I'm not fooling myself that in all likelyhood if I go with JQ to get any further progression I'll probably end up in the sandpit with EK. However thats not really a prospect that causes me any great concern. I've spoken with others who work for EK and live in Dubai and who rate the lifestyle, even for those with families, very highly.
I've still got a year until I'm in any sort of position to make any meaningful decisions. If I can find a decent GA job where I can start building my PIC hours and then move into multi-crew work on a turbo-prop then I'll be just as happy as if I went straight for JQ.