The Manual #48 - Dubai two months later

Now that I’ve been in Dubai for over two months, I wanted to share some thoughts, experiences and learnings. 

• I don’t think people realise how powerful 0% income tax is. If you’re from a country where you’re being taxed at 40% or more. Having that money go in to your pocket can make a massive quality of life difference. 

• It’s amazing how nice and friendly everyone is, especially if you come from a city like London, NY or any other major city. 

• Cost of living here is much cheaper than major western cities too. Only thing that might cost more is internet, but even then, it’s not outrageous. Everything else is cheaper. Electricity rates are a fifth of the price compared to the UK!!!

• Home furniture and white goods are amazingly cheap. You can buy sofas, beds…etc that actually look good for ridiculously low prices. 

• I pay $5.6k a month for rent. It sounds like a lot. But I’ve got a 4 bed + maids room + 5 bathrooms. As well as parking for two cars and it’s a private gated community. The place is 2500sqft. So it’s double the size of my home in the UK. You can get much cheaper if you don’t need the luxuries that I wanted. 

• I got my place from viewing to signed in 7 days. You can move very quickly. 

• I’m still deciding whether to continue renting or to buy a property. But I’m in no rush. Renting gives me a ton of flexibility. 

• I feel safe. It’s difficult to explain. But in the UK I always felt on edge due to how many people are robbed and hurt. Because of that you naturally become street smart. Those sorts of things you don’t have to worry about in Dubai.

• It feels very futuristic. Almost cyberpunk. Everything is done digitally. You have to use a smartphone and internet for everything. There are no letterboxes or regular post as it’s just not a thing. Everything is done over email and connected to your phone number. 

• It weirdly feels like a somewhat western city but obviously in the Middle East instead.

• Everything is super clean.

• There are services like Careem and Noon that deliver things quicker than Amazon 

• Careem is an all-in-one utility app. You can use it to order a taxi, restaurant food, groceries, home cleaning, a hairdresser, laundry and much more. It’s like Uber on steroids. 

• Everyone speaks English. Well almost everyone.

• The roads and lifestyle is very American. You have to drive everywhere. But it also makes sense due to the heat. 

• The days are quiet. People like to come out at night. Malls, restaurants and other similar places are most busy at night, doesn’t matter which day. 

• Making friends for me has been very easy. But I’m an outlier. Having an online presence has made it super easy for me to meet people and meet friends of friends. 

• The only major downside for me is that it’s HOT. I feel like I’ve moved at the worst time 😅 the summer months are brutal. So a lot of people don’t go outside or travel. I plan to travel. I’ll actually be going back to the UK for a few weeks and will be travelling elsewhere over July and August. 

• AC everywhere. If you’re not too fussed about being outside, there is AC everywhere. Half the time you forget how hot it is outside. 

• There’s only been two days of rain since I’ve been here. Every other day it’s blue skies. It’s wild. Especially because I was so used to grey and dark days in the UK.

• There’s this weird notion that Dubai is a place for lavish living and party lifestyle. It can be completely the opposite too. I don’t drink whatsoever and have never set foot in a club. You can live a completely calm and normal life here. There are many areas that are very family orientated too.

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Link Lowdown

A collection of links to stuff I think are worth sharing.

ChatGPT 4o — I’m sure many are already aware of the new version of ChatGPT. But the mobile app with the voice assistance is absolutely mind-blowing. I specifically used it to speak to someone who could only speak Arabic. ChatGPT acted as a translator in between and did a fantastic job of it too.

DC-1 — A new tablet that’s like an e-ink reader but isn’t exactly e-ink. Looking forward to getting my hands on one.

Quilt — Home temperature management never looked so good. But seriously, why are most AC units so ugly.

Strut — A writing and note taking app.

Klack — Sound effects for keystrokes.

rcmd — Quick app switching with custom shortcuts.

Spaceman — Look at spaces in the menubar.

Microcopy — This is more of a bookmark for me as I’m always looking for copy when designing my own stuff.

Dead Simple Sites — Inspiration for super minimal and clean websites.