Call us crazy – this is the 4th time we’ve moved in our  five years in Dubai.

First, we lived in a room inside my company’s guest house for three months after arriving in 2007. It was tough. We weren’t allowed to cook so we ate outside all the time. Pristine got a terrible stomach bug because of that. Nightmare! We didn’t have a washing machine as well so had to wash laundry by hands (or else pay for laundry services – we didn’t have a budget for that and we had mountain load of dirty clothes with a small child).

Plus, the building is very near the airport and flight path of planes approaching Dubai International Airport. There would be these noisy, huge planes every five minutes or so, all through the day and night!

We spent three long months because the building where we were supposed to live after arriving wasn’t finished yet.

Our next move was into a real-ish living space. The two bedroom apartment about 15 minutes drive from where I work was ok. Nothing fancy, but better than the guest house room we lived. It was really small with a kitchen only to fit one person, much like living in a dormitory. But we have to make-do of the situation, lived there for three years!

It was small but with a great view, especially in the morning:

During the global economic downturn, rents dived down and we found a spacious apartment within our budget. It had a bigger kitchen, bigger living room, bathroom, bedroom, bigger everything. The downside? It’s located in the inner courtyard of the building and we could only see our neighbor’s windows outside our own (see above photo). We had no balcony!

This is what we can see from our window:

Aside from Pristine’s cute face and a mommy bird building a nest, the view is really awful! I terribly missed taking photos of the sky. Plus it could be suffocating not to have an outside view. We have been in this current apartment for two years.

So…

By the end of this month, we are moving again. With a new baby, it is a brave move, I know. I hear the “have we gone crazy or what?” and the “I hope the new apartment is worth the trouble!” remarks from friends.

Have we gone mad? Maybe but not really. Is the new apartment worth all the trouble? YES. We are moving to the same building complex (so effort for moving is minimal), but the room is on a different side so we get to have a balcony and an outside view. Same convenient location for us, only we could ‘breathe’ more with the bigger windows & balcony access.

Here’s the difference from our now apartment room and the one we’re moving into:

Hurrah for balcony and proper outside view! I am able to take photos of what’s outside again. I love the Dubai sky in winter. I can’t wait to breathe in fresher air.