ID TICKETS
Vacation with kids on discounted tickets?! Good luck with that! All the flights are always full! Your kids go to school, right? So, you would go for vacation during school holidays. Forget about that!
Be happy if you get on the flight to your home country and back with your Annual Leave Ticket!
Answer to the question: yes, you and your immadiate family members are eligible for Business Class id tickets. A captain and his family can travel in First Class.
You can buy firm tickets but if the flights are overbooked (many times they are), the system will not allow you to order them. You can be off-lodaded with those tickets as well. (Actually, even with Annual Leave Ticket, it happened before.)
If you are from the other side of the globe (Americas, Australia, NZ), going home might be a nightmare on id/flyzed tickets.
If you are from the UK or Europe, you will always manage to go home somehow. (I know European guys who go home almost every month!) It's difficult sometimes but managable.
(You will be able to use your Annual Leave Ticket for your vacation destination later in the future.)
Flyzed tickets for relatives: only on Qatar, BA and Turkish Airlines. Self can use many other airlines.
VILLAS
Villas are actually pretty and big. Silicon Oasis I. is beautiful! Silicon II. will get better with time. I really like the villas in Garhoud and in Jumeira.
The only area which I didn't like: the new villas in Al Barsha. It's a 20-minute-drive to the desert from the Emirates Mall. Taxis don't even go there. (Some call it "Area 51".) Beside the villa I've seen has only 3 bedrooms and two of those are very small. However, there was a huge empty space upstairs like a second living-room.
Some villas have 3, some have 4 bedrooms. Some villas have the maid's room with a seperate entrance behind the house, some villas have the maid's room inside the house.
Remember, if the garden is not done by a previous owner, you have to do it, too which costs lots of money. (Maybe around 20,000 dhs but I'm not sure. Our garden was done.)
You need enormous LUCK to get a super great villa! However, you shouldn't be worried, hopefully you'll get something what you like. Actually, it's more important what your wife likes... (That's my impression from all the stories I'm hearing.)
Note: Many single guys take the living-out allowance nowadays, move out and rent an apartment. Lots of nice condos are on the market for a good price.
SCHOOL BUS
What's wrong with the school bus? It's a huge, yellow bus for God's sake! The kids have pretty good chances for survival...
I have friends living in Arabian Ranches (which is also far from "the city", practically in the desert), their kids are 10 and 13, they get picked up by the school bus every day. They are alive so far. (The wife doesn't even have a driving licence and they've been in Dubai for 6 years...) The kids are quite independent, they use taxis when necessary.
SCHOOLS
Fees vary. It depends how long the term is and which school you choose. (DESS, Dubai English Speaking School: 27,000 dhs.)
- Some schools are much more expensive! You can pay up to 45,000 dhs for a term. -
Even though Emirates pilots have prioriy on the waiting lists at some of the schools, there is no guarantee you can make it if you put the kids on the list so late. (In the summer.)
Dubai schools and fees:
Dubai schools