Relocating to the Gulf. Update: Now relocating from there to Singapore.

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › Relocating to the Gulf. Update: Now relocating from there to Singapore.

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#3489454 10-May-2026 16:34

Pets are expensive, but you just can't leave them behind. It cost us ~3K EUR to bring our dog from Ireland to NZ when we moved back in 2017. We didn't baulk at the price as we'd researched it and budgeted for it. It was just his age we were concerned about. He was 13 at the time but we got another 4.5yrs with him in NZ which we appreciated.

From my limited time in Singapore its very dog friendly. And as Handle said, lots of parks and the pet owners a very respectiful with how clean the place is and the fines associated with not cleaning up after your pet.

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#3489459 10-May-2026 16:48

Senecio:

Pets are expensive, but you just can't leave them behind. It cost us ~3K EUR to bring our dog from Ireland to NZ when we moved back in 2017. We didn't baulk at the price as we'd researched it and budgeted for it. It was just his age we were concerned about. He was 13 at the time but we got another 4.5yrs with him in NZ which we appreciated.

From my limited time in Singapore its very dog friendly. And as Handle said, lots of parks and the pet owners a very respectiful with how clean the place is and the fines associated with not cleaning up after your pet.

We left our pets behind when we moved to the gulf due to their age and the conditions here.

Our Staffy cross went to our mother in law where she was living on a farm. Our cat went to my cousin. For both animals it was the best situation for them to stay in NZ.

Both of them had lovely lives there but passed on within 2 years so it proved to be the best choice.

Bella is a rescue who spent years in foster care and would struggle to get another family. Leaving her behind simply isn’t an option.

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#3489461 10-May-2026 16:51

Good news re Bella. Wonder how she will manage the flight. Will she need to quarantine there as they do in NZ?

Handle9

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#3489464 10-May-2026 17:03

Quarantine in Singapore is much longer than NZ (30 days instead of 10 days.) We can visit her 3 days a week though which we wouldn’t be able to do in NZ..

Miss 11 views Bella as her emotional support dumb dumb. She will be in quarantine during school holidays so I imagine she’ll be getting 3 visits a week

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#3489493 10-May-2026 18:03

Bella is a very lucky girl that she found the Handle family!

Handle9

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#3507145 29-Jun-2026 22:42

Well I’m 3 hours away from Singapore on my relocation flight. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind. We’ve sold cars, reduced the volume of our possessions by over 50% and generally prepared for relocation.

I start work tomorrow and Mrs Handle and the mini handles will follow next Tuesday. School finishes for the summer on Friday and we made the decision to let them go the whole way through.

The last couple of weeks have been full of farewells and the movers came on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s been a bittersweet feeling leaving. I’m excited by what comes next but also the UAE has been very good to us. My kids have had an amazing time and have had access to schooling that has changed their view of the world. Seeing them receive various academic and sporting awards over the last few weeks has been very cool.

We’ve had the same helper working for us the whole time we were in the UAE. She is going home to the Phillipines to retire and we said good bye last night. We are going to desperately miss her, she’s a lovely lady who we have been able to help build a house and put her kids through tertiary education. She’s been in the UAE 16 years and she’s tired but loves our girls and the crazy dog. We’ve been very happy to have her with us and my girls have a second mother.

The last one to leave the UAE will be the dog. We couldn’t get a quarantine slot until the end of August so she’ll be in the kennels for 6 weeks or so before a month in quarantine. It’s not ideal but it is what it is. She’s been pretty unsettled with everything going on but it’s only a short blip for her.

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Asteros

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#3507146 29-Jun-2026 22:53

Amazing, thanks for keeping this update going for so long. I am in NZ currently but thinking of heading abroad and my kids are quite a bit younger than yours. Philosophically, do you think an extended time abroad like yours would alter them so much that a return to NZ is out of the question for them? Can you comment on how your children have evolved?

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#3507148 29-Jun-2026 23:10

Asteros:

Amazing, thanks for keeping this update going for so long. I am in NZ currently but thinking of heading abroad and my kids are quite a bit younger than yours. Philosophically, do you think an extended time abroad like yours would alter them so much that a return to NZ is out of the question for them? Can you comment on how your children have evolved?

Our kids still strongly identify as New Zealanders. Our family values haven’t changed particularly but they have different experiences. When we were planning to relocate home they were excited by the prospect.

They have had the benefit of a very good education, without some of the social problems that you encounter in New Zealand. That’s a double edged sword of course but it’s given them the opportunity to be kids for a bit longer than they may have done in New Zealand.

Compared to family and friends in NZ my kids are both more innocent and more worldly. They have been exposed to a lot of different stuff and places that they wouldn’t have otherwise They are probably a bit more mature and confident than some New Zealand kids their age.

Miss 14 is dyslexic and has had massive amounts of support at school. She would not have gotten the same level of support in the public system in NZ although we likely would have been able to fund extra support.

The downside of doing the expat thing is the kids do become third place kids. They never really belong anywhere and I would imagine after tertiary education or training they will disappear overseas. Their world is much smaller than it was for me growing up.

