Three Years in Dubai

Six years ago, on my flight from Bali, where I spent eight years of my life, I had a mixture of feelings—I knew that it was time to move on, but at the same time, I knew I would miss lots of moments. A few days ago, after three years in Dubai, I felt nothing but relief during the boarding. In this post, I gathered the good and the bad parts of the UAE’s most famous emirate.

Pros

Let’s start with the good ones.

Safety

The UAE is the safest place I have ever been to. For three years, I didn’t encounter any unsafe situations at all. We kept our doors unlocked during the day. Parcels were left in front of apartments and could stay there for weeks, untouched. I have forgotten my wallet many times in different places, and it has always been returned to me safe and sound.

In the first week, we took a taxi, and at the end of the ride, I realized that my wallet with local cash was not in my pocket. I looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. I told the driver I had lost my wallet and offered him $100 for a ride since I didn’t have smaller bills. He refused and spent about 10 minutes searching for my wallet, which he eventually found deep under the seat. He could have kept around $1000 in local cash plus $100, but he chose to do the right thing. I was shocked.

Hatred and discrimination

Hatred and discrimination of any kind are illegal in the UAE. Period. If you’re willing to be in the UAE, you must keep this shit outside.

Winter

Winter here is divine. It’s not hot, but not too cold either—usually around 15–25°C. Lots and lots of sun and only a few rainy days. Unfortunately, it only lasts about 3–4 months a year, then things go downhill.

Services

From government to consumer services, almost everything is digitalized. A company can be established remotely. The visa process doesn’t require a personal appearance except for a medical examination (on each renewal) and fingerprints (a one-time thing). Lots of apps for this and that. However, the UX in many of them is still lacking.

Infrastructure

From what I’ve seen, every building has a pool and a gym. It might seem minor, but it is incredibly convenient.

Most of the malls are nice and spacious. Many are crowded, though. I find the Dubai Hills Mall to be the most pleasant one.

That being said, I don’t think the UAE has the option not to have these perks since residents are forced to spend at least half a year indoors due to the extreme heat.

Zero tax rate

0% tax rate on personal income—sounds great on paper, but there are catches.

Attractions

Dubai is well-known for its landmarks and futuristic vibes. Here are the places I liked the most.

Downtown

The best place to enjoy the iconic view of Dubai is from Level 42 of the Shangri-La Hotel—the top spot in the area.

Desert

We took an overnight tour in winter. The weather is perfect during the daytime, though it gets a bit chilly at night. Honestly, the location doesn’t matter much: Dubai, Ras Al-Khaimah, any emirate will do.

Hatta Lake

Rugged, reddish-brown mountains surround the Hatta Lake. While it’s not the most breathtaking place I’ve been to, and the lake itself is overcrowded most of the time, escaping into the mountains from Dubai was refreshing. We did a late-night hike, got a little lost, and that ended up being the best part, haha.

Aquariums

The Lost Chambers in Dubai is nice, though much smaller compared to SeaWorld in Abu Dhabi. SeaWorld is impressive, especially the Endless Ocean area. Plan for a full day if you want to explore all its zones.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

A stunning place that looks like it’s straight out of a Disney movie. Besides visiting the mosque itself, consider dropping by the Oasis of Dignity—the view from there is a chef’s kiss.

Dubai’s beaches are usually great. La Mer is nice, but on the expensive side. Kite Beach is the best for general visits, though it gets crowded on weekends.

Cons

Now, let’s do the bad parts.

Summer

As good as winter is here, summer is just as awful. I lived for about eight years near the equator, but the heat here hits differently. The combination of high temperatures and humidity turns Dubai into a giant sauna. In cold places, you can always put on more clothes; in hot places, your only option is to stay indoors. And honestly, it sucks big time.

Cost of living

Let’s break down the main expenses for a family of three aiming for a decent, but not luxurious, lifestyle in Dubai.

The total is about $6,550/month for the points above. You can go lower in some and much higher in most, but I believe that’s the fair average. We were lucky to grab the apartment in the post-COVID period when prices were much lower.

Note that it doesn’t include transportation, entertainment, visa/legalization, or other costs because they are highly individual.

