This is my honest review as an expat in the UAE; the parts nobody puts on Instagram. I just turned 42 this week and 4 years in the UAE, and I spent 44 hours to finish this article.
In this article
My first significant relocation: leaving my hometown behind and settling in Romania’s capital to pursue higher education and, of course, start earning.
I moved to Bucharest for my bachelor’s degree (in Foreign Languages, with a focus on English and German), and because I needed money to support my studies, I was looking for a job to help with my daily expenses and nothing else but to attend the Uni courses. Sales assistant at The Body Shop, the first of its kind, in the first-ever Mall in Bucharest, Romania, was my first-ever job. I was 20.
Fast forward the better part of two decades. I traveled and worked across the EU, and lived for more than a few weeks in the Netherlands and in Germany. It felt like home. I felt no change at all.
I was 38 when I faced a challenging decision, considering my age, the global context (the COVID -19 pandemic was almost coming to an end), my career, my parents, and my personal goals and lifestyle.
Two years into our relationship, my partner and I have visited Dubai, Ajman, and Abu Dhabi, and we loved it.
Three years after our amazing vacation in the Emirates, my partner, now of five years, was offered a job in the UAE, one he could not say no to. And one that would have the most impact on our lives.
I’ve been an expat in the EU, but I haven’t felt any difference in my lifestyle, diet, or health.
Within less than a year of our relocation to the UAE, my lifestyle, diet, and health had undergone significant changes.
From tourist to expat in the UAE is a big step, and a slightly painful one.
The Safest Country I Have Ever Been To
I cannot stress this enough. It is a physical feeling as you walk down any street, in any emirate.
It shows up in the stats too, on Numbeo and in the global safety rankings.
Here is what four years as an expat in the UAE looks like in practice, across all seven emirates, at any hour:
- I leave my handbag in the car, and the car unlocked, in any car park, while I do the grocery shopping or walk the promenade. Nothing happens.
- I leave my things on my towel on any beach (yes, iPhone, phones, and laptops included) and go for lunch or enjoy the nice Gulf waters for two hours. Nothing happens.
- July 2025, I left my iPhone on a sofa in a hotel lobby. Four hours later, I picked it up at reception.
- I leave my iPhone and laptop on the table in the coffee shop on the terrace outside; I go to the ladies’ room, come back, no worries.
- Walking at 3am. Anywhere.
I am telling you what I do, not what you should do. Your insurer will take a different view on unlocked cars. I do it because in four years nothing has ever gone missing.
We only notice it when we leave. We take it for granted until we do not have it.
So who are the seven emirates?
Abu Dhabi
The capital and the largest emirate. It is the political center, and the embassies are here. I love spending time in Abu Dhabi. With every single visit, we make sure to see the Louvre and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque again, and again, and again.
Al Ain sits inside this emirate and is my favorite place in the country. The best UAE produce I have eaten comes from there.
More about Abu Dhabi: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/abu-dhabi-essential-travel-guide
Dubai
The innovation hub and the hottest tourist destination on the planet right now. I have never in my life met a person who has not heard of Dubai.
The consulates are here, and every business wants an address here. Dubai does not need an introduction from me. People arrive expecting a shopping mall with a skyline attached and leave having eaten breakfast in Satwa and bought spices and gold in Deira.
If you know, you know.
Ajman
The smallest of the seven. Sharjah wraps around most of it on land, though Ajman has its own stretch of Gulf coast and two inland exclaves, Masfout and Manama, which almost nobody mentions.
It is known for lower living costs. And some mornings, on E311, it feels like all seven Emirates are commuting from Ajman to Dubai at the same time.
You can check out some super cool facts about Ajman: https://visit-ajman.ae/
Sharjah
Known as the cultural capital of the UAE, and the government heritage pages will tell you exactly why https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/culture/arab-and-islamic-heritage
Ras Al Khaimah
My second favorite place in the country, and the one social media calls the “Nature Emirate”.
The Hajar Mountains run through it, and Jebel Jais is the only place in the UAE where I have needed a jacket in January. Wadis, hot springs, mangroves, a coastline that is still quiet. This is where I send people who tell me they have seen the UAE and mean they have seen a mall.
You can find the complete RAK guide to download from: https://www.alqasimifoundation.com/about-us-ras-al-khaimah
Umm Al Quwain
I hear people say it is the least populated emirate. We reached it during a small trip to Oman, stopping on the way back to rest at Kite Beach.
