Dubai Tips

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twoteachers
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:15 pm

Dubai Tips

Post by twoteachers »

I'm looking for some tips to save money while living in Dubai...such as food, clothes, household goods...I'm already aware of Dubizzle...

Also...what the cheapest airline that floes out of Dubai?
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

House share is probably the most significant cost savings.

Depends where you want to go, but Pegasus air is usually the cheapest if going to WE. Otherwise the regional carriers tend to have better fares than the global airlines.
Mike
Posts: 102
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:18 am
Location: Europe

Re: Dubai Tips

Post by Mike »

Buy the Dubai Entertainer book. 2 for 1 tickets at Atlantis pays for the book and the saving on restaurants adds up.
scribe
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:18 am

Re: Dubai Tips

Post by scribe »

You don't have to spend a lot of money to live in Dubai - there are plenty of free things to do, first and foremost is the beach. Seriously, check out a different beach area each week to find your favorite - so many options. You can check Timeout for weekly happenings; it seems there is always something going on. Market days in the winter are lovely events and you can spend a lot - eating at all the kiosks and buying crafts from artisans - or just go soak up the atmosphere for the cheap admission price ($2-3) to the park. There is a bike path you can take advantage of by jumping on at any number of places and, if you are so inclined, can stretch out for the entire 80 km roundtrip - it may have even gotten longer since we were there. Global Village is a cheap, interesting afternoon or evening during the 5 months or so it's active. Seriously, there is just always something to do and many different options depending on how much you want to spend. The Entertainer book is well worth it - check them out at Virgin to determine which one(s) will get you the most bang for your dirham.

In addition to Dubizzle, there are discount malls for saving money on items you need. Also, there are certain times of the year when all stores have major sales - if you know you want to buy something major and can wait, wait until then. We knew we wanted a new Nikon camera and got it during Dubai shopping festival at a discount mall for 1/3 the price of Best Buy. Well worth it, even though we hate shopping.

As for discount airlines, it depends on where you want to go. Flydubai is reasonable for destinations in the ME, some African cities, and also some European cities. Norwegian Air also had great fares to Europe if you were flexible and planned ahead. AirArabia has good fares but after one flight with them to Turkey, I would never use them again - maybe just a personal experience, but flying out of Sharjah - yikes. Turkey, Jordan, and Bahrain all had national airlines with slightly lower fares than Emirates, also. Emirates are awesome, by the way, and their top rating from TripAdvisor is well deserved - even for us economy dwellers.

I never wanted to live in Dubai, honestly, and yet really liked it for the 5 years I spent there. Had I been at a school I believed to be going in the right direction, I would be there still. Best of luck.
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