u/Ok_Revolution3608

Been here in the UAE for almost a year now. I would say a bad timing with the war situation since I came here but thank God that the civil life is kind of un-impacted.

I have some short and long term goals to fulfill with my kids education etc and have been thinking of investing in the real estate. However, with the current situation, never felt confident enough to invest in real estate either in Dubai or in AD or anywhere else in the UAE for that matter. Not sitting on a huge cash at the moment hence quite cautious as well.

Need some real honest advice if this is the right time in investing considering I need my money back in 4 years. If yes, what sort of plans should I go for and where? I do not mind if the returns are not high, but I need a surety on cash flow in four years.

My daughter is 20 and studies in London. We moved to AD about nine months back.

One night at 2 AM, she messaged saying that she had a severe headache and her vision was blurring. If you are a parent you know what that does to your chest when you read something like that at night. We were miles away. There was nothing we could do except stare at our phones.

Luckily, one of her friends was with her and took her to the A&E. She sat with my daughter the whole night, held her hand, kept her calm and dealt with the doctors. God bless her.
But at the same time, she was also on her phone, trying to update me, talking to my wife, messaging our local relatives and friends in London and around, all at the same time. Probably answering the same questions to many different people.

I remember sitting in Abu Dhabi that night just making random calls to whoever came to my mind. My wife was doing the same. We were just two people thousands of miles away not knowing what to do with ourselves.

Luckily, everything turned out fine finally. She was okay.

But I have not stopped thinking about that night. Not the medical part. I keep thinking about the coordination part. One friend carrying the entire weight of updating and managing everyone while also trying to be there for my daughter. What a brave-heart!!

Has anyone else been through something like this? Either as the parent far away or as the friend who ended up being the unofficial coordinator for everyone? God forbid if similar situation happens with parent who are also in a different country, I can't imagine what it will be like.

How do you handle such situations?