Furb,
I don't often post and actually think the package is reasonable (hardhat on and ducking) but to help out with your decision I will add my two cents worth:
Enough rest / days off: Definitely not, the Boeing guys have recently had it better than the 'bus but are gearing up for a busy summer. Much back of the night trips, longest trip 8 days away. The fatigue model is a joke, and the doctors themselves know it. Your health will be affected, as acknowledged recently by a crew circular put out by management. (They blamed it on us pilots getting older!)
Commuting: Not feasible esp in view of the fatigue as explained above. Have tried to do it for a year, and cannot continue. A very few do commute, but most I know are out of here when they can as not sustainable long term.
Do some searches on both these issues as they have been discussed thoroughly.
Oh, and the multiculturalism and beach life being great? You may be interested in a letter to a local (7Days) newspaper that was published today which I have pasted below. I wouldn't have my wife and kids alone unescorted on a beach.
7Days
How to stop perverts on the beach at Jumeirah
Monday, 06 March 2006
I’ve had an interesting few last visits to the beach, near the Hilton. Last visit there was a man who seemed to have a severe case of Parkinsons (please I mean this in nicest way as I can’t really say in this column what he was doing) going on in his right trouser pocket.
This problem seemed to get worse whenever a woman in a bikini walked past. When I looked at him to let him I knew what he was doing, he just didn’t care, he kept on going. What is the right thing to do about this?
Then he had two mates turn up with a camera, they then pretended to take photos of each other and surprise surprise, it was when a woman in a bikini was walking straight behind them.
And to top that off, one of them tried to grab my 18 month old daughter. He then asked if he could take a photo of her. Now as a parent, you can understand how this made us feel.
The visit before that horrific one, I spun around to find a man taking a photo of a female sunbather. I ran up the beach and told him in no uncertain terms to get off the beach and don’t come back, the man ran away.
To make the day even more spoilt, his mate then tried to get a shot of me putting my clothes back on (I was a mess after witnessing what I just witnessed).
I caught him as he was setting his phone up and taking aim – I ran over to him and stood close to his face and told him that if I caught him using his mobile for anything except to make a call, I’d be calling the police and having him arrested.
Can someone please tell me where my family and I can go so as not to have this kind of thing go on. I love the beach, but have told my husband I will never visit it again under those circumstances.
In Australia all our beaches are patrolled not only by lifeguards, but by policeman as well, and anyone caught doing any of the above would be arrested, tried in court and fined accordingly.
Something needs to be done about this – tourists will eventually cotton on and this issue will be awful for tourism.
Disgruntled, Dubai