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0:03
Chase Warrington
Hey, what’s going on everyone, welcome to another episode of about abroad where it’s my job to introduce you to people who have built amazing lives for themselves in various foreign corners of the globe. We’re talking with expats and thought leaders about moving abroad, remote work, visas, and all the fun and practical knowledge that you need to know to follow in their footsteps. If you’ve ever dreamed of making a life for yourself overseas, maybe working remotely or embracing long term travel, retiring or studying abroad, or even just taking a peek inside life beyond your borders, you’ve landed in the right place.
0:44
Chase Warrington
My guest today is a friend of mine named Aurelie, who is joining us all the way from Dubai, but she is originally from France and has actually lived in a handful of countries around the world. So we talk a little bit about that some of the other places that she called home prior to making the move to Dubai, but really we hone in on what life’s like there in this city that she’s fallen in love with and sort of the backstory behind how she got to be there. Because like a lot of people she hit on some rough times during the pandemic throughout the last few years and really just needed a change. And she found that change in Dubai and taking us through the process. It’s actually a pretty easy one if you were interested in moving there. And it’s really fascinating to learn how someone that’s an expat could settle into society there. So I was really intrigued by this conversation. I loved getting to catch up with Harley and I think you all will enjoy it as well. So please help me in welcoming Aurelie to about abroad. Aurelie Bonjour Welcome to about abroad. How are you today?
1:45
Aurelie Krau
Bon Jour the local ways salam alaikum.
1:50
Chase Warrington
Yeah, and something already
1:51
Aurelie Krau
Here we go second, number two,
1:55
Chase Warrington
Off to a good start, for those of you listening and haven’t read the show notes yet, or Lee is from France, but currently living in Dubai. So we’re going to learn a lot about one of the most international cities in the world today. So I’m super excited about that. But first of all, just how is life you’re fairly new in Dubai? Correct?
2:13
Aurelie Krau
I am Life is good. We were you know, we’re just kicking off the winter season and Dubai has like 20 to 25 degrees during the time it’s something around 80 for the Fahrenheit friends. I think it’s somewhere around 80. Right.
2:29
Chase Warrington
Yeah, you know how I remember this, I have one trick because I’m still I’ve been for years in Spain and lived in Celsius countries for a while and I’m still bad at it. I just can’t get Fahrenheit out of my mind. But 28 is 82 2882. So you can always use that as a baseline and then go up and down from there
2:44
Aurelie Krau
That’s something I’m going to reuse. Thanks for that.
2:47
Chase Warrington
Yeah, that’s all I’m good for today. That’s the extent of my useful knowledge. The rest of it will probably come from you. But yeah, Dubai doesn’t have the freezing cold temperatures of Europe.
2:58
Aurelie Krau
It could be in the in the desert. Sometimes it freezes a little bit and everybody everybody freaks out when it’s happening.
3:05
Chase Warrington
You know, I can imagine people driving on the roads and Dubai when there’s when it gets a little chilly. I grew up in North Carolina in the US and in the south of the US and but we have mountains there you know and it snows some and when it snows like even like you know a couple centimeters. It’s just like all hell breaks loose and people don’t know how to drive and schools close. And so when people come from the north to there, they’re always like, what is going you guys don’t know how to drive in the snow
3:29
Aurelie Krau
when trying to rain in Dubai. I haven’t experienced it yet. But apparently some interesting adventure as well.
3:36
Chase Warrington
You haven’t experienced rain yet.
3:37
Aurelie Krau
It hasn’t rained in a year.
3:39
Chase Warrington
Wow. What
3:40
Aurelie Krau
Yeah, it hasn’t rained? Well, some drops, but it lasted like 10 minutes.
3:45
Chase Warrington
Do you miss the rain at all? Is there any element that’s like, I’d like to see it? No, not at all.
3:49
Aurelie Krau
No. So you know, some story has been to Miami end of 2021 for a conference and I think I probably was the most unlucky girl ever because it kept raining but like tropical, very heavy rains. And I think I have enough rain for the next two years. Yeah,
4:05
Chase Warrington
I actually was born in Miami and spent a good bit of time in my life there and during the summer in particular there’s like every single day just like a tropical storm that rolls through in the afternoons and just pours rain and and you see the you know, Miami’s like you think sunshine and beaches and stuff but like you have to be ready for the harsh weather as well.
4:25
Aurelie Krau
I wasn’t
4:25
Chase Warrington
No. So this is what I find really interesting and like for a bit of context for people listening like Aurelie and I know each other through professional careers, which we might touch on a little bit today. And I know that she has recently made the move to Dubai and but I really don’t know much more than that. So I will be learning along with you guys because I’m genuinely very interested in Dubai itself what it’s like living there, but also I think for the audience, you know why you chose Dubai and then also like the process to get there so I’m eager to get into all this and I guess I’ll just start with the why, you know, how did you arrive? I have to a point where you decided okay, I’m gonna make the move from from France to Dubai. What’s the backstory there?
5:06
Aurelie Krau
It’s an accident.
5:07
Chase Warrington
Most most fun stories start like that.
5:10
Aurelie Krau
Exactly. It’s, I would say it’s a human journey that led me here. What what was on my mind, because one country has my heart. It’s Colombia. Maybe we’ll touch that a little bit later. Colombia is not the topic today. But just just like you Chase, you know, I spend time working abroad, working while traveling. And I had a massive pressure Colombia and I always thought, okay, one day, I’ll live there. A little virus came in the way. I’ve heard of this. Yes, whatever. I’m not, I’m not gonna give too much credit to that virus right now.
5:46
Chase Warrington
We won’t even say the C word.
5:47
Aurelie Krau
No, no, no, no, this is not part of my vocabulary anymore.
5:51
Chase Warrington
So you wait. So if I understand correctly, you had pondering the idea of going to Colombia, but the C word got in the way. And so plants changed.
5:58
Aurelie Krau
Exactly. It got a bit in the way. And I always because 50% of the time, my job led me to different countries, like every month, I was going to at least two or three different destinations, mostly in Europe, because I was running a lot of events, workshops. So these are the types of things that make you travel and I kind of want it to live, like your proper mode, like either slow travel or expats experience somewhere in the world. And this is this was a bit where my mind was at, then this happened. My my business took a huge hits because of the nature of my job yet started like everyone in March 2020. Mentally I wasn’t in a very good space. And a friend of mine who lives in Dubai that I’ve met as well, through my professional career, he reached out and he said, You know what? You don’t sound very, very good. Why don’t you come to Dubai? Dubai is open, I’ve moved to new place with my wife, we have a spare room, it’s all yours book, your flights Come see us for a week or two. I think it’s gonna it’s gonna be very beneficial for you. It was like, You know what, let’s do it. I knew Dubai. I was there. I’ve been there twice before for work. And I think on day four, the French president announced the second lockdown in France, and back then it was November 2020. And I was like, No, thanks. No, I just don’t want to do that. Because for our listeners, I don’t know how familiar you are with how it was in France. But it was pretty strict. Even though they announced it would be you know, more flexible. I was like just No. So I took a look at my savings account. I took a look at my pipeline that wasn’t very glorious, but it was a you know what, now I have a decision to make. And I choose me, I choose my mental health. I was feeling good in Dubai. And I started to see aspects of the city that I did not know that I have not come across in my visits. In the previous years when I wasthere for work
8:00
Chase Warrington
Like what? Anything in particular that jumps out.
