On this very day 10 years ago, after having packed up my life, sold some of my things, sent even more to the charity shop and boxed the remainder up for storage at my parents house, I was finally about to board a plane to start a new job and a new life in Dubai…
10 years… I can hardly believe it’s really been 10 years since I waved goodbye to everything I knew and left the UK. So as a bit of a celebration and a trip down memory lane, here’s a few pictorial highlights of my adventures in the UAE over those last 10 years…
Hover over the images to see the date and comments, and click the gallery to see the full size images.
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- Dubai city skyline from Jumeirah beach, Nov 2006
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- Fun in Creek Park 2006
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- Getting stuck in the sand on Big Red
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- Finding helpful locals to show you how to get out of the sand on Big Red…!
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- On desert safari in 2007
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- The car accident, 2007 (no-one was hurt, phew!)
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- The off-road exploring (2007)
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- Driving through construction sites to find deserted beaches – Jebel Ali Beach 2007
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- The excitement when Atlantis and first opened in Sept 2008 (and we could finally get to the end of the Palm!)
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- Dubai skyline Feb 2008
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- Khor Al Maqta, Abu Dhabi, 2008 – no buildings at all yet around the Grand Mosque!
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- Building of the Holiday Inn Barsha underway Feb 2008
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- The wedding! Oct 2008
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- The off-roading (and resulting desert breakdowns!)
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- The excessive…
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- The opening of the Burj Khalifa, Jan 4, 2010
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- Dubai skyline 2010
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- Metro rides 2010
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- New Year 2010 on Bateaux Dubai
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- The desert!
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- The opportunity to attempt new things!
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- Beautiful Abu Dhabi (Emirates Palace Marina)
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- The golf…
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- Exploring historic Al Ain
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- The biggest bath I’ve ever seen at Qasr Al Sarab
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- The luxury (2014)
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- The Abu Dhabi city skyline and sunsets (2016)
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- The Grand Mosque
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- The sunsets!
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- The roads to nowhere (yet)!
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- The bump!
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- The Abu Dhabi architecture!
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- When Flat Stanley visited the Grand Mosque..! 🙂
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- Abu Dhabi city and the pretty skies!
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- The (occasional!) rain 🙁
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- The trinkets and gifts!
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- Abu Dhabi city views, 2015
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- The crazy sunsets!
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- The new family member, Feb 2014
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- The view of Abu Dhabi from the Observation Deck at 300, Jumeirah Etihad Towers, 2015
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- New adventures…
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- The sand storms – check out the normal view on the bottom, and the same view during a sandstorm on the top!
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- The architecture… (2016)
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- The local knowledge!
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- The random…
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- The Abu Dhabi Mangroves
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- The cool coffee art!
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- The Spirit of the Nation – National Day
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- The weird sunset fog
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- The incredible experiences!
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- Qasr Al Muwaiji… (LOVE this place!)
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- The chance to meet Giraffes at Al Ain Zoo 🙂
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- The Yellow Boat tours (fun!)
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- The continuing adventures…
As for what’s next, who knows… But here’s to the next 10 years…!
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I had no idea you had been in the UAE for so long. When you moved there, did you have any idea you would be? I certainly never could have predicted I would have been here in Korea for five years. I had only planned to stay for a year and then, I wanted to go Oman. I still desire to live and work in the Middle East, there or the UAE.
I don’t think I had any plan when I first moved out here other than to see what happened. I guess I maybe thought it would only be for a few years – and we did actually leave for 18 months after four years to move to Australia to be near my husband’s family and settle down, but it became clear pretty quickly that wasn’t for us and that we missed the life in the UAE too much! Coming back to the country for the second time put things into perspective with realising how lucky we were to have these opportunities, and never say never, but in coming back we have always planned to be back for the long haul.