1.  We lived in Doha from the summer of 2007 to the summer of 2009. At the time of moving to Doha we had a 3 year old and a 10 month old. I loved living there and we thought we would spend years there but my husband got offered a job in Dubai that was just too good an opportunity to say no to. Being honest, I was absolutely gutted.

2. My husband and I are both Irish but we have never lived in Ireland as a couple! Married life started out in Aberdeen and then we moved to Brunei, Borneo. Both our children were born during our 3 and a half years there. So I really cannot comment on moving anywhere from Ireland!

3/4. I loved Dubai from day one and realised very quickly that it was the best thing that had happened to us as a family. Doha, when we left, is probably how Dubai was in the nineties. We live in the suburbs so to speak, just off the Emirates Road. I rarely get caught in a traffic jam since the school and huge mall are all along this road. Schools can be an issue if you have children up to the age of 9 or so. There is huge demand for the more popular schools. The biggest difference is probably housing. The finishes are superb and most of the compounds have swimming pools, playgrounds, shops, restaurants, beauty salons, etc. An excellent website for checking out houses is at www.dubizzle.com. Here you can also buy second hand furniture etc. The other difference is that I drive between 700 and 1000km a week! However since it is on a six lane highway most of the time, you do not notice it. Driving standards are a little better than in Doha in my opinion. Every school has school bus transport but I would highly recommend finding your school and then your home if it is possible. You do not want to spend hours on a school run every day. Arabian Ranches is extremely popular with ex-pat families and the children, as well as you, will find friends very quickly.

 

Living in Dubai, you are living in a sophisticated, cosmopolitan, over-the-top city on one hand and a very family oriented place on the other. Choosing where you live here, will dictate the pace of your life so do choose carefully!

Before we moved here, I had never visited Dubai.  My husband moved in May while I went back to Ireland with the children. I checked out houses in Arabian Ranches on Dubizzle and he went and viewed them until we found the right one. This meant that when I arrived in mid-July, our shipment had arrived, blinds were up in all the bedrooms and it was like home form home for the kids at least. I can highly recommend this! it will take about 6 weeks for you to receive your shipment and allow a little longer if you move during Ramadan. Everyone was well settled by the time school and nursery started in September

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The other thing to mention is that the Irish community here in Dubai is huge and the Irish Society organises many great events throughout the year such as the St Patrick's Day Ball. What I do miss is the fact that the community is so big, I am not as involved as I was in Doha. There are no monthly meetings for Mums and kids, etc. There is a super "Santa in the Desert" though!