8:02
Aurelie Krau
Yes,one thing in November in Dubai, it’s been three years now there is a massive event that is called Dubai fitness challenge. It’s a government led initiative aimed at getting people to move like 30 minutes every day, they’ve built three massive fitness villages in the city for free. And anyone can come and register and just come and attend classes. It’s free, even for tourists for visitors. Absolutely free. And this year, they even have the village at the Expo on the expo site. So this is one thing I thought this is really cool. That free classes unlimited. And it’s not really the idea that you will have to buy because the the cliche, let’s say it is really five star, it’s luxury. It’s fine dining. It’s a bit artificial. That’s the cliche, that’s that’s what one would think to be to be honest, right? But we’re here to break the cliche, because there’s way more to that. So this is the first thing I experienced then I knew there were a lot of expats but like any person of the city is expats
9:05
Chase Warrington
Wow
9:05
Aurelie Krau
So I met Yeah, it’s huge.
9:08
Chase Warrington
How many people are in Dubai? Like like roughly 80% of is it millions I haven’t like no idea
9:13
Aurelie Krau
Yeah, I think across if I’m not mistaken, so please don’t don’t hold me accountable for that and please in the audience Forgive me if the number I didn’t do my research,
9:23
Chase Warrington
like Jeopardy, you know, I have no idea like zero.
9:26
Aurelie Krau
People are gonna attack me after that. No, you are wrong woman I believe in the UAE approximately 10,000 Okay, and you know what we are live it’s very spontaneous. Let me do a quick Google search right. There we go to 3.3 million in 2019, according to Google in Dubai Emirates,
9:43
Chase Warrington
So we’re talking like 80% of I mean, that’s that you’re literally talking about millions of expats all living in one place. That is super cool.
9:51
Aurelie Krau
It’s really cool and so many different backgrounds. You know, I started to meet friends of friends of friends of friends and it’s because As everybody’s so far away from home, it creates something very welcoming. And it’s easier to actually go and get to know people. I also, you know, I’m really into fitness. I love this. Well, obviously I’ve just explained about the Dubai fitness challenge. But other than that, it’s a super easy way. And even in general, even if you’re traveling or if you’re in a place temporarily, the gyms or fitness is an amazing way to get to meet people.
10:26
Chase Warrington
Absolutely. I 100% agree. It’s it’s one of my major social outlets is going to my gym, I do CrossFit. It’s a small team of people. I mean, I’m in there with 12 other people every single day. And normally, like even in a small city, like here in Valencia, I go to one of my classes, there’s four or five, six different countries represented in just a small class.
10:46
Aurelie Krau
It’s so cool
10:46
Chase Warrington
Stimulating Yeah, absolutely. Exactly.
10:48
Aurelie Krau
Exactly. So you know, I started to feel very comfortable. And then genuinely friends a friend asked me a little bit about about my professional career. And they were like, That’s so cool. So you work remotely. So that’s why you were able to stay in Dubai and you’re extending and extending. And I said, Actually, yeah, because I’m I’ve created a location independent job. So wherever I am in the world is just the timezone basically, that I need to navigate and my deliverables for the clients. But I had challenges obviously, because of the well, let’s say it was COVID.
11:19
Chase Warrington
It snuck in. Yeah,
11:20
Aurelie Krau
Exactly.
11:22
Chase Warrington
Covid prevailed Okay
11:23
Aurelie Krau
and theywere admirable, and genuinely wanted to help me. And they were like, Okay, so what’s your situation? So I explained, it was like, Yeah, challenges because in France, when you are self employed, you pay tons of taxes, like you can go up to 60 persons is huge
11:39
Chase Warrington
Six zero for those of you listening 60% Wow,
11:43
Aurelie Krau
it’s huge. So you basically sometimes wonder why you wake up in the morning, like, you love your job, but like, wow, what stays in my pocket? It’s not much. And so those people told me, are you insane? I was like, What do you mean? And they said, haven’t you looked at other options? I mean, we could help. And yes, I had in the past, a lot of French people have their HQ in London, for example. But with Brexit, that was not an option anymore. It was a bit too risky for me, then I looked, and I know they you had them as guests and supporting your, your, your podcast. So this is how it’s an interesting consonants. Estonia, I looked at this as well. And the problem is the French government is very clever. And they there’s always some caveats. And they’re clearly mentioned that if your own government decides, like something else, it overwrites what you will do in other countries.
12:35
Chase Warrington
So if you set up your business in Estonia, which is the what the residency program of Estonia allows, you can form your company in Estonia, and that has benefits for certain people from certain countries. But in your case, the French government says, Yeah, that’s fine, you can do that. But if you do, then there’s a chance that we could override that at some point, and then it’s null and void. So it’s, it’s kind of it’s a big risk in your case to do that you can. De risk. Yeah, gotcha.
13:04
Aurelie Krau
Exactly. So you know, and those friends of friends actually told me Have you have you checked what they’re doing here in the UAE? And I have no clue. They they told me take a look at free zones, all those stuff. So I started my investigation, and I found out that you can very easily set up a business as a foreigner 100 person owning it, because back then, in the times where this didn’t exist, such programs did not exist yet. You had to have a local or winning 51% of the business, like acting as a sponsor, if you will, this is over. And I did not know that. So I started to take a look at this, I even found out that if you are self employed a woman intrapreneur you get a discount. Wow, really. They’re really trying to attract talent. And they want to attract women as well. They they’re they’re full steam on, you know, equality and female empowerment. There’s a lot going on in the UAE.
14:01
Chase Warrington
And this is might be kind of shocking for I mean, it is I’ll admit, it’s shocking for me to hear that. Because I think you know, we talked a minute ago about the cliches and stereotypes and there is a stereotype. And this is this is not my opinion, this is just what I’ve had other people on the show before that have spent time in the Middle East. And actually, I think all of them have been women and they have all kind of mentioned for in for context, never in Dubai, but in other countries, including the UAE, some of my guests, but just not in Dubai. And they’ve all kind of mentioned that, like, you know, there is there is a bit of a feeling that they’ve lost a little bit of their freedom, or they need to be a bit more careful book specifically because they’re women. So that’s really it’s kind of mind boggling and exciting to hear that there’s this progressive take coming out of Dubai and if it was going to come out of anywhere, it seems like it would come out of Dubai.
