Sophie Pettigrew moved with her husband and their two sons from Scotland to Dubai in March 2025, and she’s now explained some of the little-known differences between the two countries
Dubai is becoming an increasingly popular holiday destination for Brits wanting to soak up some sunshine and enjoy a more luxurious lifestyle. In the past year, Dubai welcomed 1,327,000 visitors from the UK. This represents a 14% increase compared to the previous year.
Whether you’re looking for a romantic holiday, an activity-filled adventure or beach relaxation, Dubai has it all. The city is a marvel of new of design and technology, and is also ranked as one of the safest cities in the world. Because of this, more and more Brits are choosing to make the luxurious city their permanent home.
One of these Brits is Sophie Pettigrew, who made the move over to the United Arab Emirates from the UK with her husband, their two sons and their dog in March of this year, claiming they wanted to give their whole family better opportunities.
It all started when Sophie and her family went on holiday to Dubai in December 2024, and soon realised that they wanted to live there permanently. They went back in January to scope out schools for their kids before officially making the move just two months later.
Taking to TikTok, she went on to answer some of the most commonly asked questions she’s received since the move, which include how her kids are doing and the reason behind the decision.
“So it all happened really, really fast,” she explained. “But ultimately, we just really wanted a better life for us, our family. We wanted better schooling for our children. We wanted better weather, we wanted more business opportunities, and yeah.”
Dubai is increasingly popular among business owners and entrepreneurs. Since the UAE does not impose personal income tax, residents take home 100% of their earnings. Because of this, since a lot of industry professionals have relocated there, making it easier to network. This was especially appealing for Sophie’s husband, a business investor.
She continued: “It’s safe to say that everything that we did want and expect from moving here, it’s all happening.”
One thing that Sophie reckons is very different from back home is education. From cost to the curriculum, the mum-of-two says Dubai schools are incomparable to those back home.
In Dubai, she was able to pick schools that would focus more on her sons’ strengths and personalities, which she said has helped them thrive.
“Some schools are more academic focused, some are quite sporty, some are more like arts and science,” she said. “So it really, really just depends.”
She explained that as they were picking schools, they mapped out different areas where they wanted to stay in before researching the schools within those areas. She urged people to pick school near where they’d live as “Dubai traffic is no joke.”
As for the temperature difference, Sophie explained that their kids were coping better than she and her husband were, saying they spent lots of time in the pool and quickly got acclimatised to the heat.
Because of this, they’ve been able to take advantage of all the activities their new home has to offer, including an abundance of amusement parks.
Despite saying she missed her family and friends back in the UK, she stuck to her previous statement that the move was for the better. While she did say she missed her family and friends in Scotland, she didn’t see it as an excuse to not do the movie.
“Life’s too short. You need to live your own life,” she said.