The Sun
IT is a millionaire’s playground where taking a yacht out on the weekend is “normal”, men buy new cars for their girlfriends and revellers think nothing of blowing £10,000 on a bottle of champagne.
Yet despite such extravagant displays of wealth, Dubai is one of the safest places to flash your bling, according to British expat Amy Kitchingman.
Born in West Yorkshire, Amy claims that you can leave your handbag in the supermarket and it will still be there when you go back — with locals even chasing you across the store to return it.
But Amy, 33 — who appears in BBC2 documentary Inside Dubai: Playground Of The Rich — insists there is much more to the city than private jets and 5H hotels.
She revealed: “There is a lot of money in Dubai but the longer you live here, the less you notice it.
“And you don’t have to be mega-rich to have a nice lifestyle.
“My friend, for instance, is a schoolteacher and she and the other staff quite regularly put money in to hire a yacht on the weekend so they can sail around.
“It’s a nice thing to do and four hours at sea might cost you a grand, or £100 each, so it’s not seen as super-extravagant.
“If people show off here it’s because they feel safe doing so.
“You could leave a gold Rolex in your shopping trolley and someone would probably chase after you saying, ‘Excuse me, you’ve left something’.
“I regularly put my handbag in the trolley and wander off and when I come back, it’s always there.
“But if I go home to the UK and do the same thing, my mum will start shouting at me.”
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