14:47
Aurelie Krau
Yes, Dubai, I would say is the most progressive Emirates if you look at the seven emirates of UAE is quite chill here and we’re going to touch that in a bit as well. You know, what is it to be a woman Hear and and what are maybe the rules, you need to adjust to couple of things, but it’s really no big deal. And it’s a fair question because the Middle East is, is something that tends to scare people off a little bit. But to put things in context, Saudi that’s next door. I unfortunately, I have not been able to make my way there yet because of our dear friend COVID.
15:23
Chase Warrington
It creeps in.
15:24
Aurelie Krau
Oh, yeah. But it’s opening up real fast. Real, real fast, like Riyadh is a business hub. It’s massive. What’s going on there as well, the investments are warding the country. I’ve met a couple of women entrepreneurs as well that have founded like startups, tech startups, it’s it’s quite interesting to see this is what I liked in UAE. I felt them. There’s a lot going on. There’s some growth that they’re trying to attract by attracting the right talent to the country as well. And the tax incentive, let’s be honest, because this is the last thing I wanted to mention as well on the why Dubai, and why did I decide? It’s a very long answer?
16:04
Chase Warrington
It’s okay. Yeah, it’s super interesting.
16:07
Aurelie Krau
And why did they decide to actually set to settle in here? It’s tax free. I do not pay any tax. No one pays any tax in Dubai.
16:16
Chase Warrington
How is that possible? Right? Like like that’s, that’s somebody listening is going what how Wait, you don’t pay any tax, you don’t pay any taxes to France? No, you don’t pay taxes to the UAE
16:26
Aurelie Krau
I don’t pay taxes to France, I’m in the process of doing all this transition, because I’m not a tax resident of France anymore. Because I did that move. I actually have my residency visa here, I looked at my options, since we’re talking about working remotely and the different visas that you can get in Dubai, because they came up with a digital nomad visa, a remote work visa is a one year visa, if you’re an employee, that could work very nicely, the fee is not that much is couple of hundreds of dollars you need, well, maybe maybe the rules have changed, but you need to earn at least I believe it’s four or $5,000 per month. So it’s quite high end. But the cost of living in Dubai, and we’ll touch that as well. It’s not more expensive than Paris, because I’ve lived in Paris for 10 years. And it’s less expensive than London, for example, if you compare it to Europe,
17:16
Chase Warrington
When you think about like, like cost of living like your apartment for rent and food and your bills, things like this, it comes out to in that area in that space of some of the major cities in the world, but not as much as say London or New York or Paris.
17:30
Aurelie Krau
Yes.
17:30
Chase Warrington
Okay.
17:31
Aurelie Krau
It’s not what you would think because again, the image is top luxury and penthouses here, which makes me think of Sex and the City when you see New York. Oh, yeah, of course, I can leave in here, but it’s not real New York, either, you know, but I’m more than happy to touch on that, you know, as well as well, in the bits unit, all of this combined. I was like, You know what, that’s my trigger. I mean, I need to rebuild my career, because it’s been quite difficult. It’s been a it’s been a difficult, right, because of the nature of my business. I working in travel, business travel and events has, I think, been one of the worst combos. Imagine. It’s a nervous laugh, actually. But you know, I’d rather I better laugh about it. And I felt opportunities are going to rise here. Even if it’s a remote job. I was feeling good here because of the weather. It’s absolutely fantastic. And talking about stuff that you wouldn’t think of in Dubai, there’s a cycling track in the desert, you can rent a bike and you have the skyline in the background. And you’re in the desert. It’s freaking amazing. It’s so cool.
18:39
Chase Warrington
Slightly different than Paris.
18:40
Aurelie Krau
Yeah. It’s very different. And yeah, I mean, I did the math, I did a personal business plan. And I was like, okay, digital nomad visa was not an option for me, because I couldn’t meet the income requirements because of my situation. I’m very open here. You know, I think that sometimes it’s, it’s right. It’s nice, to be honest, and just tell things as they are.
19:02
Chase Warrington
This isn’t like before on the Instagram versus reality thing. Let’s go for a reality. You know, it’s not sugarcoat it. I mean, this is this. These are the catalysts for many of us to make big decisions. I mean, the majority of the people that come on this show went through some kind of like tribulation, that that led them to making a big change. And sometimes we need that trigger. And I think, almost always 100% I would say, from the looking back in hindsight, they go, I’m happy I went through that because it got me to, to this point, I went, I don’t mind talking about it either. Like I went through some low points to get to the state where I’m at right now, which which has me doing what I really love and living a life personally, that I really enjoy. But, you know, there were sacrifices and downsides and things like that. So yeah, that’s, that’s a that’s a nice thing. Like, let’s, let’s not sugarcoat it for people, you know,
19:53
Aurelie Krau
Definitely not. You know, I think sometimes you need to hit the bottom of what feels like the bottom to real nice things, you know, what you say makes me think Well, obviously, people won’t be able to see that. But one friend gave me a book that is called Who Moved My Cheese?
20:09
Chase Warrington
Who Moved My Cheese. Okay, yeah, I’ve never heard of this book. So
20:11
Aurelie Krau
it’s a very easy book to read. It’s, it takes less than two hours. And so it says, it’s an amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life. And it’s the story of four different characters that like two mice and two little men, it’s very metaphorical. But it’s it kind of it lights me in a way, they’re in a maze. And they’re looking for cheese, cheese being the, you know, the metaphor for what makes you happy. And all of a sudden, the cheese disappears, somebody moved it. And you see all those four different personas acting in a different way. And it teaches you a little bit of a lesson, like everybody makes their own interpretation of that, but it was like, yes, somebody moved my cheese. So now, I need to go in that maze and find new cheese. I love it. I really recommend everyone to ever want to read to read that book, because it’s a great way to picture yourself, like who are you in that process with the different, you know, characters? And what can you do about it?
21:09
Chase Warrington
I love this metaphor. Yeah, because your cheese does move. I mean, often, like we like to think of life as like, so linear, like there’s this plan. And and I think, especially in Western society, we’re brought up with like, you know, okay, here are the steps you’re gonna follow. And it’s a pretty clear path. But that’s a it’s like a freeway, it’s like an express lane to success like is the way it’s kind of sold to you. And I think, you know, often the road less traveled is a bit more fun to go and it a bit more scenic.