If we knew then what we know now we would 100% do it again. It hasn’t all been roses but it’s been great.

Asteros

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#3507149 29-Jun-2026 23:41

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive reply. Depending on how long you stay in Singapore, the mini Handles could finish their schooling over there and I imagine the culture shock coming back to an NZ school would be immense having lived so long out of the country. I'm not sure whether their post-school futures would begin to encompass NZ. I am interested in giving my kids a view to the outside world but at the same time wider family and way of life considerations are giving me reason to pause.

Looking foward to hearing more about Singapore life!

Also, are you buying a vehicle?

Handle9

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#3507150 30-Jun-2026 00:20

Yeah there will be some culture shock but my kids are used to being around many different cultures. Their current school has 78 nationalities with the largest nationality being less than 10% of the school population.

Definitely not buying a car at the moment. There is no need and it’s horrifically expensive in Singapore.

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#3511106 13-Jul-2026 19:54

I've been pleasantly surprised to learn today that it looks like we have a shipping slot for our container on the 23rd of July. It's a month after our gear was collected but still it's nice to have a slot loosely confirmed. It's a straight shot from Sohar down here so it would be here around the 6th of August. Allowing a few days for customs etc we'd probably have it in our flat on or around the 10th of August.

Mrs Handle and the girls arrived last week so we are almost done with Dubai, with just the dog left to come. I was bloody happy for us all to be out of there when I heard there were missile alerts over the weekend.

We have found a permanent apartment in Singapore and signed the lease on the weekend. It's horrifically expensive but close to work and 500m from an MRT station for the kids to get to school. They will be spending a bit longer travelling than I would have liked but it's very central (Kallang), next to a park for the dog and very close to the national stadium. We are very happy to have found it for a relatively decent price.

We are really enjoying Singapore so far, other than the humidity. Everything else is great, it's expensive but functional and the people are really nice. Lots to do at work but that's ok.

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#3511121 13-Jul-2026 20:24

Handle9:

I was bloody happy for us all to be out of there when I heard there were missile alerts over the weekend.

sound like Bibi has found a very simple way to get Trump back on track. just tell Trump he's Iran's most wanted.

i mean ... we all know that he's Iran's most wanted. but apparently he didn't know that and suddenly it seems he got triggered and is raining hell on Iran for something he didn't know that everyone knows all along.

*sigh smh

Handle9

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#3511123 13-Jul-2026 20:28

Batman:

Handle9:

I was bloody happy for us all to be out of there when I heard there were missile alerts over the weekend.

sound like Bibi has found a very simple way to get Trump back on track. just tell Trump he's Iran's most wanted.

i mean ... we all know that he's Iran's most wanted. but apparently he didn't know that and suddenly it seems he got triggered and is raining hell on Iran for something he didn't know that everyone knows all along.

*sigh smh

Uh there's the Iran thread for that stuff. Maybe you'd be better posting there.

Tzoi

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#3511139 13-Jul-2026 21:39

Handle9:

I've been pleasantly surprised to learn today that it looks like we have a shipping slot for our container on the 23rd of July. It's a month after our gear was collected but still it's nice to have a slot loosely confirmed. It's a straight shot from Sohar down here so it would be here around the 6th of August. Allowing a few days for customs etc we'd probably have it in our flat on or around the 10th of August.

Mrs Handle and the girls arrived last week so we are almost done with Dubai, with just the dog left to come. I was bloody happy for us all to be out of there when I heard there were missile alerts over the weekend.

We have found a permanent apartment in Singapore and signed the lease on the weekend. It's horrifically expensive but close to work and 500m from an MRT station for the kids to get to school. They will be spending a bit longer travelling than I would have liked but it's very central (Kallang), next to a park for the dog and very close to the national stadium. We are very happy to have found it for a relatively decent price.

We are really enjoying Singapore so far, other than the humidity. Everything else is great, it's expensive but functional and the people are really nice. Lots to do at work but that's ok.

Are you near the old Airport Road Food Centre? The locals I talk to say that's one of the best hawker centres in Singapore. Other than rent and schooling, what else are you finding really expensive?

Handle9

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#3511150 13-Jul-2026 23:46

Tzoi:

Are you near the old Airport Road Food Centre? The locals I talk to say that's one of the best hawker centres in Singapore. Other than rent and schooling, what else are you finding really expensive?

No. We are in a serviced apartment in Orchard at the moment but when we move to Kallang we'll be pretty close.

We're finding a lot of things quite expensive but others extremely cheap. We are finding groceries are more expensive than the gulf as are moderately priced and better restaurants. The prices themselves are fine but the it's +10% for service charge and +9% for GST. It's really quite stupid. I'm sure we'll find better places to buy groceries.

Cheap food is incredibly cheap and good quality. Public transport is really cheap and Grabs are very reasonable. It's different as you are paying per use rather than upfront for a car/insurance/servicing etc. We'll get used to it.

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