Glamorous life ... what do you mean by that??
With the missus and kids you're looking at a average of 3-4 bedroom villa, something like 3400sqft bua. You can afford a 4x4SUV, as a skipper a second car for her. If you go for a Golf memberships, you're looking at around 7000US pa if you are lucky enough to find one. With a second flight for the whole family (after your free annual leave) and some desert trips or to Oman, some gear for the kids and the usual outings and barbies, you're slowly hitting the limit of a FO salary if you want to put something aside. As a skipper it looks a little better, but the kids are growing aswell ...... is that glamorous??
Cost of living increase ... just read the papers (Gulfnews online). Inflation at 9.3% (excluding rents!!!!), rent increase around 20% (2006-2007), house prices around 25%. Schooling around 10-40%. etc.
No one will publish a roster, it'too easy for the bosses to trace the messengers. And they don't like the truth.
EK is still the best deal in the ME, don't get me wrong. But i am not comparing with the crap in the region, i am assessing my situation in respect of now and after. I would really like to stay a little longer, but i will not subsidise this stay because the greedy owners post record profits one after the other and leave us with less every year. And this simply because they can.