We moved to Qatar.
Other Travel vloggers like to give their first impressions of a country
when they've just arrived or maybe they've been there a few days. Well this
video is different. We've actually been in Qatar for just over 4 months now so
this video is well and truly over due. And it's not coming from somebody who's
only just landed in a new country. The truth is no country is perfect.
But what we want to do is point out some misconceptions people might have that
they might think is a negative of Qatar and talk about the positives of that. If
that makes sense. Now just to remind you we're actually living out in Mesaieed.
Which is a forty minute drive from Doha. If you follow us on Facebook you would
have seen some of our photos from our community where we live and some updates of our town.
Basically we just wanted to point out that our experiences might
actually be a bit different from other people that have been to Qatar. Just
because we basically haven't been all over just yet.
The first one. Number one. It's hot. Very hot. It was no surprise that moving
to the Middle East that it was going to be hot. And when we first arrived in
August it was consistently 40 to 45 degrees on a daily basis. Yeah so it pretty
much meant we just had to stick to air conditioning. So what we're doing is
going straight from our house to our car to wherever it was we were going. It
might be a shopping mall. Pretty much shopping malls. So we couldn't go to a
park or a beach or anything like that. But it's actually really cooled down now.
We''re in December now and for the last two months the weather has just been
absolutely perfect. In the evenings we even have to put on a jacket because
it actually cools down quite a bit. Yeah it does. Okay.
Next one. Number three. Three.
Number three. We're in the d... Oh no it's number. Number 3. No it's number 2. Oh number 2.
It's number 2. We're in the desert. It's a desert. We're in the desert.
Honestly we were concerned that it wouldn't be too much for us to do around
here. Especially with the kids outdoors. But surprisingly there are actually a
lot of green spaces around. Even here in Mesaieed there's a local playground and
And there's a lot of other playgrounds around Doha that we can take the
kids to. Yeah we actually wondered how they keep everything so green in these
parks because it just gets so hot here. Yes it's quite amazing.
Next one. Number three. Traffic and driving can be crazy.
So Elisa. How's driving in Qatar? It's the easiest place where you could
drive possibly in your whole life. Not it is crazy!
Coming from Australia it is clear that the people here drive differently and
there's definitely a learning curve. People don't stick to the speed limits
and ignore road signs and honestly it feels quite dangerous at times. People
are impatient and yes it can be very unsafe. But the good news is that once
you actually get used to it it's actually not too bad and there are
certain things that you can do to ensure your safety out there on the roads in
Qatar. Yeah if you'd like us to do a video about driving in Qatar and our
driving tips let us know in the comments and we'll make a video about that for
you. Oh and also on the bright side the roads are amazing the highways can have
up to six lanes and some of the intersections are incredible with
multiple overpasses that allow you to drive around without really having to
slow down too much.
Next one number four is. It's expensive.
But is it. Before we came to Qatar all we read was that Qatar is an expensive
country to live in. And I guess that really depends on where you're coming
from. We come from Australia and we consider Australia to have a very high
cost of living. So our opinion is actually different on
this. Yeah and to be fair we think that Qatar is actually more affordable than
Australia. Fruit and vegetables can actually be found to be cheaper
depending on where the imports are from. Petrol is definitely a lot cheaper than
back at home. Eating out can be done cheaply as well. If you want Qatar can
be a very expensive place to live. If you're buying particular imported items.
And there's certainly a luxurious side to Qatar and obviously if you want to
do those sorts of things that is going to come at a cost. And when it comes to
activities for the kids there are expensive options and affordable options.
We actually go to a place a called Funville. We go there quite a lot. They
offer memberships for the soft playground and they also have a special
on Mondays where they offer some of the rides are 1 Rial which is great.
Yeah and you've also got the parks around the country which obviously free.
Which is great. One of our favourites is a MIA Park in Doha.
Number 5. Qatar is family-friendly. This is actually one of the things that we're
happy to say is true. Culturally there is a general acceptance that kids will
be kids. And nobody really bats an eye lid when they see kids out and
about.
Also to make things better kids are actually acknowledged by other people
and people are generally really friendly towards them so that makes for a really
friendly environment. If you found this video helpful. Please give it a like and
you're going to want to subscribe to our channel. Coming up on our channel we're
going to have videos about the cost of living in Qatar and things to do in
Qatar and we're going to share those videos as an ongoing series. Also we're
going to be showing videos of places that we go to outside of Qatar for
example we've recently been to Oman. So if these are things you're interested in
please subscribe and we'll see you on the next video. See ya. Bye.