{"id":1621,"date":"2026-03-31T04:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/1621\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:11:12","slug":"i-live-in-both-dubai-and-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/1621\/","title":{"rendered":"I live in both Dubai and London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgie Williams splits her time between London and Dubai<\/a> for her job, spending roughly the same amount of money to live in each country.<\/p>\n

She takes her three-year-old daughter, Amelie, with her when travelling. \u201cAmelie has probably done about 50 flights,\u201d says Georgie, 42, who specialises in taking brands into new markets, particularly the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Last year, she spent January, April, October and November in Dubai, going for stretches of six weeks at a time, with her husband coming out every few weeks to spend time with them.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a company in the UK and then set up a company in the Middle East, about 15 years ago, and lived in the Middle East for a while. My husband has two children in the UK so, when we got married, I decided to commute back and forth to Dubai,\u201d says Georgie, who works as the communications and strategy director of advertising agency Katch International.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter is still at nursery but, when she is at school, things will have to change slightly.\u201d <\/p>\n

In London, the family live in a house in Surbiton,<\/a> while they rent a one-bedroom furnished flat with a swimming pool in the Central Marina area of Dubai for 117,000 AED (\u00a324,000) a year.<\/p>\n

Georgie\u2019s daughter goes to a nursery when she\u2019s in London,<\/a> and they only pay for the days she uses, which is around \u00a3100 a day or a childminder costs \u00a317.50 per hour.<\/p>\n

However, she has a nanny in Dubai. \u201cThe nannies are amazing and fully trained. If you were to hire a full-time nanny, it would be 3,000-4,000 AED (\u00a3650) a month. I pay through an agency so it\u2019s 12,000 AED (\u00a32,500). This is because it\u2019s ad hoc when I need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cost of the weekly childcare is therefore almost the same at \u00a3500 compared to \u00a3650.<\/p>\n

While childcare and transport are cheap, some items are surprisingly expensive compared to the UK. \u201cCosts have been driven up since a lot of people moved here; certain items such as nappies can be very expensive \u2013 I paid 200 AED (\u00a341) for some.\u201d<\/p>\n

All in all, she says rent and living costs are broadly similar, including childcare, totalling around 25,000 AED per month (\u00a35,100) in Dubai and \u00a36,300 in the UK.<\/p>\n

Georgie finds that she has two very different lifestyles when she is in both countries. \u201cThings are more grounded in London and it\u2019s calmer and less fast-paced. You have longer to get things done. For example, I\u2019m working on a UK project for 2027; in Dubai, I have been approached about a project in 2 weeks\u2019 time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Recently, her daughter had a cough in the middle of the night in Dubai, and Georgie was able to Whatsapp the pharmacist and have the cough medicine delivered to her home in 20 minutes. If necessary, doctors will also come out to your house. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love the ease of Dubai, where everything is on your doorstep, and I have a close urban family here. A lot of us are in the same boat and have moved away from family.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there are many advantages to living in two different places, Georgie admits there are trade-offs. \u201cYou never put away your suitcase,\u201d she says. \u201cI get very tired and I had fatigue and was exhausted on Christmas Day. I\u2019m on vitamins and you can burn yourself out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgie, who is also the founder of Mum Love, also said she didn\u2019t take any time off when she became a mum and had to take a newborn on and off a plane when she was working.<\/p>\n

She happened to be in the UK when the current conflict with Iran started but plans to travel back to Dubai in April \u2013 although she\u2019s not taking her daughter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get why people aren\u2019t leaving Dubai at the moment; if it was happening here, people wouldn\u2019t leave because it\u2019s their home. I feel sad when I\u2019m watching what is happening because it\u2019s my second home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the future, Georgie says that, when her stepchildren are older and at university, the family would think about moving back and putting her daughter in a school in Dubai. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t met my husband, I\u2019d still be there now. I love the fact that I get to do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have two homes, 3,000 miles apart, and fly between them 20 times a year<\/p>\n

\"TristinaTristina Anderson splits her time between Canada and Mexico (Photo: John Houston Films)<\/p>\n

Tristina Anderson, a business consultant, architect and the founder of the Fearless Living movement, also splits her life between two continents, more than 3,000 miles apart. She has one home, in Alberta, Canada, and another in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.<\/p>\n

Tristina, 55, travels back and forth between her homes over 20 times a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing is the ability to pick the best of both countries when they are at their best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tristina estimates that she does the five-hour flight between her two homes a couple of times a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Canada, I love the summers and the lakes and I have family there. In Mexico, I love the weather and my home and friends. We have a private pool and green space.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Tristina pays out a significant amount every year for her jet-set lifestyle. <\/p>\n

\u201cI probably pay about $1,000 (\u00a3550) per return flight but it depends on the time of year and the notice,\u201d says Tristina, who estimates her total air travel bill comes to about $20,000 annually (\u00a311,000).<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at it across the entire year and, when I lived in Calgary, I had to pay to park in the centre of town and that was $500 (\u00a3275) a month, just for parking,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A Canadian by birth, Tristina moved to Mexico with just her children in 2007 after holidaying there.<\/p>\n

Initially, her children were schooled in Mexico, one at a private school and one at home, and Tristina would fly back to Canada for work commitments. <\/p>\n

But, when her children grew up and she married her second husband, Joe, a Canadian, in 2018, she split her time more equally between both places. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do try to avoid Mexico in the summer as it is so hot and very humid, and the weather in Canada is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tristina\u2019s Mexican home has four storeys, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a private pool whilst her Canadian house was purchased with her husband and is an older, \u201cknock down\u201d property.<\/p>\n

While the weather helps Tristina decide where she is going to be, it\u2019s also dependent on what she has going on with her work, most of which involves Canadian clients. \u201cSometimes I\u2019ll only go to Canada or Mexico for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is an environmental cost that comes with flying so much. \u201cIt\u2019s something I think about. I try to do meetings virtually whenever possible, but because my life and work are based in both Canada and Mexico, some travel is just part of that reality.\u201d <\/p>\n

Both Tristina and her husband are permanent residents of Mexico \u2013 a requirement if you have a business there or want to open a bank account \u2013 but they are also citizens of Canada too.<\/p>\n

She has a housekeeper and a helper to maintain the pool in Mexico, while, in Canada she has a neighbour who keeps the sidewalks free from snow (something you can get fined for) when she is not there.<\/p>\n

Despite having people around, inevitably things go wrong and the associated costs are the main disadvantages with living between two properties. \u201cIn Mexico, the housekeeper found that the main floor had flooded and, another time, we had a leak in our house in Canada. When you\u2019re not in both places, you can\u2019t address something urgently. You also need to have all the tools in both places.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt is getting more expensive to live in Mexico and the biggest change is that, since Covid, a lot of people moved here and the price of homes and groceries has increased.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Tristina has no qualms about recommending her \u201cdouble life\u201d to others. \u201cGive it a try, don\u2019t let obstacles put you off your dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Georgie Williams splits her time between London and Dubai for her job, spending roughly the same amount of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1193,1194,1195,27,1196,152,1197],"class_list":{"0":"post-1621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-dubai","10":"tag-expats","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-mexico","13":"tag-property","14":"tag-work"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}