I am a single British woman living on the south-western outskirts of Cairo in a new development near 6th October City.

Where, when and why did you move abroad?

I moved here just over 2 years ago after visiting for nearly 5 years. I wanted to change my life as I was in the Corporate treadmill and found that for the 3-4 years prior to moving here, I was just existing for work - working, commuting and sleeping - and having no real 'life' at all and actually quite resenting friends and family if they wanted to meet up or something on weekends when I wanted to catch up on precious sleep and just chill out. I got very sick towards the end of my time - combination of gynae problems, stress and so forth and, just before resigning from my job, my blood pressure was 168/120 and my resting heart rate was over 100 and it was skipping and jumping all over the place. I won't bore you with the further details of my condition! Suffice to say - blood pressure was down to 123/80 and resting pulse 68-73 within 2 months of moving here (no diet, no exercise, and no medication!) Originally, I was going to wait and take early retirement with my company pension scheme before moving, but then in the UK they changed the law about taking early retirement and the law changes from just 3 weeks before my 50th birthday. Instead of being able to take it at 50, I would have had to wait to 55. So instead of toughing it out for yet another 5 years, I brought my plans FORWARD - why am I waiting I thought to myself. And as it so happens, by doing what I did when I did, I did an asset calculation a couple of months ago, and in fact am substantially better off than if I had worked another 2 years and then put myself in exactly the same situation as now - partly because the price of the property I bought has nearly doubled in local currency terms and also because the has fallen substantially - I converted money up at 10.815LE to the pound and now it is hovering around 9LE to the pound - and partly because a rather expensive and extensive course I paid for back then which is adding a lot of value to my life is now nearly double the price as well.

I wanted time to kick back, relax, explore new areas of my brain, experience a very different culture (to me Northern European is a homogenous mass - one city indistinguishable from the next), take time out to smell the flowers, and also spend more time on 'people' stuff.

Why Cairo? I fell in love with Cairo right from my first visit - big, brash, noisy, beautiful, ugly, wonderful, chaotic, a surprise round every corner. I'm a big city girl by nature having lived both in rural areas, provincial towns and London in my life I know what I prefer. I missed Cairo every time I left it, and every time I came back, I felt I was home. I met up with an American woman who had been here for a few years on one visit and she said she had had exactly the same feelings about it and whenever she left Cairo she felt 'homesick'. Cairo is somewhere you either love or hate. I don't know anyone who is indifferent to it.

What challenges did you face during the move?

I decided to let out my flat in London rather than sell it - I am always 'Plan B' woman and a relative of mine who had moved to France a few years earlier HAD sold up before moving and wanting very much to come back to the UK found it very difficult - not only with no home to come to but also with no credit track to find anywhere to rent for him and his family.

My biggest challenge actually was bringing my cats! I have blogged that fully! I had to think very seriously about whether to bring them or not, but after 11 years (at the time) of togetherness, I did not want to be parted from them and also they were not used to anyone else. It would have been particularly hard on my male cat who is incredibly shy. He doesn't seem very affectionate, but if I am ever away for a couple of weeks, he wants non-stop cuddles for a day or two after I return as he simply will not allow anyone else to touch him. I did arrange with a cousin that if, at the end of the day, the vets would not approve the kitties to fly, my cousin would take them, (the vet detected a heart murmur in my female cat just 2 months before proposed flight and said if it got worse she may not be allowed to fly). However, all was well on the day and they were allowed to fly on the same plane as me albeit in the cargo hold.

The next biggest challenge was disposing of most of my stuff in the UK - I am a hoarder by nature, and while I had made great strides in decluttering over the past 6 years, I still found it a big wrench and am still gradually letting go of stuff horded in my parents' garage. My vinyl album collection built up over 40 years and my collection of 6 series of Xena Warrior Princess Videos was the hardest to let go - even though I have everything on computer now!

The main large non-animate object I decided to bring with me was my piano. This had to come cargo and I used an excellent company in the UK who collected the piano and made a special box for it. I think I have posted the details up somewhere on line. It cost me £700 to bring over altogether including freight, import tax, costs of hiring a couple of 'mr fixit's' at the Cairo cargo end to do all the talking for me (actually those 2 guys between them only cost 350LE a bargain all things considered!)

Can you tell us something about your property?

I bought my property 1 year prior to moving here (and while I was still thinking more like 'in 3 years' than 'in 1 year'.) I met up with a couple I met online who were very helpful and they drove me round this area looking at 2 developments. I went back to the UK and thought long and hard - in my dreams I imagined myself living in central Cairo - but the reality of Cairo is that it is very noisy and polluted and there are issues about buying property there as a foreigner from abroad - mainly how do you know the person selling it to you actually owns it etc., plus much of the property (in my price bracket) is in these - what I call Stalinist - towerblocks with cockroaches, central wells which people push their rubbish down but which there appears to be no means of clearing it out, problems getting water up past the 5th floor - a major issue in the summer when I know people who live higher up in blocks who sometimes have no access to water for showers etc for days on end - not something you want to be contending with in 40C+ heat in the middle of a City! So eventually I decided that 'living' here was different to 'holidaying' here and that at the end of the day, I am a westerner with certain expectations so I plumped for the compound I am on.

