Moving to Dubai: Initial Thoughts

Moving to a new country is always an exciting thing, I presume. And I am sure that there are tons of steps that needs to be taken and a lot of things to consider. Things like, accommodation, food, transportation, and everything else that goes in between and the steps to insure that all of these requirements are met.

So far, I haven't moved to Dubai yet. I am still in Muscat. I may be moving anytime soon and here are my initial thoughts of how things will be like in Dubai.


After I find a suitable accommodation and precede to go live in Dubai (a post will be created soon on my search for accommodations), I will most probably start looking into which places I may easily buy groceries. A man has got to eat, right?
I don't know where I might be living yet so I can't really make much arrangments in that area.
Although, I already started looking into the prices of regular groceries in Dubai and they are a tiny bit more expensive than Oman. Which is not too bad since I was expecting much worse. That is, of course, if you shop in a hypermarket and not in your "daily around the corner" cold store. Even for the smaller things like toothpaste, shaving cream and so forth... They tend to add up in the end.

From what I've experienced in my last visit to Dubai, the petrol prices are very high if compared with Oman's. I even noticed that people traveling from the two countries, tend to fill their tanks within the Omani border. This will be a huge concern to me because I am already having trouble with filling up my tank here in Oman. This will also mean that where ever I might be living, it has to be close to my college campus which is in Knowledge Village in Jumaira. Of course that area is not even considered a possible place to live in because it is extremely expensive.

Entertainment is also important. But when I was in Dubai the last time, I found that going out is no cheap thing to do. Even going to the movies is kinda expensive. I mean, tickets costs 30 Dirhams (AED) which is a little over 3 Omani Rials (RO) and after getting nachos and a coke, it all adds up to about 50 - 60 AED which is between 5 - 6 RO. I know that people living in Dubai may not find this much but you don't only go out for a movie and come back home after it (with me at least). You usually go for dinner after that at the very least and that's another hell lot to spend. In Muscat, a movie ticket will cost you 2.5 RO which is not that much different from Dubai and nachos & coke will cost you around 1.4 RO which will all total up to 3.9 RO. You see the difference now? That means, add dinner to that and you will have payed pretty much what you payed for only a movie in Dubai.

And this is all just the minimal entertainment. I never went to a night club in Dubai but the ones that are in Oman will cost you between nothing to get in to a maximum of 10 RO in special night or in certain night clubs. Good thing I am not much of a drinker or that would have been a budget all on its own.
And so, this is something for me to find out.

These are some of my initial thoughts about Dubai before I move there yet. I may add some more thoughts in the few coming days before I leave or I may not, depending on the time that I have.
Once I already move to Dubai, I will update you with how things are really like by comparing them to this list of initial thoughts. It should be very interesting.