Has it really been four years? I arrived in Dubai on 10th February 2017 and distinctly remember my first morning: wandering to the nearest Starbucks for a coffee in a beach dress and flip-flops, feeling bemused at seeing Dubai residents in jeans and sweaters. In February 2021 you’ll find me running back home after I’ve left to grab a cardigan “just in case”,  and wearing jeans for the first time in years (bought from Thrift For Good of course). I guess I have acclimatised, in more than one sense. 

I sometimes feel like I’ve always lived here, my memories of holidays and seeing the city change dramatically on each annual visit blurred into my years of actually living here. Yes, living here. My first year more felt like I “existed” here but, four years after boarding an Emirates flight with a one way ticket I definitely feel like the city has embraced me in a way I sometimes doubted it ever could or would.

I’ve definitely had the biggest period of personal growth since moving here at the start of 2017. Four years on and to quickly address some of the most frequent question I get asked: yes, I do like living here!

The Last Year

2020 was definitely a hard year for ex-pats. Moving here I felt very comfortable that Dubai was “only” a seven hour flight from the UK and that I could return home relatively easily. Instead, in 2020 I had to cancel a trip to Istanbul where we planned to meet my parents and a trip back to London for a friend’s wedding. I’ve now not seen my parents for over a year, not been back to London for over two years and not left the UAE for 16 months.

Of course, this isn’t an issue unique to me or to Dubai expats but in a year where travelling was, and still is, difficult I feel grateful to have reached a point where I am happy and settled here. I’ve also been fortunate that two of my friends were able to visit during a brief window in December when flights to and from the UK were operating, but sad that we weren’t able to welcome as many visitors as usual.

I do feel very lucky to be living in a country where the pandemic has been handled really well. Masks have been mandatory since April and aside from a month of strict lockdown and a few months of limited activities, life has felt pretty normal in Dubai since the end of the summer. We have been able to have our first round of the vaccine already and I appreciate how smoothly some things run here and the vaccine process was totally stress-free.

What Has Changed?

Pandemic aside, the last four years have been ones of big change for me. Career wise I spent just over two years at a law firm here before taking some time out, doing my yoga teacher training, getting a full time yoga teaching role and then seeing that end due to the pandemic. For the last year I’ve taught yoga online, started rescuing cats, volunteered for two charities and started a part-time job too. I came out here a single girl and Harry and I have now been together for three and a half years (I honestly might not have stayed so long if I hadn’t swiped on Bumble on a lonely Thursday night).

I also shop far less, drink an awful lot less gin, I drive daily, I no longer live alone and we have a cat! Thanks to yoga, cat rescuing and my bookclub I really feel like I’m part of different communities here. When I first moved here I assumed that this phase in my life wouldn’t be one for friendships but I’m so grateful for the friends I’ve made here who really make living here so much more fun. Despite a pretty anti-social start to live here, and a pandemic thrown in, I feel like my social life is back to how it was in the UK albeit that I’m more likely to meet a friend for a matcha latte or to take a yoga class than go to the pub until closing time. 

Maintaining Old Friendships

I’m still just as close to my London friends as I was when I lived there. In fact, I actually feel like with some friendships I’ve spent more quality time with them since moving to Dubai. That might seem strange but back in London I was super busy working for a corporate law firm, running marathons and trying to maintain friendships from school, university and work. My friends were all in the same position so catching up often meant a quick pre-work breakfast (yes this was often sometimes the only way to see certain friends) or post-work drinks once in a blue moon when neither of us had a work emergency to deal with.

Living here has meant that I’ve been able to have friends to stay and really spent entire days with them which is such a luxury! Of course, not all of my friends have been able to come visit, especially with the pandemic but Zoom chats, WhatsApp groups, Instagram and having a handful of friends become Zoom yoga students has meant that I’ve felt pretty connected to both my friendships and my former home city.

What’s Next?

We are definitely planning on staying here for a while longer. While nothing is ever certain I feel like Harry and I are settled here. I’m still developing my yoga teaching career and here feels like a great place to do it. I feel like I’m super busy every day doing things I love and feel like I know the city so well now. I don’t think anywhere is the perfect place to live and I still have to stop myself converting prices back to pounds (the cost of living is very high) but I’m so grateful to live in a city which feels so safe and so easy to live in. I just hope that we can escape to somewhere cooler this summer and see family and friends other than on a Zoom call…

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Have you ever lived, or considered, living abroad? I’m always happy to chat more about moving to the UAE!