When people asked how the move was going, I said “fine, we’re getting there.” What I meant was: I’d spent weeks researching different airlines, comparing shipping quotes and discovering that leaving a country costs significantly more than arriving in one ever did.
Nobody really talks about the financial reality of relocating — especially not the unexpected bits. So here’s our honest breakdown of what leaving Abu Dhabi actually cost us, in case it helps anyone else doing the same sums.
The visa cancellation process, at least, was relatively straightforward — though it did mean tying up loose ends with employers, which added its own layer of admin when we were already juggling everything else. If you’re leaving UAE employment, your employer typically handles the cancellation, but it’s worth staying on top of the timeline so nothing lapses unexpectedly.
Flights were the first place the costs started to sting. Prices were rising — fuel costs were up and with the situation at the time limiting which airlines were operating out of Abu Dhabi, options were slim. We were essentially choosing between what was available rather than what was ideal, which was a strange position to be in after years of living somewhere with one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs nearby.
“We knew leaving would cost money. We did not anticipate that the most complicated line item would be a five kilogram dog named Patrick.”
Let me tell you about Patrick.
Patrick is our Maltese. He is small, fluffy and completely oblivious to the administrative chaos he caused. We adopted him seven months before we left, when his family relocated and couldn’t afford to take him with them. We now know why. Moving him with us turned into one of the most surprisingly complex — and expensive — parts of the entire relocation.
Here’s where we landed after a lot of research:
Patrick’s travel options
Etihad from Abu Dhabi — approximately 6,000 AED. The significant upside: Patrick could travel in cabin or hold, Abu Dhabi airport was closer and far more convenient for us and frankly the idea of him being in cabin was enormously reassuring.
Emirates from Dubai — approximately 500 AED. Dramatically cheaper. The catches: Patrick would have had to travel in the hold only and we’d have needed to get ourselves and all our luggage to Dubai first, which would have added time, stress and cost of its own.
The question we sat with was: did we pay 5,500 AED more for convenience, proximity, and the option of Patrick travelling in cabin? Or did we make the Dubai trip work and save the money at a time when every dirham counted?
We’ll share what we decided in a future post — but if you’d told us six months earlier that one of our biggest moving decisions would revolve around a Maltese’s seating arrangement, we would not have believed you.
Then there was the shipping:
We did a mix of shipping and selling — which sounds straightforward until you factor in that the Strait of Hormuz was closed at the time. If you’re not familiar, a significant portion of sea freight leaving the Gulf passes through the Strait and with it closed, shipping companies were rerouting, timelines were stretched and quotes were higher than they would normally have been. We had companies come back to us with delays of weeks and costs we weren’t expecting. It’s one of those things that doesn’t make the mainstream relocation guides because most people aren’t moving during a geopolitical situation quite like that one.
Our approach was to get at least three quotes, ask specifically about routing and expected delays and factor in a buffer of both time and money. We were also in the slightly unique position of not yet having confirmed our destination — so we got indicative quotes for a few different locations and worked from there. If you’re in the same position, don’t assume the quote you get today reflects normal shipping conditions — because at that point, nothing about it was normal.
“The rule: if it has sentimental value or costs more to replace than to ship, it comes with us. Everything else went on Dubizzle.”
The honest summary is this: leaving cost more than we thought, took longer than we planned, and threw up decisions we never anticipated. But we got through it — spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups, browser tabs and all.
If you’re moving a pet internationally and want to know what we decided about Patrick, that post is coming. And if you navigated shipping during the Strait closure and have advice, drop a comment below — we’d love to hear how others handled it.
Marie 🙂
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