Find out more: https://visituaq.ae/discover-uaq/ABOUT-UAQ—2
Fujairah
I have been twice, both times for work, and I wish I remembered more of the surroundings. What I do remember is the roads. Absolutely perfect roads and infrastructure. More on the RTA later.
Until we do a proper long trip there, I will point you to the reference material https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Arab-Emirates
I wrote a bit about the recent events in the region here. It was impossible for me not to.
Traveling back and forth between the UAE and the EU, a small and slightly silly feeling of pride shows up when I say I am in the Emirates now.
It is an honor to be here.
Two people arrived with suitcases and a job offer and built a whole life, and nobody ever made us feel like guests who had overstayed.
Weather, Lifestyle, Hair Fall, and Skin Texture Hit Different for an Expat in the UAE
I don’t know where I’ve seen this on social media; somebody wrote, “UAE has 12 months, 12 personalities”. I’ll try to explain:
- January, now, after 4 Januaries, a little extra blanket when we go to bed is now required. During the day, 22 degrees feels cold now, but I still enjoy it without any jacket. It is such a blessing.
- February, perfect beach weather. Everyone is outside.
- March, last call for brunches in the garden, and you take your last sip of coffee on your balcony.
- April, the AC drama begins. It ends in November.
- May, the preheat phase. The season of wearing your sunglasses indoors is now open.
- June, we are now baking. The water in our pools feels like soup.
- July, we broil. Our cars become weapons.
- August, humidity joins the process, and we go extra crispy.
- September, still 40-plus degrees; you start talking to yourself: “I can do this. It’ll end soon.”
- October, that one cool evening, and you lose your mind.
- November, we’re back in business, baby! Outdoor dining is back.
- December, 24 degrees and Christmas lights on palm trees.
We do not notice the moment we adapt. Our body files the heat under survival and gets on with it, and then, by late November, we are on a beach thinking this is normal while the family group chat sends photos of snow and minus fifteen. Five months hiding indoors here, five months not hiding indoors there. I know which one my knees prefer.
Rain here is rare, not mythical, and less predictable than it used to be.
You definitely need a car if you decide to relocate and live and work in the Emirates. One day you will stand at the edge of a six-lane road, looking at the building you need on the other side, and understand that there is no crossing and there was never going to be one. That is the day you download the rental app.
That said, the RTA has made moving between emirates genuinely easy, safe, and clean. Over the same distance, I arrive at almost exactly the same time whether I drive a rental or take the bus and switch to the metro.
The Dubai Metro has a women-and-children cabin, and I love it. There is AC, it is always clean. I always tell my friends who visit to go take a metro trip on Sheik Zayed Road.
The RTA deserves a medal daily for keeping these roads as safe as they are. Love it!
Fridays are special. Quiet, calm, less traffic. The one day the country sleeps, the streets empty out, and it feels like somebody finally hit pause.
The neighbors activate at 9pm. Everything happens after 9pm. Vacuuming the front door, deliveries, cooking that extremely fragrant biryani, moving in, moving out, drilling something into a wall, a children’s party. Anything, as long as it is after 9pm. As an expat in the UAE, you will notice the entire community comes out then. The roads and the malls get busy.
I tell you, waking up at 2 am because of the fried onion smell is something you don’t recover from soon. Also, something you don’t recover from soon: waiting in front of your building at 12-something am to hand back a rental car because the car rental company called me at 11pm, while I’m in bed almost asleep, telling me their guy is on his way to collect the car in a few minutes, which turned into an hour-something.
New flex. Nobody says anything about having celery and paracetamol delivered to your door in less than 20 minutes?! Where in this world do you have this? A few weeks after I arrived here, I couldn’t sleep because of my sore throat and coughing; no Strepsils tablet or cough syrup in the house. I downloaded an app, and in about 30 minutes I had medicine at my doorstep; this happened around 11pm.
Also, every time I’m making pickles, I always forget to buy celery, and I’m realizing that just when the jars are full and need to be closed, it is such a stress; I cannot describe it; and having an app that brings me celery to the door in 15 minutes is everything.
From June to October, there is no such thing as cold water.
It pains me to say: a simple, classic bob, cut properly, is hard to find in the UAE. When you find someone who can do it, expect around 1200 AED and up. Check before you book; prices move.
