Work were going to pay for the accommodation in Dubai - so that would have been ok, it was more that we would have had a loss of income as DH would be taking unpaid leave and being a SAHD while I worked, if tax worked out better would have been viable as DH income here not so big and we thought was a great opportunity while DD is so little. My old boss said living costs if take accommodation out of it were not that different from here, some things more expensive some things cheaper so swings and round abouts. At some point in the future we will move away short term, maybe Asia, maybe back to the UK - but here will always be home for us now. There are some forums out there for living in different countries and lots have great info about living in all sorts of places (I used one extensively before we moved over here) - I used British Expats Australia section - but they have one on Singapore also which might also be of help - and I know lots of people who are not British use them too.