21:37
Aurelie Krau
You know, to be honest, I don’t know how you feel about that Chase. But you’ve also made a little bit of different choices in your career being location independence, it’s a choice, and it’s a bold choice. So if you’re even asking yourself, Should I do it? The very, very fact that you’re even asking yourself, the question is, yes, go for it. What do you have to lose? What this is the other question, what do you have to lose? If it’s not gonna work out? You find options? It’s fine.
22:06
Chase Warrington
Exactly.
22:07
Aurelie Krau
You know? So for those in the audience, I mean, reach out to me, even by dm, I’m more than happy to have a quick chat with you. And I’ll get you into this location. Work, work and lifestyle. If one one thing that took me this crisis is it confirmed it really assured my choices, but I was very challenged because I needed income as well at the same time. And I’ll be honest, Dubai is not right now, at the present moment, you will not meet a lot of digital nomads here, because the destination is not there yet. But like I said, give them one or two years, maybe even less, because they are startups here, there’s an entire ecosystem that exists and they want to empower the location independent lifestyle as well. So I was a bit in a situation where people that I spoke to a like, but why don’t you look for job like here in Dubai, it was like, Yeah, I mean, I want to I want to take a look at all of my options. But I’ve worked very hard to try to create something I loved, hence my cheese that got moved. I traveled the world and the thought process as well of why Dubai was still on the first question, by the way.
23:21
Chase Warrington
Yeah, it’s the best answer ever. As a show host when you only have to prepare one question, you just made my job super easy. So continue, if you
23:29
Aurelie Krau
Well, my lifestyle was very linked to my livelihood, when COVID hits, I lost my livelihoods. But my lifestyle took a big hit. So I was in that situation where it was almost ironic, because I was so happy to see remote work and all those things being on the, on the table finally, and engaging with people while my wings have just been cut, because I couldn’t live that life anymore. It was so strange. And I was in Dubai and was started to reflect and I was like, Okay, I need cash flow. So I’m probably not going to be able to travel that much for now. Maybe it’s just a pause. But that was like thinking about it. Dubai, it’s the middle of the world. How easy is it to get to Asia to get to Africa, Europe, it’s only six seven hours away. I thought you know what, this is a good strategy, go for it and go where the window or whatever, go in my maze back to my back to my book and just explore and at the time that we’re recording this I’m still exploring my options right now. But somehow it gives me energy.
24:32
Chase Warrington
Yeah, so it sounds like I mean, if I’m following correctly, like it sounds like you know, you had you had a good life in Paris. You had this job that took you around the world you had the ability to fall in love with Colombia at some point which I do hope we get back to but like you know, to have that that flexibility to even have been able to say like, Yeah, I had the opportunity to fall in love with Colombia. So you traveled the world. You’re living in one of the major cities in the world, one of the most attractive places people from all over would love to live in Paris to see where hits and the isness goes south. You know, obviously people were going through tough times with quarantines and for some people around the world this they’re just now experiencing this or they never experienced it. But But lockdowns in major cities in Europe, like like Paris and where I was living where I was living, like they were harsh, intense lockdowns, it did some serious damage to people’s mental health. I mean, you’re just trapped inside literally for months. So you know, you hit that down, you hit that, that proverbial bottom, the cheeses moved, and you go to Dubai, you get a little taste of Dubai from the local standpoint, and you learn about this tax incentive, and that you can found a business there. And so you decide, that’s, you know, that’s where I’m heading in my maze. I’m gonna go give this a shot. And so that’s sort of the summary of how you arrive to Dubai.
25:51
Chase Warrington
Correct And there we go. And so number one, that I wanted to make sure I got it right, because that’s, I mean, that’s quite a it is amazing that you went through. I mean, I love that you brought up this book, because it wasn’t that linear line. It wasn’t like Dubai, you know, you didn’t work for a company that said, hey, we want to put you in Dubai. And you were that was the next step in your career. You took some steps back to take a big step forward. And I can see you on camera now. And I know you a bit outside of work, like you seem like you’re in a great place. You seem very, very happy and very content there.
26:18
Aurelie Krau
Yes, absolutely. I mean, I had a great feeling when I came here. And like I said, I discovered different aspects of the city that I didn’t know even the food if you’re a foodie, Dubai is absolutely fantastic. Your food from the whole world and especially like the middle eastern food and the Asian foods, and you can eat for less than eight bucks. Wow. I swear it exists. It’s the only the super, of course there’s fine dining, and it’s amazing. But you can definitely go out there without spending tons of money. You have tons of activities to do. You take your car for one hour, you are in hotter mountains, you can hike, you can kayak. There’s tons of stuff to do Fujairah it’s an Emirates one, one hour and a half, right? It’s on the Indian Ocean Side, you can scuba dive. It’s fantastic.
27:08
Chase Warrington
It’s such a cool thing to say like, Oh, it’s on the Indian Ocean Side. You know, like, a lot of people will say, Oh, no, that’s on the other side of the interstate or something like that. You’re like, no, that’s over there where the Indian Ocean is. We’ll be right back to the show after a quick break. For a note from our sponsor.
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I would love for you to clarify something what is an emirate? And also, I guess a bit of context for people like you have the United Arab Emirates, so it’s a united clan of Emirates, but I think a lot of people might not know like what is an emirate,
28:46
Aurelie Krau
An Emirate is like a state in the US if you will. So UAE United Arab Emirates is the country and then they are different states. So it’s a federal state. Each Emirates each slash state has somebody sometimes their own rules or some specificities. But at the end of the day, the government’s and the capital city slash Emirates, it’s Abu Dhabi.
29:11
Chase Warrington
Right. Okay. And we’ve had someone on it for anybody listening that’s getting interested in the UAE, we back in season one we had somebody on from a good friend Lorraine, from who’s living in Abu Dhabi. So you can learn a bit more about Abu Dhabi in season one. And so it’s due by the one Oh, is it an emirate as well as the city?
29:29
Aurelie Krau
Yes, absolutely. And the other aspects as well, you know, that is worth to mention is safety. Dubai is one of the safe. I mean, I think it’s been actually awarded the third safest place in the world and especially as a woman, it is super, super safe. It’s so safe that let’s say you sit at a cafe you’re on your own. I work in cafes and public spaces like probably most of us in the audience and you as well Chase, you have your laptop, you even have bank notes, your mobile on the table. You go to the washroom, I can assure you 100 person, your things are never going to move, they’re still going to be exactly where you left them.
