What's up Youtube and welcome back to another
video. In today's episode we are going to be discussing
the realities of living in Dubai. Just to warn you up front, this video is not
for everyone. Ideally this video is targeted to people that
are looking to move to Dubai or probably interested in what is life actually like in Dubai. So let's get started these are common questions
that I get asked all the time and I thought I would just put a video out there. I lived in Dubai now for 25 years. I moved outside for university and boarding
school then i came back again. I would like to give you a very neutral opinion
on what Dubai is actually like. So you are going to hear a lot of good things
and bad things and I just kinda want to give it to you straight up. Is Dubai a country? No, a lot of people think that Dubai is actually
a country and it's kinda funny, its not a country, it's not even the capital, its just
a city. So Dubai is a city within the United Arab
Emirates Abu Dhabi is the capital of United Arab Emirates or we just say U.A.E. Do you speak Arabic? I personally
speak a little bit of Arabic because I took a course outside to learn it, a lot of people
don't. You don't have to learn Arabic. Its not compulsory. This is a very English speaking country. So no matter where you go, English is the
most common language. Which is great, if you want to communicate
with people, its quiet straight forward. What is the weather like? So you probably hear that the weather is hot
all the time. That is not entirely true, it is hot for maybe
about 5 months of the year, the rest of the year is actually pretty decent. You talking more or less tropical weather. I know it's not a tropical country but you
are going to get a lot of beach weather and everywhere I go I can not drive with my windows
open. I need to have it open the fresh breeze, it's
really amazing. So we are talking from the months of end of
October / November to around end of April you are going to have pretty decent weather
and actually December time it gets quiet cool in the evenings. Summer months which we consider roughly from
May to September, that yes it will get really hot The thing is, in Dubai, you are not actually
outside all the time. Majority of the time you are literally from
your house jumping into a car from your car to your work. So you are always inside, so where ever you
go there is always air-conditioning so you never really feel the heat as well. If you have a construction job or your job
has something to do outside like a lifeguard, yes it can be quiet hot. 3 to 5 months will be a little bit tough on
you. The weather fluctuates but it is not always
hot you do ge t good weather as well. Is it safe? Yes it is pretty safe here. I think a lot of people move to Dubai because
it is very safe. You don't have to worry about, you know, things
getting stolen and there is a lot of cases and a lot of scenarios that you hear that
people have actually gone to the banks and I don't know why they have done this but they
have come out with huge bags of cash, I am talking thousands of dollars, you hear it
time and time after again that taxi drivers happen to hand in this bag of cash which then
somehow gets returned to the owner. I think it is quiet amazing to hear stories
like that. I used to have a Jeep Wrangler and I used
to have my roof open and I would never be worried for someone jumping in it to take
something or steal something. You are not going to have these common break
in's that you would have in the UK where people would smash your windows. You are pretty safe in that sense. You do have to have a little bit of common
sense, obviously just don't leave your mobile lying around because you know, someone might
take it but in most cases you will never hear much stories of people stealing things over
here. What is it like to live in Dubai? Plenty of activities, you know you will be
surprised how much activities Dubai has to offer you and I mean you are having things
like Sky Diving, to a lot of water sports, to going into the desert, camping to, so much
stuff here, like really it is incredible the amount of activities that you have here. There is a lot to offer here but then again
it comes down to what it is that you actually do. I think your job is very important. If you don't have the right job or the right
group of friends, it can be a little tough on you as well. This is a major factor. I am very fortunate to be in a good position. I've heard and seen people other people in
the opposite position. I love to mix with different culture, I have
met so many different people from different countries world wide and it's kinda allowed
me to have a very open mind open opinion about everyone I am never biased about anything, and I guess
that is because you learn a lot of different things from different people. What is the working life like? It's tough. It's a working city. A lot of people come out here because they
want to make money and you know the first thing is if you do have a job opportunity
and someone is offering to move out to Dubai, you probably are very interested in the cash
that they are offering and your like, you know what they are paying me a lot more, why
not? If you come from the western side you might
find it really tough because at least you have working hours. I am not saying that you don't have working
hours here but you tend to work a little bit more and you might not necessarily be paid
overtime for that. Which is very normal here and when you go
to the east side of the world, that is just normal anyways. You know, you don't have working time limits
from 8am to 5pm. So that is your contracted time but you are
also expected to stay you know, to work till 7pm 8pm depending on, how urgent
the job is. In general, you are making good money but
you are working very hard for it as well. Can you drink alcohol? Yes, there is a lot of places that serve alcohol. By law you need a license which a lot of people
should apply for, a lot of people may not have that license and the thing is where ever
you goto any bar, club its not like they are checking for a license. So as long as you are 21 year old and older
your allowed to drink, there's a lot of great parties here. A very common thing that they do have here
is something called brunches. So the way that the brunches work is like
you pay a set amount and you get unlimited good and beverage. So here is the thing, alcohol is permitted,
