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| The Burj Khalifa - Our New Home! |
Work...it finally became irreconcilable with so much time on the road!
But...
As work and life in Dubai are now a little more settled, we have decided to start blogging again. We won't be reflecting on travel in different countries as often but rather focus more on life here in Dubai. There is so much cool stuff and so many innovative and unusual things happening in the region, we think they are well worth sharing. We hope you will indulge us.
So, here we go...
The first step in our transition was to get an apartment of our very own - in our chosen area with the layout and design we liked. After looking at multiple dozens of apartments in a variety of areas - and after a lease experience that went awry - we finally moved into the Burj Khalifa.
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| Beautiful Burj at Night |
The rental experience here is quite different than in North America. A property will often have many real estate agents representing it, but sometimes they just claim to represent it without having access and just try to cut from the real rep!
They mediate the agreement between the renter and owner. As such, renters do their own online research and then contact the representative of the apartments that they wish to view. In the end, we must have met about 50 agents.
Renters pay the entire year either in one or only a few installments rather than monthly. Passing over a year's worth of rent in one shot can be a little nerve-wracking for the more cautious among us. Not to mention this leaves a lack of a financial incentive for the landlord to maintain the property!
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| The gorgeous lobby |
As a result, our focus shifted somewhat to finding an apartment we were confident was well-built and nicely maintained to reduce the chance of any problems motivating a landlord who may have less incentive to fix things since all the payments had been made. Fingers crossed, we think we have landed on a superb building with a nice and accommodating landlord... From Burlington of all places! The world certainly is small.
The Burj Khalifa is one of the most spectacular buildings we have ever seen - so gorgeously finished and with keen attention to every small detail, including cleaning and maintenance. When we arrived for our first visit, we couldn't help but feel happy and calm and were more than comfortable trading off a larger apartment to live in one that was so functional and nicely designed.
Positioned conveniently on the 19th floor - high enough to enjoy a great view - while low enough to require only one elevator - our apartment is cozy but designed to allow us to host guests. Hint hint.
To minimize disruption in the main areas, the Burj residence requires all deliveries and move-in day activities to be done through the loading area in a separate area of the building. It was this process that made us realize quite quickly that we were not the regular dwellers in this building. Trying to explain to the concierge that we did not have movers but rather would be bringing all of our stuff ourselves - and via taxi no less - was just too obscure a concept for the team here to understand.
But, the lovely staff have indulged our quirky ways. They chuckle every time we show up at the loading deck - hauling a rug or side tables or other pieces of furniture - likely shaking their heads at how ridiculous we look.
Having sold all of our possessions, we have started afresh with this new apartment. As rental contracts often come into force very quickly once signed - often within a week or two - we found a bed and couch that could be delivered within days and focused only on items that were readily available. Luckily, things move quickly here and we were even able to get curtains made and installed within a week.
We are determined to keep the minimalist lifestyle we had embraced on our travels and have kept our wardrobe size to almost the same levels, adhering strictly to our serious "one-in-one-out" policy. While Geoff thinks that we already have too many knick-knacks - Beth still doesn't understand how a plant can be considered clutter - it is a pleasure to live in a place where storage shelves remain almost empty and everything has a place.
Fingers crossed this continues!
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| Move-in day! |
Positioned conveniently on the 19th floor - high enough to enjoy a great view - while low enough to require only one elevator - our apartment is cozy but designed to allow us to host guests. Hint hint.
To minimize disruption in the main areas, the Burj residence requires all deliveries and move-in day activities to be done through the loading area in a separate area of the building. It was this process that made us realize quite quickly that we were not the regular dwellers in this building. Trying to explain to the concierge that we did not have movers but rather would be bringing all of our stuff ourselves - and via taxi no less - was just too obscure a concept for the team here to understand.But, the lovely staff have indulged our quirky ways. They chuckle every time we show up at the loading deck - hauling a rug or side tables or other pieces of furniture - likely shaking their heads at how ridiculous we look.
Having sold all of our possessions, we have started afresh with this new apartment. As rental contracts often come into force very quickly once signed - often within a week or two - we found a bed and couch that could be delivered within days and focused only on items that were readily available. Luckily, things move quickly here and we were even able to get curtains made and installed within a week.
We are determined to keep the minimalist lifestyle we had embraced on our travels and have kept our wardrobe size to almost the same levels, adhering strictly to our serious "one-in-one-out" policy. While Geoff thinks that we already have too many knick-knacks - Beth still doesn't understand how a plant can be considered clutter - it is a pleasure to live in a place where storage shelves remain almost empty and everything has a place. Fingers crossed this continues!
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| Our view at night.... |
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