‘You won’t return to the UK once you get used to the sunshine,’ the Kenyan at visa services smiled.
‘You’ve never visited Dubai before but you’ve arrived for work,’ the local at passport control laughed. ‘Welcome.’
‘I want to move to England,’ the Ethiopian driver, who met me at arrivals, revealed as we made our way past the skyscrapers.

‘She’s definitely English,’ Christine, a French expat in our group, said. ‘Do you know how I can tell…? Her tattoos give her away. (No French woman would have tattoos.)’ It was my first evening in Dubai. We were trying to place a lone tipsy woman dancing to a South African band in a cavernous bar in Madinat Jumeirah (a huge five-star resort designed to resemble a traditional Arabian town). ‘I noticed a lot of tattooed British tourists when I was working in the centre of Amsterdam. Her face looks English but her dress [slashed jeans, stilettos and a cut-up T-shirt tied at the back] looks Eastern European,’ I said. Then we heard the tell-tale English accent as the woman in question cheered and her friends joined her.

There was one familiar face in our group. ‘Do you worry that you’ll fall behind with what’s happening in Europe?,’ a visiting German friend asked. It was a good question. Christine had offered plenty of advice, from who to bank with (a local bank) to the process for applying for an alcohol licence. I would be discovering expat life in the Middle East but, like any new experience, I will be leaving my old ones behind…

I felt like I hadn’t quite caught up with the restaurant scene in London before I left; I had to get my Nice Fish ticket reimbursed and there wasn’t time to see Ruth Wilson in Ivo van Hove’s production of Hedda Gabler. Morever, I hadn’t spent enough time with my old friends…

I had arrived in an international, modern city that is constantly evolving. This month Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the UAE Vice President and ruler of Dubai, has unveiled plans for the Middle East’s largest marina capable of handling 1,400 vessels to be built on the Dubai waterfront.

However, my familiar European friends – with all their offers of introductions – are helping me make the transition. ‘Do you have plans for tomorrow? I’m heading to the Dubai Mall, which I’ve never visited before,’ my German friend texted. ‘If you would like to join, you are very welcome.’

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