Furbpilot,
Check out
www.secretdubai.********.com for some non-pprune related stuff on Dubai.
Commuting from this place to anywhere is nigh impossible. Very tough. You will be exhausted.
I'm on the airbus fleet and have never felt so ****ty in my life. There is no "voluntary" overtime here - you just have to do it. You are paid for scheduled block time, not actual block time. So when you work over block, you are not getting paid for it. The company employs sharp pencils on its own block time calculations -so guess who wins? They clame they accurate, with only 20 % error, but that is crap. I am always working for free here. The suingle runway thing here is causing sugnificant delays and there are holds...
When you set the park brake at the end of the trip, the clock stops - now you working for free again. You still have to do paperwork and you are still responsible for the aircraft, pax etc but are doing it on your own time, you can't go anywhere because you have to wait for transport... this company has chiseled us down to the bone... I suppose the only consolation is that realistically it can't get much worse...
If you have family and kids it is very expensive to live here these days and getting worse.
Safety is not a high priority here for civil life. The roads are nasty and getting worse.
Be very careful, look beneath the surface - don't let the introductory stuff you saw on your assesment trip dazzle you too much.
Good luck with your decision.
kingoftheslipstream