And then the part I ended up building a whole website around. We no longer recognize our skin and our hair, and we start blaming anyone else. Yes, all complaints are true. More pimples, more oil on the face, stubborn sun spots, our hair, gone. And the products we are used to no longer count. What’s worse is that it feels like sometimes nothing works. I mean, I started writing about it.
New English, too. I arrived with a C2 level, and today I catch myself saying “you come my house?”, “why you like this”, “too much road”, “same same”, “I finish I go”, “finish, no problem”.
Two concepts I had never heard of before:
Car lift. A service which involves a mini white bus of 30 seats coming to pick the customer up in front of their building and deliver them to their company entrance door. Yes, 30 seats means 30 customers, means 30 stops for pickup and then another 30 for drop-offs. Do the maths on your morning.
Staycation. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what staycation means. All of a sudden, I started hearing it during the summer months. Everybody is taking a staycation.
OK.
Welcome to the real multinational work environment
Nobody is actually from here. Our circle of friends is like a little UN summit.
Saturday brunch has a Filipina, two Indians, a Lebanese, a South African, and whichever Romanian is not traveling, and the conversation switches languages three times before our food arrives.
In the UAE, we sit in meetings where four people agree on a deadline, and this means four different things to all four.
The lesson I’ve soaked up from working in the UAE is that we all learn from diversity, not from sameness. To be with people from different nationalities, races, experiences, and ages is truly a gift.
It also makes you assume less, which is the actual benefit. I no longer assume a three-word email is rude, or that someone who says yes has agreed. I ask now.
Culture, Food and My Favorite Places as an Expat in the UAE
Ramadan has become my favorite time of year. There is something in the air I cannot describe, except that it is peaceful. I do not understand Arabic, and I know nothing about Islamic prayers, and I can still tell the prayers sound different during Ramadan. More beautiful.
As an expat in the UAE, in the first few weeks, I felt like I was on another planet hearing the prayers everywhere, including Carrefour. Now it is simply the shape of the day. We look at the time, then look at each other, and go, but when? We know it is prayer time.
You are offered coffee before anyone asks what you want. Refusing food takes real effort.
The Customer Service in the UAE still surprises us. Things get replaced without an argument. Somebody calls you back. A delivery driver waits while you check the box. There is an app for everything, and it works like magic. It took me less than 24 hours to change my expired driving license using an app. The Emirates ID and the driving license are delivered to your door the next day.
Coming from a place where the default posture in a shop is mild suspicion, this took me an embarrassing amount of time to relax into.
Food from everywhere on earth is available year-round, in every emirate.
The local produce is in every market and supermarket, and it is delicious. I am looking for the Al Ain Farms logo in everything I buy.
We travel for work and to switch off, and we still have not seen everything we should. These are the ones we return to happily:
Dusit Ajman Resort & Villas
Corner Lounge in Ajman
The Lavender Village Ajman
Gazebo City Center Ajman
Al Ain Jebel Hafeet
Al Ain Al Jahili Fort
Al Ain Qasr Al Muwaiji
Louvre Abu Dhabi
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Anantara Eastern Mangroves Abu Dhabi Hotel
The Meydan Hotel Dubai
25hours Hotel Dubai One Central
FIVE Jumeirah Village Hotel
RAW Coffee Company Al Quoz Dubai
Luna Sky Bar at Four Seasons Hotel Dubai DIFC
Fi’lia Dubai
Nola Bijou Bistro & Bar City Walk
L’ETO Dubai Mall
Honeybee Garden Hatta
JA Hatta Fort Hotel
Anantara Mina Ras Al Khaimah Resort
Space Cafe Ras al Khaimah
This is How I have Changed, and the Biggest Lesson the UAE Taught Me
I miss bread and pretzels most of all, and living through all 4 seasons. And I miss that feeling of eating homemade pickles in brine in the cold season, with snow outside the window.
I haven’t lost the Christmas spirit. It is there, in my heart, every December. We have Christmas carols, decorations, and I make a delicious Christmas dinner for both of us every year.
Easter feels strange here, and I have never worked out why.
In other news, I got married. It turns out it is not that bad. I never wanted to get married, which for me meant signing papers and organizing that party where family and people I hadn’t seen or spoken to in eight years had to be invited. It was the principle of it. Why go through the fuss if you are happy and you already know you found the one you want to spend your life with?
Fear
I got my driving license during 12th grade. And I was always afraid of driving. With all the traffic and all the madness across the UAE, I am no longer afraid of driving. You know why? I had no choice. It was either get into the car and drive to work or stay in the house all day and stare at the walls.
