So how did you get here?

[Dunk1982]

Out of interest really, just interested to know how/why what drew fellow PHers out here? I mean the Middle East isnt for everyone and we cant all be here just for cheap petrol! Was it a job you already had back home that had a position open up over here or like myself actually looked for a job in the GCC?

My dad worked for a Sheikh in Q8 in the 70's before he met my mum, then we lived in Dubai/RAK in 84/85/86ish, i came to Dubai for a bit in the early 2000's but didnt hang around long and now i'm in Bahrain. So ive had a conection with this part of the world for a while, hence what drew me back out here.

Like i said purely out of interest and being nosey and bored at work on a Saturday......!!!

[Hitch78]

Plane I think, yep, deffo on a plane. Big one it was.

On a less churlish note: an old MD of mine is now CEO of a big division at the firm I now work at, he tapped up my old Director to run a project out here and five of us who used to work for him three or four years ago came out too.

Funnily enough they've both moved on to other positions or firms now so the connection is now lost. Fortunately I got an interview with the regional MD when I came out too so he threw me the lifeline when I got binned by my client the other week.

It's not what you know..

[Dunk1982]

Yeah mine was just a average size plane ! Remember your job thing a while back, that was lucky!

I should have mentioned as well if youre working for a UK based company or an international one or a local one like me as imho i think that makes a differrence out here as well.

[Chilli]

Well, for me....sick of London, the politics, the bullst, the pathetic justice system, the endless taxes that go to pay for everything that it shouldn't, etc, etc, I just had had enough of the UK. So I applied for a NZ residency visa, and got accepted, due to the Mrs being a Kiwi. So, jobs quit, house rented, belongings in a container, we were just about to leave when a mate I used to work with phoned up and asked if I wanted a 3 month job in Dubai. Well, it would have made a nice holiday, so why not. Thing is, you try gretting a nice place to live for 3 months...not easy. Anyways there was talk of extending the contract, perhaps going perm....so we're still here 6 months later. Hoping to hang around for a bit longer, as I need to recouperate the tens of thousands I've spent getting here and getting home and car set-up. Off to NZ in August for a 2 week holiday, with no guarantee I'll be on the return leg!

Just have to see what happens I guess!

[Mattt]

I was working in Commercial Property in the City, I could see the writing on the wall, and the 3.5hrs a day commute was pissing me off.

Internal job came up, moving to O&G - so I jumped at it without really considering anything else, and then before I knew it I was here.

Got fed up of that after a year, so started looking around - and was offered a transfer back into Energy, and took it.

2 weeks left, it's been 3 months seen I've seen the OH, friends & family - so I can't wait to get out now.

I'll miss parts of the UAE, but I couldn't keep on doing what I'm currently doing. I'm looking forward to my new 40hr flexi-time week!!

[Hitch78]

Forgot to add - I really hated my life in the UK.

I was in consulting for a 'big 4 firm' and was leaving home at 5am on a Monday, coping with my seniors crumbling personalities and nervous failures and my clients ridiculous demands (because of the crazy rates they were paying) during my 80 hour weeks and arriving home about 7pm on a Friday shattered and up for nothing but sleep. Plus I was growing really resentful of most British people, the press and the endless obsession with celebrity that passes for modern 'culture' in the UK.

I'm home about half five every day now - just in time for a swim before the sun goes down before I cook and have dinner with the wife.

This place can drive you a little crazy (esp. if you're a big girls blouse like Chilli!) but it is easy street for me!

[Fer]

Some of us haven't quite made it yet.

I did a couple of projects in Dubai, one for BAT, and the other for Nokia. Moved back to London, and have been dreaming of finding the right role back in Dubai for a while now.

Still looking...

[dxbtiger]

moved here in 85 at the tender age of 6, stayed here until 95 where I moved back to the UK.

Had moved out here with the old man who was/is an architect.

Although I love England, never really felt truly settled there, moved back here pretty much 3 years ago to the day, wondering why I left it soooo damn long!!

Unless I really REALLY have to, don't ever want to live in the UK again at this point. Lovely place ruined by the vast majority of those that live there and/or govern it.

[oilydan]

My Father was an electrical eng. for Saudi Airlines in the 70's/80's so spent 12 years there.

Many years later my job in O&G took me on secondment for a 3 year contract in Muscat. after that moved upwards in the company an to Region Head Office in DXB. Quit there and joined smaller company that was just in the process of being bought by one of the global-mega-O&G-corps so saw an opportunity to make a small company huuuge.

Next stop Global HQ in Houston..... Or if I screw it up; region base in Nigeria.

[Dunk1982]

Wow, interesting answers thanks! Seems we are all on the same wavelength when it comes to Blighty as well, i'll be going home at some point but would never rule out coming back to the ME.

I have always wanted to live and work in the US but homeland security make sure that will never happen! Especially now with Middle East visas in my passport!! Working in O&G could be a way in but all i know about that is burning O through an engine and producing G through my body!!

[Dunk1982]

dxbtiger said:

moved here in 85 at the tender age of 6, stayed here until 95 where I moved back to the UK.

Here in 85!? Where did you live?? We probably crossed paths? Although i cant remeber without exact dates if we were living in Dubai still or RAK, when we lived in Dubai we lived in Desert Springs, in 2005 it was still there although run down to hell and right next to the Mall of the Emirates so its probably a highway now, cant remeber seeing it on my recent visits like last month.

