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I have considered moving to Dubai (or at least living there for several months) but I have lived in the United States my whole life and am very used to the lifestyle. So I was wondering if the things that I am used to here are readily available in Dubai. For example:

How good are the grocery stores?
How easy is it to purchase alcohol? Is there decent variety?
Will I have any access to fast food/pizza?
Are there any American bars?
I only speak English. Will that be enough to get by?
My parents are Indian but because I am an American (born there) and have an American accent, will I still experience significant racism?

Thanks in advance for any input!

SGMD1 wrote:I have considered moving to Dubai (or at least living there for several months) but I have lived in the United States my whole life and am very used to the lifestyle. So I was wondering if the things that I am used to here are readily available in Dubai. For example:

How good are the grocery stores?
How easy is it to purchase alcohol? Is there decent variety?
Will I have any access to fast food/pizza?
Are there any American bars?
I only speak English. Will that be enough to get by?
My parents are Indian but because I am an American (born there) and have an American accent, will I still experience significant racism?

Thanks in advance for any input!

Categorically

Grocery stores - we have a few that you could compare to Walmart.
Alcohol to non muslims is relatively easy to purchase with an alcohol license and is available to all at the airport. Plenty of variety.
Pizza - Dominos, Pizza hut, Papa Johns, etc etc.
American Bars - All kinds of bars and clubs exist in Dubai. If there are specific ones for just Americans I wouldn't know.
English - Even cab drivers speak English. I speak English with an American accent and I am Pakistani. I have not experienced any kind of racism.

Best thing to do would be to visit some of the websites on Dubai that you can easily find on the web. If you have any questions do send me a message.

Good luck with your move.

Hi,

Many of your questions have been answered before, so I will firstly point you towards the search function!!

Grocery stores are pretty good - much the same as you'd find in the states I would think.
Alcohol - this has been discussed often. Basically once you get your residency, you can purchase alcohol with a special licence.
Fast Food - you'll be well served in Dubai!!
American bars - you know, I don't think there are that many Americans in Dubai, but not sure about the bars.
They speak other languages in Dubai than English?? Wow. Don't worry, nearly everyone speaks English, all signs are in English, and local newspapers are in English too.
As for the last one - well it might be a controversial answer, but I would say you will encounter some racism. As to whether its significant, only you can judge that.

Good Luck!!

PrettyPenny wrote:
Good luck with your move.

You beat me to it!!

the_zooter wrote:

PrettyPenny wrote:
Good luck with your move.

You beat me to it!!

Thanks for the quick responses! Those were for the most part exactly the answers I was hoping for

(And sorry for not searching...I'll be sure to do that next time.)

look at the sticky's in Expat Help forum

Emaratis use falcons to hunt down Americans here...

Liban wrote:Emaratis use falcons to hunt down Americans here...

they do have American bars here - not sure why'd you'd want to go though? there is Tgi fridays, though thursday is the new friday here.

There is chili's. There is a bar called longs which is kind of like a cheers bar.

scarlet wrote:There is a bar called longs which is kind of like a cheers bar.

and full of desperate overweight Americans looking something on the side.

Just like a bar in the US!!!

scarlet wrote:they do have American bars here - not sure why'd you'd want to go though? there is Tgi fridays, though thursday is the new friday here.

There is chili's. There is a bar called longs which is kind of like a cheers bar.

There is funily enough also a bar called TGI Thursdays, (TGIT), lots of Americans but depending on your scene this may not be the place for you.

useless tidbit....the only ever bar fight I saw in Dubai was outside of this place while i was having dinner next door.

i would also say Rock Bottom is an "american bar" ... it reminds me of those white trash bars where the local town peoples would hang out in on a weekday night hehe ..

scarlet wrote:they do have American bars here - not sure why'd you'd want to go though? there is Tgi fridays, though thursday is the new friday here.

There is chili's. There is a bar called longs which is kind of like a cheers bar.

Scarlet, those places are not "American Bars" neither here nor there! Junk Food with Alchohol maybe.

Hard Rock Cafe

arniegang wrote:Hard Rock Cafe

Best nachos in Dubai i would say .. except no one has good sour cream here

MaaaD wrote:

arniegang wrote:Hard Rock Cafe

Best nachos in Dubai i would say .. except no one has good sour cream here

Safestway on SZR is the only place in Dubai I've found decent sour cream should you wish to make nachos at home.

MaaaD wrote:except no one has good sour cream here

Many men have sour cream.

It depends on what they eat.

Liban wrote:Emaratis use falcons to hunt down Americans here...

haha

Liban wrote:

MaaaD wrote:except no one has good sour cream here

Many men have sour cream.

It depends on what they eat.

Please refer to "Swallow" thread

arniegang wrote:

Liban wrote:

MaaaD wrote:except no one has good sour cream here

Many men have sour cream.

It depends on what they eat.

Please refer to "Swallow" thread

exactly, and now we know for sure that liban does swallow.

You can enjoy?? starbucks to your hearts content - there is at least three in most shopping centres

scarlet wrote:You can enjoy?? starbucks to your hearts content - there is at least three in most shopping centres

I don't call it "Starbucks", I call it "FourBucks" as everything costs four bucks or more!!!!

I hate to be the one to say it - well not really as I guess you'd expect it from me, but I find it sooooo typical of an American to expect all their crap to be available, whatever happened to trying 'local' things!?

Personally all their junk and fast food rubbish is an absolute tragedy in this place.

Chocoholic wrote:Personally all their junk and fast food rubbish is an absolute tragedy in this place.

Some of it is a tragedy in the US, so even more so when its exported!!

Concord wrote:

scarlet wrote:You can enjoy?? starbucks to your hearts content - there is at least three in most shopping centres

I don't call it "Starbucks", I call it "FourBucks" as everything costs four bucks or more!!!!

Good value though - if you want a buck-sized mug of Hot Chocolate!! I had one at the airport and spent 45 minutes trying to drink it!! Never did finish it!!

the_zooter wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:Personally all their junk and fast food rubbish is an absolute tragedy in this place.

Some of it is a tragedy in the US, so even more so when its exported!!

Supply and demand, I suppose. I imagine that the people patronizing those junk food places in Dubai are 99% non-american. Simple to shut them down (don't frequent them - nothing personal but in general).

Concord wrote:Supply and demand, I suppose. I imagine that the people patronizing those junk food places in Dubai are 99% non-american. Simple to shut them down (don't frequent them - nothing personal but in general).

You are right.
Hmmm - think I might go to McDonalds for lunch after all this talk of junk food!!

Hahahaha, go watch Supersize me and you'll never touch it again!

I just find it really rubbish to want to move to a new place, but to expect everything from home to be readily available, I mean isn't half the fun checking out new things?

There's definatley a reason very few yanks hold passports, they'd have heart attacks trying to cope with anywhere new.