I received this email yesterday from a woman I’ll call Jane… Thanks so much for your website and the book. It has been very helpful. I do have a few question for you and I hope you have time to respond. I just got hired to teach at either the Abu Dhabi or Al Ain […]
Driving related
Renting a car from Fast Rent A Car in Al Ain
There are dozens of car rental outlets in Al Ain. The one that was recommended to us is Fast Rent A Car in Kuwaitat: go north from the Hilton Hotel towards the town centre, and it’s on your right on a corner… This is one of the team… Their prices are lower than Europa Cars. […]
How to renew car registration in Al Ain
Melissa asked by email… “Where can I renew my car registration in Al Ain?” Here’s what I believe is the answer… From the Etisalat building, head west. About 3-4 roundabouts from there, you’ll see the Choueifat School on the far right of the roundabout (white walls with circular logo). Turn left here. Go across 2 […]
Car insurance in Al Ain
I was recommended to use Oman Insurance by the guy from whom we bought our second car: a Nissan Pathfinder. Oman Insurance is situated in a new building… …located on the same road as the Al Ain Mall, but at the west end of that road, the building next to the old Lulu in Nyadat, […]
Getting your UAE driving licence in Al Ain
Once you get your residence visa, you then must get a UAE driving licence. (In other words, it is against the law to drive without one if you have a residence visa.) A friend of mine called Paul told me that his wife got her residence visa the other day, so today he went with […]
Avoid this parking mistake in Al Ain!
Take a look at this photo and see if you can see what’s wrong with it!… If you’re like me, you won’t see ‘it’. What’s the price for not seeing it? 1,000 dirhams. That’s £175 or US$270. What do I mean? There’s a parking offence being committed in the photo with a 1,000 dirham fine. […]
How to get a UAE driving license if your UK etc one has expired
My UK driving license expired 2 days before my residency visa arrived. I tried to renew my UK license, but the DVLC or whatever said that, as I’m now living overseas, they wouldn’t renew my license! So I had to cough up a fair amount of cash (I can’t remember how much at the moment: […]
Driving on the roads in Al Ain
Let me say that this is an adventure! On a 3-lane road, if you are in the middle lane, you can expect to be overtaken on both sides at the same time which can be a little unsettling occasionally! If you are in the outside lane you can expect to be tailgated on a regular […]
Garmin GPS navigation
We bought a 5-inch Garmin nuvi 1410 GPS device to use in our car, mainly so we could find our way round Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This is what mine looks like… It came with a suction cup to attach to the windscreen, and a cigarette lighter charging lead – and cost us about £200 […]
Fill ‘er up
It costs just 60 dirhams, a little over £10, to fill the tank of a small size car at a local Adnoc petrol station. The one pictured below is a few hundred yards west of the landmark Etisalat building in the Sanaiya district… It costs about 100 dirhams to fill a 4×4. That’s less than […]