[Ecosseven]

I’ll be honest and say I’m here for the money. Yes, the UK has it’s faults but I still consider it home and still have a house, friends and family there. The UAE is OK but I get frustrated by the lack of culture, history, scenery and also by the long working hours.

[dictys]

I had spend most of my life travelling and living abroad either with parents then work spending little time in the UK until late 90's. Then worked in the UK for various different companies before spending the last 8 years working for a city law firm. Had a daughter in 2008 and decided I really don't like a 4hr commute each day so transferred to our Dubai office here. For me the biggest thing is no commute (15mins), shorter working hours and spending much, much more time with my daughter, also a great view out the window over the Arabian Gulf. If I decide to move from here it will be quite a while and I'll move to our San Francisco office, before early retirement on Vancouver Island.

[yorky500]

I came here on a big bird in the sky from Hong Kong in Oct 04. Work was drying up for expats in HK (was there for 7.5 years) so decided that I needed something else, UK held no attraction whatsoever, so was offered a position here. Came for interview, have to admit Dubai was not what I was expecting, but took the job and am still here.

[Asterix]

My family have had links with the ME since the mid 70's. My first trip to the region was to Qatar in 1977 at the tender age of 8 (and the best scalextric Christmas ever!).

I'm from a family of expats and I'd travelled loads thanks to the Army and music industry so when I was offered a job in 2003 to run a film production company in Dubai by an old family friend, it didn't take me too long to make up my mind.

It is what it is - It's a completely different culture but I stand by the fact that I have learnt more about doing business here than I would have in the UK. Very good education and a good test to see if you can hack it in an 'interesting' environment.

[Desert Dog]

My Dad left the UK when he was 16 and was a permanent expat (refrigeration engineer) since then. I was born in Uganda 1960 and my brother was born in Kuwait in 1963. After bouncing around the world with them, my brother and I were banished to boarding school whilst they did Nigeria and Greece. They arrived in the UAE in 75 / 76 and I used to come out for holidays from boarding school. After college I started my first ever job in 1982 in Abu Dhabi after putting an ad in the Gulf News - if was a lot easier then! I've been in the UAE ever since apart from 2.5 years in South Africa and 2.5 years back in the UK. Looks like I'm here for the duration now!

[Hitch78]

Desert Dog said:

My Dad left the UK when he was 16 and was a permanent expat (refrigeration engineer) since then. I was born in Uganda 1960 and my brother was born in Kuwait in 1963. After bouncing around the world with them, my brother and I were banished to boarding school whilst they did Nigeria and Greece. They arrived in the UAE in 75 / 76 and I used to come out for holidays from boarding school. After college I started my first ever job in 1982 in Abu Dhabi after putting an ad in the Gulf News - if was a lot easier then! I've been in the UAE ever since apart from 2.5 years in South Africa and 2.5 years back in the UK. Looks like I'm here for the duration now!

You must wander round thinking 'I remember when this was all desert' more than most. More than the know-it-alls who've been here for like five years and act as if they discovered the place!

Interested in the 'here for the duration' comment though, how does that work when you retire?

[Desert Dog]

Hitch78 said:

Desert Dog said:

My Dad left the UK when he was 16 and was a permanent expat (refrigeration engineer) since then. I was born in Uganda 1960 and my brother was born in Kuwait in 1963. After bouncing around the world with them, my brother and I were banished to boarding school whilst they did Nigeria and Greece. They arrived in the UAE in 75 / 76 and I used to come out for holidays from boarding school. After college I started my first ever job in 1982 in Abu Dhabi after putting an ad in the Gulf News - if was a lot easier then! I've been in the UAE ever since apart from 2.5 years in South Africa and 2.5 years back in the UK. Looks like I'm here for the duration now!

You must wander round thinking 'I remember when this was all desert' more than most. More than the know-it-alls who've been here for like five years and act as if they discovered the place!

Interested in the 'here for the duration' comment though, how does that work when you retire?

Hitch, I guess I reached a turning point in my life last year when I decided I wasn't cut out for working for others! I turned 50 (weird typing that number!) and had been racing privately as www.teamsaluki.com for the last 14 years and decided that it was about time to make the brand pay for itself by opening up the garage Saluki Motorsport. I had also gone through the options of returning to the UK but after spending so many years in the UAE I fast realised that I would'nt be able to cut it as I have virtually no contacts over there, but have 100's if not 1000's here, hence the 'I'm here for the duration' comment. There will be a time when I return but don't see that for at least another 10 years. Fortunately I have a very supportive wife who shares the same dreams and goals as I do!

[Dunk1982]

When I were a lad sheikh zayed highway was a two lane road between desert springs and the sea with large amounts of sand everywhere!
We lived in shoebox in middle of t' road! luxury!

If i had a scanner and all my old pics i could bore you all to death with them!

[Asterix]

Dunk1982 said:

When I were a lad sheikh zayed highway was a two lane road between desert springs and the sea with large amounts of sand everywhere!
We lived in shoebox in middle of t' road! luxury!

If i had a scanner and all my old pics i could bore you all to death with them!

Would love to see them. I remember Qatar back in the 70's and it was literaly a one camel town.

What I think most forget is that not that long ago Dubai was the poor cousin to Sharjah.

I have some pics that I'll post up.