# What do you wish you had brought?



## maryos (May 30, 2008)

I am likely to be moving to Dubai later this year. I am coming from the UK and so far I have never even visited the UAE. I am extremely grateful to have discovered this forum, which is full of useful information.

I do now have a general idea of what to expect, but I would be very interested to know whether there are any things in particular that hard to get hold of in Dubai and that people are glad to have brought with them / particularly miss from back home. I don't have want to be too specific in case it limits the responses. But, for instance, I saw a reference on another board to bread makers... and I am wondering if I should bring all my (many!) DVDs with me.


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## bubble_boy (May 28, 2008)

Def my matress! Can't find one as nice comfortable as we had. trying to get it over here now. Then again it was basically tailor made.


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## pooji (May 20, 2008)

i would like to ask a bit more in regards to mattress as we have a queen bed , can we still get a queen size mattress in dubai? do they have twin,double,queen and king size beds like north america.all the help is appreciated


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## bubble_boy (May 28, 2008)

They do. But I have found from what the salespeople told me that the matresses are a few cm different , like queen matress was 160cm and not 152cm as were used to in SA. I am not sure if they have double matresses here, anyone?


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## sgilli3 (Mar 23, 2008)

Sure do.
You will find all sizes here (especially in places like IKEA), and there are places you can have them made ( I believe Carefour also sells mattresses)


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

Seriously folks there is very little that you cannot find in Dubai. 

Breadmakers are available and mattresses can be made to order by a company called King Koil on SZR.


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## Iron Horse (Apr 10, 2008)

Ohh how I do wish I had my bed and car here. Need to have at least one of my surfboards and a few more clothes. But it always pays to travel light too, so I'm not too upset about not having my surfboard here.


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## gpdubai (Jun 1, 2008)

This answer is for maryos,

This information was given by the company who did the move of my stuff to Dubai. They sent me a file from the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CUSTOMS INFORMATION FOR FOREIGN CITIZENS.

On the Prohibited Items list I found:
*ALL PRINTED MATTER, BOOKS, PICTURES, RECORDS, FILMS, TAPES, SLIDES, MOVIES, VIDEOS, COMPACT DISCS, COMPUTER SOFTWARE, ETC. ARE SUBJECT TO CENSORSHIP AND CONFISCATION (MUST BE PACKED SEPARATELY FOR EASY ACCESS AND CLEARLY MARKED ON THE INVENTORY) 

So, as I had the same concern as you regarding the MANY DVD'S that I have too. I took the decision of sending the box of the DVD's and we'll be bringing our DVD's with our suitcases. I they want to confiscate them, they'll have to do it in front of me. 

Ps. I just maked sure that there was no hard & heavy stuff on the boxes and on the suitcases (If you know what I mean)

Regards.


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## BLM (Jan 31, 2008)

Why bring DVDs that you've already watched when you can buy new releases in Dubai?!! 

Summer sales are coming up and prices are dropping, and then there's the DVD lady that comes to your door and brings her 'cheap cheap' bag of tricks...

You can get absolutely EVERYTHING here  I was told all sorts of things - you can't buy bikinis, all the clothes are aimed at the middle eastern market, you can't get the contraceptive pill if you're not married...its all rubbish. Dubai is easier to live in than London, its a city of convenience. We also moved here without having seen it, the only thing I would do differently is bring more books. Borders is slightly more expensive here...


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## maryos (May 30, 2008)

*Conclusion: don't need to bring anything!*

Thank you very much for your replies!

It certainly does seem that pretty much everything is readily available. Work will ship stuff over, but I was wondering whether actually need to take that much.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect in the way of suggestions, whether food (baked beans? marmite?) or gadgetry (toaster? water filter?) or household accessories (drawer oganisers? e-cleaning cloths? suction hooks?!) The absence of any sign that anyone is really missing anything is very reassuring!

Thank you too to gpdubai: I was about to post exactly that question with regard to DVDs. I was also wondering about import duty – although I have read that you don’t pay any on ‘used personal effects’

I think I will follow BLM’s recommendation and favour books over DVDs, then. Is there a library in Dubai where you can get English-language books? I read an article suggesting not, but that was dated a few years ago. I imagine there might be book clubs and you can swap around other expats?


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## sgilli3 (Mar 23, 2008)

The Old Town Library is located at Mall of the Emirates.

Great library (only small, but good selection of both adults + childrens books)
Open Sun-Thurs 10 - 6
Closed Fridays + Public Holidays


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

Rest assured that this is a very Western city in terms of what you can buy.

There are second hand book shops:

House of Prose (Ibn Battuta & Jumeirah Plaza)
Bookworld (Plant Street in Satwa)

There is a library (MoE nr DUCTAC)

Also look out for charity book sales (I will be posting details of one this week)


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## nakamozu (May 12, 2008)

When it comes to the Library, Do they have activities for children. We are coming from US and libraries here are great as they have a separate Kids section with Computer puzzles, games and other stuff young kids (3-6 yr old) can play with. Any insights would be appreciated.


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## sgilli3 (Mar 23, 2008)

Sorry, no, not at the Old Library.
I believe that there is a childrens story time on a Sun morn, but no computers, puzzles, toys etc.

Its only small, but we LOVE it.
Our local library in Oz was also fantastic, and had everything we could ever ask for ( including fantastic kids section/homeschooling area0...Miss it


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## Pasanada (Feb 5, 2008)

When I moved to Dubai, I ws amazed that I could buy more here from my home country (UK) than I could in my prevous 5 years of living in Spain (trips to Gibraltar were frequent!)

The only thing I miss is my convertable car in Spain, I'm going to look at having that shipped over some time this year.

Good luck with your move over!


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## Sunshine101 (Jun 11, 2008)

maryos said:


> Thank you very much for your replies!
> 
> It certainly does seem that pretty much everything is readily available. Work will ship stuff over, but I was wondering whether actually need to take that much.
> 
> ...



I had the same question on English books, so thank you to for the information on the second hand books. I was debating on whether to bring my fav authors over (more fiction and light reading; rather than anything too thought provoking) and hopefully the books stores should be able to satisfy my reading appetite.

For the library, is everyone including expats eligible? What are their time on the weekend since its impossible on work days?


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## sgilli3 (Mar 23, 2008)

Yes, anyone can join the library.
It costs 150 dhs to join (paid each year)

Library opens 10 -6 Sat-Thurs...closed Fri and public holidays


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## Sunshine101 (Jun 11, 2008)

Hi sqilli3

THanks for the reply! Was wondering if you could give me a crash course on how to PM and how it works. I think this would be my 5th postings so it should qualify me for one of those PM things..... sorry, to ask a non brainer since you're probably the pro at this, 

THanks!


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