Also, pretty much every long-term service requires a deposit:

From my perspective, the only way to feel financially comfortable here as a middle-class expat is to have a secure job that covers at least your visas, good medical insurance for the family, and schooling or nursery fees. If you’re on your own and responsible for all these costs, the zero tax rate is quickly offset by the high cost of living.

Things are easier if you don’t have kids, though.

Health care

The cheapest medical insurance in Dubai for high-skilled professionals costs around 1,100 AED/year (~$300/year), but this comes with minimal coverage and a 20% copay. Essentially, it’s only useful for emergencies.

For our family of three, we paid about $7,900/year. This wasn’t the cheapest option, nor the most expensive. We chose this package because our daughter has allergies, and we needed a hospital nearby. Lower-tier packages didn’t offer coverage for hospitals in our area, so we had little choice.

Here are some additional remarks—both positive and negative:

Life in Simulation

Although clean and sparkling, Dubai is an artificial city. I failed to find a sense of soul here. It lacks nature. It lacks engaged people. At least, this is how I feel about this place.

From what I have seen, expats in Dubai tend to fall into two main categories: people who came to make a living, and people who have already made a living and are here for the tax benefits. Both groups are mostly focused on money. That said, I haven’t met anyone here passionate about non-monetary things who actually plans to stay in Dubai for the long term.

Looking back, I realize I didn’t do much that I’d call “valuable” in these three years.

The whole place seems like a massive transit hub where people briefly pause on their journey to somewhere else, never fully present, exchanging polite but shallow interactions, and then move on to something else. It’s my experience, though. YMMV.

Resale market

Pretty much non-existent for anything outside of real estate, cars, or things of the sort. I often buy things and then sell them if they go unused, but here I struggled to sell even quality items like photography gear or keyboards. On average, selling a camera lens took me around half a year. As for keyboards, I wasn’t able to sell any at all. I got tons of lowball offerings, though. When it came time to move, I ended up selling the gear I couldn’t take with me for peanuts.

Construction

Construction is literally everywhere in Dubai. This is the view from our balcony.

Construction means permanent noise, dust, and smell.

On my walks, I even made a game out of trying to avoid construction sites—I rarely won.

Noise

Dubai is extremely noisy. Heavy traffic and constant construction are the main culprits. After a while, that level of noise just becomes your baseline—you barely notice it until you leave. It feels so good to fly out of it to some truly quiet place.

Walkability

Dubai is mainly designed for cars, not for humans. I believe I lived in the most non-walkable district. Even when a pedestrian zone exists, it inevitably ends with a road lacking crossings, a construction site, or simply a barren field of sand.

Air quality

Dubai is one of the most polluted cities. I’m not totally sure what exactly contributes to it, but guessing it’s heavy traffic, construction sites, and naturally lots of sand. On the beach, I could clearly see the layer of sand floating in the air.

All of this increases the risk of respiratory issues. Indeed, at some point, I noticed that I started clearing my throat and coughing more often.

Banking

Most banks are old-school, large, clumsy hippos with traditional products and rigid digital infrastructure. I have/had accounts in several banks, and the best experience by far was with WIO. I don’t think I ever had significant issues with them. The app is great. The products are great. Although support wasn’t always as responsive as I’d like, I rarely needed it, so it wasn’t a major problem.

As for the worst, I'm torn between Emirates NBD and CBD. Whenever I had an issue, it typically took two or even three visits to a branch to resolve it. Phone support was sometimes available, but I struggled to understand Indian folks over the phone.

Opening a business account was an epic saga that lasted about six months. I even had to update my LinkedIn, huh. But to be fair, it was mainly due to my citizenship.

Digital UX

Even though Dubai is heavily digitalized, the UX of local services is far from great. I still break into cold sweats remembering my experience with Du support—a mobile and internet provider. Their support bot is useless, yet it's the only way to interact with support. Once you break through to a human agent, the session has an implicit timeout, so if you can't resolve your issue within the 10-minute timeframe, it disconnects you, and you have to start over. No ticket history, nothing.

In general, a product design in the UAE is at a stage where flashy animations are considered cool, and you're forced to sit through 5-second welcome screens with things flying all over in pretty much every app.

In the past, Dubai was nothing more to me than a huge transport hub where I’d catch connecting flights to beautiful Southeast Asia. Circumstances forced me to get to know the city much better, but it never really became anything more than that for me.