's best to take all UK press articles about Dubai with a large pinch of salt. The UK press invariably likes to run the Emirates down on every occasion it can get.
No problems with pork products, they are available in some restaurants and many supermarkets have special pork deli counters. The locals are usually very tolerant of our Western ways unless extremely provoked, and 90% of the population is expat and made to feel welcome.
|
Anyone been to Dubai? - Iffy