30:06
Chase Warrington
That’s mind boggling. I can’t imagine leaving my like leaving that stuff sitting there as a funny thing you mentioned because it’s a real digital nomad problem. Like I try to go to a cafe, I actually work from a co working space, I’ve figured out that’s my best routine. I have like a dedicated desk and I go there every day. But I try to go to a cafe once a week, like it’s kind of a thing I do my I do some creative work in a cafe just to really just to make myself go see a different place, get out whatever. And what you just described is like a real issue when you’re alone, because I’m sitting there, I’m like, Okay, I gotta go to the bathroom. But I’ve got my laptop here. I’ve got like, $5,000 worth of equipment, just sitting here that anybody could just come up and Rob and so I really find myself like, like thinking about this. And so anyway, it’s funny. It’s funny, you mentioned that that that can be comfortable because that’s some real digital nomad, hashtag digital nomad problems.
30:55
Aurelie Krau
Absolutely. This is why I bring this up. Even we’ve mentioned Columbia earlier. I mean, my city there is managing, I absolutely love it. And probably most of you even who listen are familiar with a bad reputation and the city has. So you know, same Columbia, there’s a lot of cliches to be broken. There. Yes, it’s rather safe. You just need to be careful, like the basic safety rules that you will apply anywhere else other than Dubai. That’s an exception in a good way. But typically, I have an Apple Watch. I wouldn’t wear my Apple watch at night while walking in the streets like walking the streets. Managing is just basic safety steps especially as a woman no problem at all your phone you can even in the metro. There’s no pickpockets here there’s the criminality is almost zero, because there’s the cameras everywhere. So they will get you they will find you and you do not want to be caught because it’s so frustrated here that they don’t joke with this. It’s a different level.
31:55
Chase Warrington
It’s funny because it like it sounds so pleasant until you get to that point, right? Where you’re like, Oh, it’s just like this Pleasantville where nobody harms anybody because if you do, they will cut off your leg. That’s, but that’s really good to know. And why do you mention specifically as a woman? I mean, I there’s some obvious reasons for that. But But I think that there’s two parts to that question. I guess one is like what is it about being a woman in Dubai’s particularly that makes you feel because you’ve mentioned this twice in two different contexts, but then also, like, you know, what does that actually look like for you day to day
32:24
Aurelie Krau
I mentioned is because I personally get that question a lot. And, you know, even then, whenever I was on my digital nomad trips, or whatsoever, I always shared my my experiences, just stories on Insta, or I’ve done a series of vlogs as well, too, that I have captured three COVID in central and Latin America. And it’s called Mission Nomad to show the real experience and I want to empower other women, young women or women, no matter what age we are ages, it’s not even a consideration here for the women who are hesitant because I also think sometimes there’s too much conversation around something that doesn’t, that doesn’t even need that much attention. Because it’s just basic rules that you need to that you need to pay attention to no matter where you are in the world. I lived in Paris, there were some areas of Paris, I did not go there overnight, and I lived there. I don’t go to an ATM at 11pm No matter where I am in the world, because it’s just not something I doing, you know, but specifically in the UAE because there’s a lot of cliches I get many questions like especially in Dubai, do you need to cover your head? Absolutely not. It’s super chill. It’s, you know, it’s a bit like Istanbul. I don’t know if you’ve been there. Have you been?
33:39
Chase Warrington
I have not I also had plans to go there and see what got in the way. Yeah, so I actually we had bid tickets booked and everything if you get
33:49
Aurelie Krau
a chance, you will absolutely love it. The vibes in that city are awesome,
33:54
Chase Warrington
literally top of my list. I cannot wait to get into that fusion of Houston West and like literally at the epicenter of all that. I mean, it’s it’s just like, calls to me on such a deep level. I can’t wait to go
34:05
Aurelie Krau
Yes, exactly where it was heading here in Dubai. Just like in Istanbul, you’re gonna see people being covered, you’re gonna see people wearing super short spurts, you’re gonna see people wearing activewear they’re all in the same room, you’re gonna see people wearing religious and there’s a tolerance for that. No one’s judging how you look, as long as you’re respectful. And so one thing to bear in mind there was a woman I did the mistake. Without knowing it. I did. I went to a public building to get my driver’s license GS and we can cover that because it’s It wasn’t an easy journey to get the admin work done.
34:43
Chase Warrington
To be honest, I just went through the process of getting my Spanish driver’s license and that was not an easy process. He’s it I think this this runs true for expats around the world but maybe it was particularly bad in Dubai. I will be interested to hear but yeah, please continue.
34:58
Aurelie Krau
No worries. It’s one of the reasons Why I’m telling give them one or two years because I had to do all of this myself. And most people who come in Dubai have a job. So their spot, their visa is sponsored by the employer. So they don’t have to worry about the health insurance. And every admin piece, I had to do it myself. So it was quite interesting. The bank account as well was an adventure. But we will get there. So I went to that public institution and you, you need to be mindful of what you’re wearing, you need to cover, you need to wear trousers and you need to cover your arms. And I forgot about it. I was wearing like a black T shirt, but it basically just covered my shoulders. And I didn’t get in.
35:39
Chase Warrington
They said, No, you can’t enter. Yeah, they
35:41
Aurelie Krau
told me no, you can’t you don’t wear appropriate clothes. I was like, What
35:44
Chase Warrington
does? How did that make you feel like that? Did that affect you in any way?
35:48
Aurelie Krau
Yes. And no, because you know, it’s not my country. So my view is the basic rules is to be respectful. If the rules is this, then just do this. It’s your guests in that country. So you need to be mindful. And I mean, it was an honest mistake. And they saw it. And it was it was so it was so nice, the security guy while he saw me, you know, don’t even try to argue again, it’s not going to serve you anyway. So I was a bit frustrated. I think he’s so it’s, and he asked me what’s wrong matter what’s wrong? And I said, No, it’s fine. Or it’s my mistake was like this to the problem. And he had a buyer, a buyer is the sort of the black coat, you know, the very light coat that women were in, in the Middle East, he just gave one to me, like, just wear this and go in and you’ll be fine. I was like, This is so nice.
36:36
Chase Warrington
And he knows you won’t steal it, because they’ll cut off your leg if you if you do. So. Your two legs. That’s a two leg crime. That is a really nice element. Like I, you know, my wife and I went to a cathedral one time, I can’t even remember what city it was, I think it was in May in Italy, and she wasn’t able to enter the cathedral to see it, you know, just not not to go to a service or anything, but just to see it as like a tourist attraction. And she wasn’t able to enter but they were not very kind about it. They were like really rude actually, like made her feel like like less than because she had dressed a certain way. Meanwhile, I was wearing shorts and a T shirt. And I was, you know, perfectly capable to go in. And it really put a damper on the day for us. Because it was like, you know why it doesn’t make any sense at all that a man can walk into this cathedral in shorts and a T shirt and a woman can’t and and I just remember, I mean that affected her. And I don’t really get it, why that’s a good thing. But I do really appreciate your approach to saying you know, I’m a guest here. The rules are the rules and and fighting, it isn’t going to do anything in this in this moment. So I love your approach to this and just understanding that, you know, you have to adapt a little bit. So that’s that’s good perspective.
