Your first 72 hours in Dubai

Dubai is the easiest hard move there is: everything works, everyone speaks English, and the bureaucracy mostly happens to you via your employer. Your first 72 hours are about logistics and calibration, not paperwork.

Hour 1: out of DXB

The metro red line runs from Terminals 1 and 3 straight down the spine of the city — cheap and genuinely useful if you're staying near a station. Otherwise it's a taxi (ranks are managed, metered, fine) or Careem/Uber — AED 50–100 to the Marina depending on traffic. Buy a Nol card at the airport metro station regardless (AED 25 with credit loaded); it works on metro, tram, buses, and even some taxis.

Day 1: SIM card

The airport kiosks (e&, du, Virgin Mobile) will sell you a working SIM in five minutes on your passport — convenient but tourist-priced. If you can wait a day, any mall shop does prepaid cheaper. You'll switch to postpaid later once your Emirates ID exists; for now prepaid data is the bridge. A UAE number matters immediately: every app, delivery, and bank OTP expects one.

Day 1: money calibration

Cards work absolutely everywhere — you can live cashless from hour one. Keep AED 100 in cash for the odd karak stall and tips (10% is the polite default for delivery and valet; round up taxis). The thing to calibrate is the rhythm of money here: rent is annual and paid in post-dated cheques, salaries arrive monthly, and the gap between those two facts is why your first months are cash-flow heavy. Don't commit to a flat in week one; serviced apartments and monthly rooms buy you time to learn the map.

Day 2: learn the weekend and the weather

The weekend is Saturday–Sunday (it changed in 2022; old blog posts say Friday). Brunch is a sport, Friday is a normal-ish workday morning for many, and everything stays open late. Weather strategy: October to April is glorious and outdoors; May to September the city moves indoors and air-conditioning is infrastructure, not luxury. If you arrived in summer, don't judge the city yet — schedule your walking for after 6pm and drink more water than feels reasonable.

Day 2: supermarkets and the basics

Carrefour is the default big shop, Spinneys and Waitrose the premium tier, Lulu the everything-store with the best produce prices, Choithrams the corner option. Tap water is desalinated and safe; most residents still filter or buy bottled for taste. Pharmacies are everywhere, many 24h, and a lot is available without prescription. The numbers: 999 police, 998 ambulance.

Day 3: let the visa machine see you

If an employer brought you here, your day-3 job is responsiveness: the PRO will summon you for the medical test and Emirates ID biometrics — go the same day they ask, because every later step (bank, Ejari, postpaid SIM, insurance card) queues behind it. Self-sponsoring? Day 3 is when you book the medical and biometrics yourself through an Amer centre. Either way, carry passport copies and visa-photo-sized photos; Dubai asks for them like other cities ask for signatures.

Dress code and Ramadan, honestly

Day-to-day Dubai is relaxed: normal summer clothes everywhere, swimwear at pools and beaches, modesty only really expected in malls (shoulders/knees-ish), government buildings, and old Dubai. During Ramadan, eating and drinking in public daytime is restricted in most areas and the city's rhythm inverts — quieter days, magnificent nights. It's a great month to be here once you know the etiquette; restaurants still serve, just discreetly.

Apps to install tonight

• Careem — rides, food, everything (the local super-app)
• Dubai REST — tenancy, RERA rent calculator (you'll need it sooner than you think)
• DubaiNow — government services, DEWA bills, fines
• Talabat / Deliveroo — food delivery arrives absurdly fast
• The hospital app for your insurer's network — same-day GP bookings

What can wait

The bank account (needs Emirates ID), the flat (learn the areas first — the neighbourhoods comparison in this app puts them on a map), the driving licence, the gym contract. Work the checklist in order. For now: take the metro one stop at sunset, look at the skyline you just moved to, and order a karak for AED 1.50 — the best price-to-wonder ratio in the city.