Originally Posted by
fire wall
I'm not sure how this escaped omission but NO TAX, and for Europeans it's 6 hrs travel to home.
Nahhhh. Have been there(ok, crappy Doha with even crappier youknowthatfamous5starmorons with that even better CEO they STILL have over there and BEING an European.
For over 10 years out of this sand hell hole and enjoy paying my tax(because I know for what I am paying after I have seen the Landcruiser faction), enjoy living in europe, enjoy seing my kids grow up in a FREE society with proper education, flying for one of the low costs here in Europe(yeah, I know, no fance first or biz class food or food at all, but you know what, I am living in a free country and more importantly, see wife and kids EVERY bloody day of my life(ok, can be a downturn for some of my fellow skippers, I know, I know ;-) ), sleeping in my own bed EVERY night.
Thought about frigging China for a second or 2, read the (very funny) "magic" book, shared some laughts with my first officers reading it and clearly came to the conclusion. MONEY counts NOTHING if you are not at the place you want to be(and together with a happy family). I have been for sooooo many nightstops in HK, know bloody Doha much better then anyone would like to know, same goes for Dubai which is a tad better(but not really that much to be honest). Still I cannot understand WHAT the attraction of this places are to so many pilots to give up a civilized life(especially if you come from (Western)Europe or Australia/NZ. I understand that money is a big attaction for guys from Africa or Southeast Asia, but really, all the rest.... No idea. I guess marketing isreally a bitch and to many fall for it.
Steer clear. Build a proper career in a free country(nope, ME does NOT count to that, sorry to destroy that dream), be happy with a bit less money on a slightly smaller airframe(WHO really cares HOW long that thing is AFTER the cockpitdoor, at the end it does not matter if it is a 737(apart from the prehistoric cockpit I am "enjoying" ;-) ), 747, 767, 777 or a flying almost alone 787(if you are a airbus jockey but the other figures in). To be fair I have been a Widebody skipper so I know what I am talking about. I understand the "attraction" of widebody aircraft have to some of us and I have met actually really a bunch of people that REALLY enjoyed sitting in that stupid thing for 17 hours in a row. Even their agurmentation sounded fishy to me(why they like it), but at the end it is their choice. I guess if it is just money you are after long haul makes more sense, less sectors for much more money. I want to belief I am not the only one that still likes flying(even after sooo many years) that actually I enjoy a nice approach and landing and the interactions during a turnaround on a 4 sector day. For me THAT is flying. The other thing is riding a bus to it's end, managing some ETOPS checks, maybe the occasional drift down calcualtion, that's it(let's be honest).
As an European being around in the Biz a while I only enjoyed 2 places very much - Australia(was once with long dead Ansett) and of course more or less all "gigs" back home. Protected by proper laws, there is always an agency you can turn to if the employer tries to trow some good old BS at you and at the end they will have to take all back with that bitter old sorry smile, hehe. Never happened during my time in the ME. Was always me with that bitter smile....
Think well.