37:44
Aurelie Krau
Yeah, I think you know, I hear I mean, I get lots of questions, even from people. Can you even drive? So yeah, of course, it’s, as a woman, it does lead to many, many, many questions. You know, for example, Dubai creates a lot of opportunities. I became a cycling instructor, actually, here in Dubai. It just happened. I’m a huge fitness junkie, I went to the gym. And again, here all the instructors are experts, most of them and they do this as a side job, because they just follow their passion, and they saw was really committed and were like, Hey, don’t you want to become an instructor? And was like, Nah, come on? No. And then it took three weeks. You know, they every week they asked me hey, are you sure? Are you sure? And in the end, I ended up doing it. So we’re all considered freelancers, you don’t get much money, you earn probably 40 bucks per class. But I see that was a it put me in the right mental space. I needed that energy. I needed this be I get paid for a hobby. So that’s pretty cool. And see it’s just so easy. In France, I am not allowed to teach by law.
38:57
Chase Warrington
You can’t teach a cycling class. No,
39:00
Aurelie Krau
I have an international certification from Les Mills, that is a that produces all those programs, those workouts, but in France, you need a degree on the top of the certification. So this is what I love with Dubai, if you’re intrapreneur it’s easier to try things out. If you’re good, they will hire you. I didn’t even sign a contract with any gym. They pay you at the end of the month. It’s quite honest. And it’s very digital though as well. They I mean, they keep a digital track of pretty much everything. So it’s quite honest in a way, you know, cameras digital might sound a bit scary. I reckon I realized that, you know, people might be like, Okay, I guess it’s also one of the reasons why it’s so safe. So you cannot really have one without the other.
39:45
Chase Warrington
Yeah, yeah, crime is a real thing. People are bad people in the world. So you have to have something in place to stop that. It’s so it’s really interesting because you have founded a business you In Dubai, and you this gives you access to, well, I guess the visa actually gives you access, which we should talk about a little bit to live there. But because you have this business founded in Dubai, you don’t have to pay taxes there because they don’t have taxes, and you don’t have to pay your taxes. Because you’re a tax resident in Dubai, you don’t have to pay taxes back in France. So that is all a really cool element, but also the fact that creating a business being and also, as you mentioned, you know, being a woman in the Middle East, being able to create a business actually getting a tax advantage because you’re a entrepreneurial woman and getting to do something that you love. And being a cycling instructor. All of this was really easy. It doesn’t sound like it was very bureaucratic. I’m sure it wasn’t super easy. I’m sure there were challenges, but I mean, you were able to do all this and you navigated it on your own. It sounds like which is pretty awesome.
40:50
Aurelie Krau
It was a me a little bit, but I don’t regret it. But you know, if you asked me one year ago, I mean, if you told me that I would be doing what I do right now, I would never have believed. And so things just happen. You know, I strongly believe there are two aspects to this. A you need to follow your gut. It’s very important. Follow your instinct, if you want to do something, do it and just give yourself the right resources to do it. Fear can be a blocker, everybody’s afraid. I am even afraid now because I’m still navigating the maze, but it’s just part of the game. And the second aspect is sometimes you meet people at a given time in your life, and it brings you opportunities. It triggers something in you or they inspire you. But something happens. And I guess I have a combination of both that happened to me
41:46
Chase Warrington
I can share I can share similar story really quickly. This is about you, not about me. But I this this resonated with me what you just said. So I’d love to hear it. My my wife and I came to Spain on the first trip that we came, I had been to Spain and done a little bit of sightseeing in the major cities. But I hadn’t really spent a lot of time here until I don’t know, maybe seven years ago or something like that. And we came to Spain for three months. And we traveled through and we spent a lot of time in the south and we really didn’t have a great time. Like it was fine, but it wasn’t great. It was we had some challenges. We had some some ups and downs. And we only had three months which might sound like a long time to a lot of people but it went by super fast and we hadn’t really had the best time and so we ended up buying like a camper van like an old VW camper van and we renovated the inside and you get what you pay for we paid very little and it was it was it was a piece of shit to be honest. It was it was fell apart and caused a lot of stress. We ended up like it ended up being a terrible experience in the campervan, we tried to drive it across Spain and Europe and we didn’t make it 45 minutes out of the city before the engine blew up. So rough, rough, rough go in Spain, right. But on that journey, we broke down in a little town in the middle of nowhere, we actually had to be towed to another town, which was also a small town and we get there and they say yeah, we can help you fix it. But it’s going to take a week because we have to get apart from another place. So we’re like kind of trapped in this little town, which in this industrial area, which seems terrible and we’re like we’re gonna be here for a week like what are we going to do? We’re literally sleeping in the van in the mechanic shop that was broken at one point. So I say all this to say what ended up happening was really beautiful. We ended up meeting a couple there who are still very close friends to this day. They are local couple that and our Spanish was really really bad at this point. We ended up becoming really good friends with them. They took us they toured us around the city we ended up discovering the side of the city that was just beautiful and really enjoyed it got to know the locals so their family ended up taking us in saying you can come stay with us in our home and we ended up being friends for forever. They ended up telling us hey, if you ever come back to Spain, I think you guys would really like Valencia and so when we came back to Spain we had to choose where we wanted to live we got a visa for Spain, but we had to pick a specific location we chose Valencia and and we’ve kind of built a life here because of this. So it is who you know these connections that you meet along the way following your gut like all the advice that you just gave is so real for anybody that’s considering a move abroad like do follow your gut do reach out to your network you’ll be surprised who you meet and who can give you advice and help along the way and you’ll inevitably you’ll probably end up in a place where you where you really feel at home and if nothing else you’ll get a great adventure out of it
44:28
Aurelie Krau
absolutely even though we all have some bad stories as well to share sometimes I’m sure cheese is in your case as well you’re doing things like why am I even doing this I just want to be home right
44:40
Chase Warrington
yeah totally. When I’m when I’m spending like days I mean not like hours and hours each day for for weeks on end sometimes doing visa stuff and figuring like trying to figure out how to get a more you know try to go get a mortgage as an expat you know, like all the like it’s hard enough to pay your taxes in your home country try to figure it out on another their country, you wonder sometimes like, why am I doing this to it like, this is a little bit tough.