however there is a lot of people that may abuse that in a country that it's also can
be a sensitive subject. Obviously if you are going to go out and have
fun you don't want to cause trouble. If you are causing trouble or problems, you
can get into serious trouble here. Even though the government is very allowing
you to drink and go out and have fun you need to do it in certain areas and you can't obviously
run out on the streets and do silly things because that is going to put you into a lot
of trouble. How's the driving & can women drive? Yes women can drive here, that is not a problem. The driving can be a little bit tough, especially
depending where you are coming from. I mean, you know, if you are indicating to
jump into a left lane, normally you would expect the person to allow you to pull in
or in front of them. Here it's kinda, you got to push or fight
a little bit, so, yes the driving can be a little bit tough and it's not easy for a lot
of people. It can be a little bit more on the higher
speeds. You may feel people are not respecting the
certain rules as much as they would really respect them in Europe. If you see a stop sign, they are going to
stop. If you see a pedestrian, they will stop. Here, it may not be as common to stop but
you do get used to it. I just advice you to do a little bit of meditation
before you drive out here. Is everyone in Dubai rich? No, not everyone in Dubai is rich. I hear this all the time. You will be surprise, there is a lot of people
with no wealth and there is a lot of people with a lot of wealth. It's a big mix, there are many different classes
here. You can make very good money out here, depending
on your job and your career and you can make very little money over here but that little
money might still be considered good money compared to back home. So again, it really depends on jobs you are
doing. I know again, I always relate everything to
construction, I used to work in construction so I kinda have a background in that. I have seen laborers being paid for about,
$200 a month. Back home where they would be from, they probably
wouldn't even get get $50. For them that's really good and they get accommodation,
they get benefits from the company, they get flights to go back home. What ever the job ism a lot of the times when
you do come out here to Dubai, you are getting a package with that. Cost of living So Dubai is getting more expensive, then again
you look at places like in Europe and other places around the world. All the prices are increasing, there is no
different here. Sometimes you go to the supermarket and you
come back thinking, what did I just buy? I don't even have any food but yeh unfortunately,
i guess we all need to go vegan these days. I am already getting there. So food can be little bit pricey, you can
get cheap places as well. I am not saying that everything is expensive. Oh I think I just did say that. Seriously, over time you are going to start
to learn how to survive here. Accommodation, depends on your job of course
because, if you are getting a good salary you will be able to live in an apartment by
yourself / in a studio apartment. If your salary is ok, you might be sharing
with other people. What is there to do? It depends on your character, what are you
looking to do, but you are probably going to find everything. If you are looking to see a lot of the touristic
things in Dubai, even though I am a resident and I have been here for let's say, 25 years,
there is a lot of places that I have never been to. For instance, Sir Bani Yas in Abu Dhabi, it's
an Island that i would never ever think to go to, and I never even realized that they
had cheetahs on that island till one week ago. So there is a lot of things to explore and
discover within the UAE but people don't realize that. In terms of restaurants, food is what the
middle east culture is about. You are going to be eating a lot, so you most
probably are going to put a little bit of weight on. Everything you do is pretty much food related
when ever you go out with friends, your probably going to go out and eat something and the
food is quite decent. You are going to have a lot of good food out
here. Finally, if you are into shopping you are
probably not going to have a bank account anymore. You have an infinite amount of shopping, clothes
here, and clothes for everyone. If you are looking for the higher class market,
you have the top luxury brands all over the malls. If you are looking for affordable stuff, you
also have things that you can go to certain markets and souqs where you can get very cheap
t-shirts and clothing and you will be surprised, they are quite good quality as well. Can I bring my pet? Yes, you are allowed a pet in Dubai, I have
a dog. It might be a little bit tough cause you cannot
take dogs everywhere, if you go somewhere lets say like in California they probably
will allow you to take it into restaurants and where ever you want. Here they allow us to take them around to
certain parks and certain areas. It has to be on a lead, lets say, if it is
a dog. Cats i guess are just roaming around from
what I have seen. But every animal needs to be registered, they
need to have all the vaccinations and if they do catch you without it, they probably will
take your pet away. If you are looking to bring your kids here,
it is pretty decent. School was fun. Put it this way, it was interesting. Depending where you are from and what you
are looking for, you have British schools you have American schools, you have Indian
schools, you have schools just for the locals. You have all the different types of schools
from private to public and I think its also good to be here for so many years but also
good to go outside to understand how other people think and the educational system there
because if you do decide live in Dubai for a very long period of time, it's also good
to bring the outside knowledge back in. If you made it this far in the video I just
want to say thank you for watching it, you must some what be interested in it. I hope this information helped you out. If it did, give me a big thumbs up for the
video, if I didn't leave a comment down below, hopefully I can try to get back to you and
help you out with a question that I might of not had in the video. If you did like these types of video or want
to find out more stuff about Dubai, again please let me know and I will be more than
happy to make these type of videos. Alright guys and we are done. Subscribe
