My question is why would you want to live in Dubai. I know the majority of Dubai residents look down their nose at us here in Abu Dhabi but every time I venture down there, after 2 hours sitting in a traffic jam, and then paying twice as much for a beer, and twice as much for a meal, and actually having to pay to park my car (if I can find a park), I wonder why I bothered.
Consider yourself lucky that you can work for EY, and live in a more liveable city where you can get around easily with a car (practically no traffic jams here), or cheaply and easily without one (see how far in Dubai you get for 5 dirhams in a taxi). Your kids will more easily get into well established schools (not schools started up last week with the paint still wet on the walls), and at the end of each month you will have more money in your pocket due to the much lower living costs. Whether you buy booze in a take away liquor shop (no tax here in Abu Dhabi versus how much in Dubai these days??) or drink in a bar ( how many bars in Dubai charge 15 dirhams for a pint these days, not even to mention the 10 dirhams we pay at the British Club), you will be better off.
Then if you really hunger after the excitement of Dubai, you only have to go a little over an hour down the road on your days off to get your fix, safe in the knowledge that when the traffic snarls, not to mention the "full of themselves" "what car do you drive?" Dubai resident snarls, get the better of you, you can escape back to nice old quiet laid back Abu Dhabi.