45:04
Aurelie Krau
I had that when I tried to open my bank account, it was so complex and so cumbersome. They were I remember I called a friend and I said, I’m done. I’m going back down, I tried. It’s not working. It’s not working out. I was crying out of, you know, like, frustration against who I don’t even know. You know, but sometimes your emotions, take control. And then she was like, hey, you know what, just sleep on it. And we talk tomorrow, you’ll be in a different mental space. No, you don’t understand. So you know, it just, it just makes things worse, when people tell you to come down. But then you can’t you come back to your senses. And my ultimate question has always been, okay, what would you do now, in your old apartment in France, this is this is what keeps I mean, this is what keeps me going. Because I know that if I wanted to go for a career change, I would struggle because in France, it’s difficult could be remote. I could be I’m location independent anyway, but I’m happy when I’m in discovery mode. I’m happy when I’m surrounded by some buzz when I meet people, when it’s an international environment when I can travel around and I would feel stuck. So you know, this is also a tape. We all going through some difficult periods. But ask yourself the question, what if, if you would be back home? What would you actually do? Would you be happy? That’s the question. Yeah. Would you be happy?
46:29
Chase Warrington
The grass is always greener. And like when you you know, the grass is always greener on the other side. So when you put yourself over there, and you actually think about what would you be doing you your vantage point changes completely, and you go, okay, that gets it’s not so bad, because there’s challenges everywhere. And you know, just because you move to one place doesn’t mean the challenges disappear. So if you go back home, there will be challenges there. I’m really curious, I realize we’re, we’re running up against time, I know you have important things to do beyond just talk to me about life in Dubai. So I want to ask real quick if you can just describe sort of the the general process. Without going into all the details, I always tell my guests, you don’t have to be a visa expert on the show. But just describe the process a bit for somebody who’s might be coming from your same background in the sense of I want to move to Dubai, I want to try this. I want to follow in the steps of orderly. How does one get started? And what can they kind of expect in that process,
47:24
Aurelie Krau
I think you have three options in front of you, depending on the situation you’re in. If you’re an employee, like if you’re an employee, if you if you have a salary, you can either find a job in Dubai, like in like locally, a local job and get sponsored by the Office by the company because this is how they have the immigration policy in the UAE is very different from other other parts of the world, you need to have your visa sponsored bottom line, just let me just rewind before going into the details. If you do not have your visa sponsored by a company, you cannot stay in Dubai and you cannot obtain the residency visa, that’s very important to know. So I guess as an employee, you have those two options either your company sends you here and you opt for the digital nomad visa, so it can last up to one year, but maybe double check that information because things move quite fast. So I’m not going to go into the deep details because maybe things will have changed, but it’s going to cost you a couple of hundreds of dollars and your religion you’re still eligible to pay in taxes in your home country because this is really a remote work visa. And you need then just to provide some proof that you are employed like a work contract whatsoever. And you need to provide proof of the level of income. First option remote work visa, you stay employed, you just work from Dubai, you pay taxes at home second option you become local employees, but you need to find a company that’s going to sponsor your visa here in the UAE so you become a tax resident in the UAE meaning zero tax, but you need to find that sponsor. Second third option is the one I did because I’m self employed but you can do it. If you have a team as well. You buy your you I mean you buy your visa in a sense that you buy a business license to open a company and with the business license comes the visa and you can choose a certain number of visas. If you have employees. For example, your own company can sponsor your visa and your employees or co workers visa as well and then you become a resident and important last thing to mention a resident is considered your visa your residency visa is cancelled if you’re staying more than six consecutive months outside of the country.
49:46
Chase Warrington
This is a pretty standard policy with with these expat style visas or digital nomad visas. They want you if you’re going through this process, they want you to be here and and so don’t don’t expect to just get this and then say okay, I’m just going to use Did for paying taxes and then or not paying taxes and then going going somewhere else. So they want to see that you’re using it.
50:05
Aurelie Krau
Yes. And one tip, if you’re opting for so they are Freelancer visa, but it just gives you an authorization to work. It’s not a business license, and you have a proper company that you can found, which gives you like the business license, opening up a company accounts takes some time, you got to go through a lot of different processes and pretty heavy investigation because they just pass anti money laundering laws, and it’s pretty harsh, but push through. This is where this is the moment where I lost it and I cried, but push through, I made it, it’s open, it’s here. This is the step that’s not gonna be an easy one. But just so you know, prepare yourself
50:46
Chase Warrington
and also don’t be a money launderer. Yeah, that’s, ideally you’re not on money ladder. Exactly. What what is the timeline? Like roughly? Like, how long would you give someone to do this?
50:58
Aurelie Krau
So what, two or three months tops two to three months? Okay, the company license took less than a month, and then the visa process took a little bit more time because there are several steps.
51:09
Chase Warrington
So you create the entity first and then apply for the visa using the entity as the is your entity sort of employing you? Is that the is that the case? That you’re sort of sponsoring yourself?
51:19
Aurelie Krau
Absolutely, yeah, that’s how it’s works. Cool. And I have a three a three year visa, and my business license has to be renewed every year.
51:27
Chase Warrington
Okay. And is would you say that the process was relatively straightforward in terms of like, you know, going into it, what you’re going to have to do or there were when you look at that, there’s a checklist, right? Like, when I look at my visa, there’s a checklist, but I will tell you that that checklist is own, it’s more like guidelines than rules. Like there’s a lot of surprises along the way. Was it the same experience for you?
51:50
Aurelie Krau
Definitely, there is a quite clear checklist for the business license part. And everything was digital for me. I actually did it in Emirates. So the states just near Dubai, because it cost me half the price. And I get the discounts. The visa, the pure visa process is has more surprises. Yeah.
52:11
Chase Warrington
So there’s sort of two processes here. There’s the there’s the business creation, you’re creating the entity. And then there’s the visa process. Are there any resources, websites, bloggers, you follow pay Facebook groups, anything you would recommend someone who wants to follow in your footsteps that they go to.
52:30
Aurelie Krau
That’s the tricky part, there is not much out there yet. There are tons of companies that are going to facilitate that for you. If you have the budget, I would strongly recommend you to do it, I was a little bit tight. So I decided to do it myself. I personally went for the organization called rachis. It’s our a k e Zed. And it’s the equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce of Russell Haima emirate, so it’s just one hour ride from Dubai, they’re very clear. It’s pretty straightforward. And even though it’s a different emirate, the process is very similar. In Dubai, another thing to consider, depending on your activity, what you’re doing. For me personally, it doesn’t matter, because my clients don’t really care if the billing address is in Dubai, or in a different Emirates, but some industry, especially if you have local clients, if you’re a freelancer, for example, depends if you’re a startup, if you’re in tech, or if you have investments, so whatsoever in the Middle East, it adds a lot of credibility to have your HQ and your license in Dubai.
53:33
Chase Warrington
Yeah, makes sense. It does make sense if you’re hiring one of those third party services, do you have a rough estimate on what that might cost? Is it $100 $1,000 $10,000 You have any idea?
