London to Doha. I need your advice please. Am I crazy?

you have lots of decisions to take,
you are talking about 6 months - and it might be extend,
try the life style for the first 6 months - get your wife to visit (without leaving her job) and let her try it too -
try to see the expenses plan in Qatar, then you can ask your self those questions,

my advice for you, right now don't do anything before you make sure you like the life here, and it is affordable to you.

u have to spend the whole 6 months, to experience winter and summer time

for the residence ,
you can get villa with 2 bedrooms price in rotana,
when you know the place you can get better options,

for car - the least you have to worry about-
depends on your budget and where you like to go

Thanks a lot for your advice my friend I will certainly take this into account. And yea it's a lot  of tough decisions... I'm trying to make the right ones but it's impossible to know whether they were right or wrong.

Just hoping for the best and I still can't believe I'm actually moving... It's a very strange feeling once you're in this situation... nobody can ever be prepared for this. I thought it would be so easy but leaving everything behind (the people, your home, your loved ones, your favorite places and restaurants, shops, routine, neighbors ... ) you never think about all that until you have to do it. It makes you appreciate the life you currently have and how good you have it.

Cheers

thats why you have to try living here first before you do something permanent.

wish you best luck

Steptronic,

Life in Qatar is either you love it or you hate it. It's very simple but we've got all the facilities you will need.

As what Crying_seabird mentioned, don't let go of all your possessions yet (apartment, car, and most especially, your wife's job) without assessing how life in Qatar is. Let her come over for a month and have a feel of way of living in the Middle East. Bear in mind that summer is excruciatingly hot and may be unbearable for you and your wife so better have a first hand experience of what it's like before you make final decision.

I have a feeling that you'll like it here, and ultimately, you will have to let go of your apartment in London. Car is okay as it will be yours after sometime, apartment won't.

Car is essential here, depending on your need and hobby, you can get sedan (don't go for small one, at least a normal size for safety purposes) or an SUV if you like venturing out in the desert occasionally. Look online at "qatarsale" to see the prices.

For housing, you can check out The Pearl, they have many promotions on-going such as stay for a year and get 2 months rent for free, but then again, you will initially stay for 6 months. Once you settle in, you can move to a villa for cheaper price, if you intend on saving more.

This looks good. The Pearl is nice, especially if you are with your wife and more permanent, (I live there). However I would suggest that you look at the Kempinski serviced accommodation or something similar in the down town for short term accommodation. It will also depend where you will be working.
With respect to a car, rent a SUV as you are new to this part of the world and will need something that will not be pushed off the road.
For your possession, yes don't burn all your bridges at once, especially if you can trust the people you are lending these to.
As for your wife, Doha is a nice place, but remember most of the employers here do not have a good sense of work-family balance. It also depends on the sector, but the hours are usually long, so she might get bored and cabin fever. also, it will also depend on your situation in London, if this means that you must keep the apartment and car, and thus have these expenses, that may not be balanced by your wife's salary. (you may be out of pocket for more that you bargained for). There are many expat wife groups, but they can be challenging. This is all part of the fun and adventure of living abroad.
Once you decide to make it permanent, then it is a different ball game.
Your wife, as a UK citizen can get a visa on arrival, that can be extended for 3 months, then just do a visa run to Dubai or Barhein. The only thing would be health insurance for her.
The best would be to advise your company that you want to be as married status, even for the 6 months, so they will take care of the tickets and the health insurance.

On an other aspect, as you are coming in from the UK, look at buying a ticket with an open stop over in Doha and going to the far east, it will give you the possibility of traveling to these places for almost nothing, the cost of a London-Doha-Bangkok from London is about the same as the price of the Doha Bangkok alone.

Good luck

Hi

Doha is a nice place to live in, and on top of that you will be on the middle of the world if you love travels, the living style here is good and I think that most Europeans are enjoying life here. If I'm you, i'm not going to sell or change anything until I established the new life and the 6 months passed. And even after the 6 month passed, you might need the car and a place to stay when you get your vacation to home country. I believe that British citizens can enter to Doha by visa on arrival if your wife decided to come at late plan, and here you can change this visa into a residence permit if she want to stay, the company should assist you in the formalities for that, but you must ensure that you are hired on a married status not single status to get the benefits for your wife as well (medical insurance, flight tickets, and to be considered in the accommodation allowance as well). The pearl is very stylish and very ranked life style here in Qatar but very expensive compared to other good places to live in, you might get villa in a good compound in good location with half price of an apartment in the Pearl.

I think also your wife could be happy with a job in a school as a teacher or so if she got bored, this is very common here.

Don't get a small car or a new car, cars are not expensive, you might get an SUV with very little mileage (10 to 20 thousands) at a very good price here and you will avoid the first price reduction which is may be 20 to 30 % of the new car price. Car prices are going down with the use very quick here, so don't waste your money! Also get a powerful car, you will need it

At brief, you will love living in Doha

hope above helps, best of luck

Mahmoud

Just do it mate, pull the trigger! If you can achieve the current apartment and car situation in the UK and afford to live in The Pearl, you'll be smiling!

The Pearl is good except for the traffic jams in mornings and afternoons. It should be better by year end.

get an SUV