Patience
This is it. This is the biggest lesson of them all. Patience. I just … I’m losing it fast. But I can tell things are starting to change for the better. And I have no problem with this.
Working with so many nationalities teaches you that your version of clear is somebody else’s version of blunt, and that a meeting takes the time it takes.
Being stuck in traffic teaches you the rest. Forty minutes on the E311 with no exit and no explanation is a daily lesson in the difference between what you can control and what you cannot. I have made peace with roughly sixty percent of it.
Being away from family is the hard version. You cannot just drop by later. You cannot fix things from here. You learn to hold a worry for six months until you can be in the room, and you do not go back to how you were before.
Compassion, tolerance and family
Three of the UAE’s foundational values. It is not that I never had them. It is that living somewhere they are stated out loud made me notice when I was not practicing them.
Being away from my family, I realized my husband is my family now; it hits different.
I wrote a book
The impact of relocation was so big that it inspired me to actually put it all in a guide about hair fall, and so The Dubai Guide for Hair Loss came about.
What are the cons of living in the UAE
Fake products and scam calls are the easy cons. These are the ones that decide whether you can stay.
If you are not on your father’s or your husband’s visa, your residency is tied to your job. If the employment ends, the visa follows, and you have a grace period to sort out your status or leave. It changes decisions that look purely personal, like whether to buy furniture.
There is no automatic route to permanent residency or citizenship, no matter how long you stay. The Golden Visa is a real option for people who qualify, but it depends on meeting specific criteria.
Healthcare and schooling are employer-dependent and expensive when they are not covered. Check what your insurance includes, what your dependants get, and whether school fees are in the package. These two lines change the maths of an offer more than the salary does.
Read your labor contract carefully before you sign. Every clause.
There are so-called recruitment companies that will ask you to pay for an interview. Legitimate employers do not charge candidates.
The beauty market is full of fake products or, worse, expired products, and I’ve noticed the K-Beauty brands are most affected. I check the expiry date and the authorized distributor on everything now.
We get a lot of scam calls impersonating UAE authorities and asking for our personal information, with the aim, of course, of accessing our bank accounts. This is really scary. They have become very convincing.
If you want to start a business, verify every piece of information a hundred times. Do not take anyone’s word for it. Check the official government portals.
The heat between May and October pushes children indoors, and indoors means apartment lobbies, malls, hotels, or the inside of a villa. Most kids spend their holidays moving from one hotel to another. I grew up in the countryside, free to be outside all day, with mountains and forest and a river behind the house, and I cannot picture a childhood spent in a lobby.
Nobody talks about the summer isolation. For five months, the outside is not available, and if you do not have a circle here, you will feel it. This is the season people quietly decide to leave.
Would I do it again? Yes. With this list in front of me first, which is why I wrote it.
FAQ
Is the UAE safe for expats?
In my four years here, I have left belongings unattended on beaches, in cafes, and in hotel lobbies and never lost anything. The UAE consistently ranks among the highest-scoring countries on global crime and safety indices. Personal safety, including walking alone at night, is the biggest quality-of-life difference I noticed compared with living in the EU.
Do you need a car to live in the UAE?
Practically, yes. The RTA network is clean, safe, and efficient, and on a given route the bus and metro combination can take about the same time as driving. But the country is built around cars, pedestrian crossings are scarce on the big roads, and between May and October walking any distance is not realistic. Most residents end up driving.
What are the hardest months for an expat in the UAE?
June to September. Temperatures sit above 40 degrees, humidity peaks in August, and outdoor life stops almost entirely. September is the psychologically hardest month because it is still 40-plus and you have already been indoors for four months. Life returns in November.
Does the UAE climate affect your skin and hair?
In my experience, significantly. Within a year of relocating, I had more congestion and oil, sun spots, and noticeable hair fall. The combination of constant air conditioning, hard water, intense UV, and high humidity means the products that worked in a European climate often stop working here. This is what pushed me to start writing about it.
What should you check before accepting a job in the UAE?
Read the labor contract in full, since your residency visa is tied to your employment. Confirm exactly what the health insurance covers and whether it extends to dependants; check whether school fees are included if you have children, and confirm the housing allowance against real rents in the emirate you will live in. Never pay a recruitment company for an interview.
The Founder
If you are an expat in the Middle East facing skin concerns and want to share your story, send us a message at contact@routine11.com
*Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review. This is solely based on my personal experience and assessment.
