Phew a bit rushed and down to the wire this week. Hope you are all well! It’s been a mixed bag of a week for me. Firstly though I forgot about my question to you about your motivation for moving to Dubai? I really ought to attempt to answer it myself. We are no longer looking for Utopia that’s for sure and I personally realize there is no paradise unless you’ve won the lottery. I believe we are moving for exactly the same reasons we moved here to Australia. Mainly economic, financial and quality of life improvements.

The biggest motivation for me is to be nearer to the UK and my family and friends. We really did underestimate just how far from home we would be and feel. So there being no romantic expectations for this move we do hope that we will gain in so many other ways. This move essentially will be what we make it and as we’ve lived in the Middle East previously there shouldn’t be too many culture shocks, we hope.

As I mentioned it’s been quite a week. Time is ticking away at rather an alarming rate. My son is settled in halls in university in UK. He’s had a lovely catch up with his ever so patient and loyal girlfriend Kaysi. Spoiling themselves rotten in Yorebridge House in the North Yorkshire Dales. Lucky bean bags! I have to say it made me wistful for home.  The girls finished school on Friday. So it’s been a week of baking (which I do a lot of) and goodbyes. Sadly for Helaina she just seemed to be finding her feet with her peers.  It’s spring break here but the rain just keeps on tumbling down. Its big ole fat rain. A beautiful restful sound plopping on the tin roof. I think I will miss that sound and the lush greenery.

Tentatively started our own goodbyes this week. My good friend and confidant Sally White and her lovely family were round for dinner on Saturday night. It doesn’t feel right leaving them behind at all. We moved to Australia around the same time and have been close ever since. Beth and Liv are firm friends. We call them the ‘only two English girls in the village’. The White family are from Durham and I will never get tired of hearing that unique soft sing song drawl. They are also hoping to escape Sydney in the near future, so here’s hoping they won’t be too far behind.

One of our dogs is all vaccinated ready for the journey but our Ozzie dog Angus is staying behind for a few weeks with the Worland family. Holly is having to come with us initially as no one likes her! She’s a little dog with a bit of a yap and she doesn’t give a great initial impression. Whereas everyone loves dopey Angus! I must give a mention to the Worland’s who have been kind friends. We met many moons ago when the little ones were in St Mary’s Prep Lincoln. Gus is now a presenter on MMM radio station. He’s very kindly torn us apart once or twice for all of Sydney to hear. These are the memories we will take with us. It’s a small world out there.

The biggest bombshell of the week is that all our planning for Beth to stay behind and finish her HSC at boarding school may have been in vain. We are frantically searching for a plan B. We couldn’t find one in the first place so I will keep you posted.  Other than that not so small and insignificant issue we were a little surprised that the company we are joining had expected us to pay for our move and claim back on receipts! Oops.  Oh yes and after a complaint to the local telephone provider we lost all internet, tv and the phone continued to dead as a door post (10 weeks so far). Hours spent trying to resolve? I would say 15! Completely ridiculous and very frustrating. Today they had the cheek to ask me to complete a satisfaction survey after finally restoring my services!

One little smidge of advice I will give the Expat community is always try and rent your home using a commercial Landlord and make sure it is managed. Many Landlords try and cut corners by managing the properties themselves. My experience tells me that you need a middle man. Also a commercial Landlord is less likely to be emotionally attached to his/her property. It really makes sense. This time in Australia we didn’t follow those rules and found we had difficulties fairly quickly with maintenance and emotions.

Anyway have a good week my friends. I will be in touch with more ‘moving to Dubai’ drama soon. Till then…

Donna Holland is from Lincolnshire, England. She is a home maker and mother of three children Ash 21, Beth 18 and Helaina 9. Donna is an ex British Army wife and is a very well traveled expat. She has been married for 22 years to her husband Phil who is a professional engineer. The family is currently based in Sydney, Australia and have lived there for just one year. The family has previously lived in Germany, France and Bahrain. Donna’s family is currently on the move to Dubai and she will be blogging about her family’s experience.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Donna and her family’s journey to Dubai!
If you missed the third installment click here.