53:44
Aurelie Krau
It’s gonna be 1000s 1000s? Like, I paid to be very transparent with you. I really know myself and I paid the equivalent of $5,000 for the entire process.
53:54
Chase Warrington
There’s a whole process doing it yourself. And so yeah, that’s just like fees. And and yeah, basically fees that you pay, okay.
54:02
Aurelie Krau
It will cost you if you do it in Dubai and through a company, I think it’s minimum 10,000 10,000
54:08
Chase Warrington
that you like you would end up spending 10,000 In total, it does sound like a lot but if you think let’s say you have a you know, a $50,000 income and you’re paying 20,020% in taxes, that’s your there’s your 10,000 right there if you if you can end up being tax free, and when so you can pay yourself back.
54:29
Aurelie Krau
Yes. In total honesty, if you can afford it, go for it because I got gray hair in the process.
54:36
Chase Warrington
I mean, I’ve said this on the show like a million times so sorry for anybody listening that’s like tired of hearing me say this, but outsource the things you’re not good at and outsource these processes if you can. That is a hefty price to pay, I will admit, but I’ve been through multiple visa processes in multiple countries, and they’re not easy and they’re bureaucratic and complicated and antiquated hiring a local even just to like sometimes you can hire somebody that’s just He’s kind of like a guide that’s not you know and pay much less. They’re not going to do everything for you. But you can you can ask them questions they can tell you who to contact, they can connect you to people and kind of point you in the right direction all the way up to services where they’re literally just do it all for you. So big fan of outsourcing this I even outsourced just recently I’ve been I’ve renewed my visa here multiple times, I tried to do it on my own. And I thought, Oh, I know how to do this. Now I speak the language. I know the process got 80% of the way there and ended up outsourcing outsourcing the rest because I couldn’t do it. It was too complicated. So yeah, if you can do it, especially
55:30
Aurelie Krau
in the Middle East, because I mean, everything’s in both English and Arabic. So the language barrier is not really a thing. So that’s the great part. However, Middle East is a very service oriented society they love so it could accelerate and accelerate the process. And it could do you amazing favors. If you have somebody that speaks Arabic, because it’s just a phone call away. You can do it. I’m actually thinking about taking Arabic lessons. I’m not nowhere close to being you know, fluent, but I think it’s gonna serve me. But yeah, especially in the Middle East. It’s very service oriented, very
56:04
Chase Warrington
good to know. And actually, I was gonna ask you about the language barrier. So in your day to day life, you don’t feel that not speaking Arabic doesn’t hold you back?
56:12
Aurelie Krau
No. However, from a business perspective, I think it’s going to give you a massive asset, if you can even just throw a few words every now and then just for bonding, you know, building rapport, things like that, it will serve you so
56:27
Chase Warrington
but is English the like you have 80% of the population is expats. So is English sort of the common language, obviously, amongst those expats. Yeah,
56:35
Aurelie Kraur
you know, even the locals, I mean, you you, you can see them you it’s a little bit different from other countries, because it’s not the same interaction you would get with locals as you have in Spain, for example. Yeah, it’s completely different. But I see them at the gym again. Sorry to bring this up all the time. But it’s kind of a place where everybody breaks their barriers, you know, because you’re just like, not, in all your glories wearing your thing. And sometimes I just throw some Arabic words today that they taught me when I teach, and they just love it, it’s really going to help you and like I said, your guests in a country. So I think it’s the least you can do just to try to accommodate a little bit. Absolutely. To their own language.
57:19
Chase Warrington
I totally agree. And I’m curious actually kind of to end on that note, I’m very I would love to hear your perspective on that. Like, do the locals almost feel like guests when they’re the minority? When you’re talking 8020 80% of the population being expats origin? Do they still feel like do they feel like they’ve lost the city and the culture? Or does the culture so strong that it remains and the expats become kind of have to fold into that as opposed to the opposite?
57:47
Aurelie Krau
So there’s several aspects to that. So first of all, I believe that with the ambitions that the country has, and even different countries in the Middle East, I include Saudi because they’re gonna grow super fast. Qatar has, to some extent, a similar policy but different story when it comes to being a woman there was just to put things in context, what I said earlier was Dubai, I wouldn’t know what it is in the other countries, they know that they need people from the outside because they they need the expertise, they need the knowledge because they might not have all of this internally, they have huge ambitions so they also need people to meet those objectives. Because when you want volumes you need you need people as well. So first of all, I think they’re very open in my opinion, but this is just my opinion, they are more open minded here than anywhere else in the world because they welcome us and all of them by default are bilingual. And I can tell you Arabic couldn’t be more opposite to English. Yeah, literally. And I have my best time and I’m not even a native English speaker but this is so much fun. Just as a side note, they spell English like you pronounce it so my my favorite game is to spot the typos or to spot the Arabic English everywhere. So I take pictures. I post them on Instagram I have a I have a highlight that I get that I called pardon my French I called it What the fuck Dubai and I share all those oddities? It’s hilarious. I just love it.
59:19
Chase Warrington
Can I just say you added a little bit of real pure joy to this conversation by hearing a French person say pardon my French that that was that was really wonderful. Thank you Thank you for that and I can’t wait to go to your Instagram highlight and check this out. This was so fun audibly I like thoroughly enjoyed this getting to know your story and and a bit more about Dubai I learned a ton I’m sure people listening to it as well. Where can people connect with you in case they are interested in learning more or following your work or just your life abroad?
59:51
Aurelie Krau
I’m basically if you Google my name, you will probably going to see all my different social media handles popping Instagram probably one of the easiest way to reach out to me, I’m on LinkedIn if you want to connect on a more professional basis, I have a Facebook page I use it a bit less and a website that needs a clear update. So if you have tips recommendations on how to update it, I am all ears.
1:00:16
Chase Warrington 1Again, I’m a fan of outsourcing my weaknesses. So that’s the kind of thing that I outsource as well but listeners take note or they need some help with their website. So are they thank you so so much of wha and I hope we will see each other again soon. We’ll link to all of that in the in the show notes so people can find you with an easy click. Thank you again for joining the show.
1:00:36
Aurelie Krau
Thank you so much. And that’s Callaway golf
1:00:44
Chase Warrington
thanks for tuning in today from wherever you are in the world. Once again, I’m Chase and this has been another episode of about abroad. For those of you wondering how you can best support the show, I have made it super simple for you. Just go over to the show notes of the episode that you’ve just finished listening to and click on one of the two following links about abroad.com/newsletter to get our monthly newsletter, no spam guaranteed, or rate this podcast.com/about abroad where you can quickly and easily leave a review for the show. It’s not just important to me it also helps more wonders just like you find us. Finally don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. And we will see you again next week. Thanks again are still away. Go, amigos,