Having decided on the property it was simply a case of transferring money from the UK to my Egyptian bank account, getting the cash and turning up at the company offices to do the paperwork. From deciding on a property to buy to having the keys took just 3 days.

There are issues regarding buying on compounds particularly in regard to land registration but that is another story. Also, there are conditions regarding non-touristic residence visas requiring property to be registered and to have a value of at least $50000. Mine did not cost $50000 (about 280000LE) and while it is worth more than that now, it cannot be registered for a few more years. On the other hand if you DO register property then as a foreigner you cannot sell it for at least 5 years (legally).

I love my flat which has a small garden and 3 bedrooms so I am not really looking to move. I don't drive and certainly can't afford to employ drivers or buy cars or even use taxis everywhere, but I have learnt to use the microbus and buses and this means that I am not trapped out here. If you don't drive and have little money, and are NOT willing to use the buses etc, then this would be a pretty prison. I seriously recommend that you do learn then you have independence.

There are a few shops on the compound which can provide the daily basics, but you have to travel to get a decent supermarket there is a large HyperOne about 40 minutes away by bus (or 15 by car!) I tend to take the bus (changing in 6th October City and get a taxi back once I have shopped till I dropped. I am very glad not to live near there though because while I normally go less than once a month, in November I went 3 times and spent about 1000LE on 'basics' (and not including the cost of a new monitor I bought). There is also a Carrefour further away which I rarely go to because it's difficult on public transport and expensive by taxi to go there and their range of cat food is miniscule.

What is the property market like at the moment?

As far as I know, the property market in my area is rather flat at the moment, but I am no expert. I believe the market in Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada etc has been quite badly hit. In my area, early summer tends to be the best time to sell as the Gulf people often come over for the summer as Egypt is a lot cooler than the Gulf and also in comparison with Gulf countries, life in Egypt is more free.

Are you employed or self-employed? What challenges did you face in either finding employment or running your own business?

I provided for myself financially before moving here - there are some excellent interest rates available in Egyptian banks - and as long as I work within my budget, can last for several years. In just over 5 years I can - fingers crossed - start getting my company pension.

My advice to anyone wanting (or needing) to find work here is - if you must have an 'expat' sized salary then you MUST get the job from your home country. Once you are here, you will be on 'locally employed' rates which are very substantially lower. You may still get more than an Egyptian doing exactly the same job, but not as much as an expat coming in from abroad doing exactly the same job.

Please note that it is illegal to work here without a work permit. The other thing you should know is that in order for an employer to successfully obtain a work permit for you, you need a Certificate of Experience from outside Egypt proving that you have 4 years experience in a job with EXACTLY THE SAME JOB TITLE as the one you are coming to Egypt for. Now, of course, we all know many people working without a permit, and it can in fact take months to get one. That is your choice though what you choose to do about that. There are also many myths and legends going around - for example I have heard people say that they have been told that if you have part time work, or work less than a certain number of days a year then you don't need one.

I have done some work as an English teacher here (only a couple of hours a week), but decided not to continue with it for various reasons and have not done so since last March.

Are there many other expats in your area?

Yes, there are other expats in my area and we get together from time to time. However, 6th October City is not an expat ghetto like, say, Maadi, Helioopolis or Zamalek are and it is mainly middle-class Egyptians round where I live.

What is your relationship like with the locals?

I lived in London before I moved here so my interactions with the neighbours are pretty similar to there - which I prefer - I've never been in to the 'open house' idea! I have made a few friends around and about - some Egyptian, some Western Expats, and some other Expats. For some reason, a lot of my neighbours seem to think I'm German or Russian!

What do you like about life where you are?

Mostly, I like that fact that living here has given me the time and space I needed to get in my life to figure out what I wanted to do next, and to explore that fully. Funnily enough, I like the fact that it is fine and sunny 360 days a year (I've never been a big fan of heat before and never went on a beach holiday ever as an adult!). I like when I am brought head to head with some implicit assumption from my British lifestyle that I never knew I held, and it is thrown up in the air and questioned!

What do you dislike about your expat life?

Well, the most difficult thing obviously is the language barrier. I can get around reasonably ok, but if I find myself in an unfamiliar situation and simply do not have the vocabulary for it, I'm a bit lost and have to ask an Arabic-speaking friend to help me out.

In some ways, the class system and social mores are akin to those of England between the Wars and this can be a bit disconcerting.

What advice would you give to anyone following in your footsteps?

Once you have decided to move somewhere, join internet forums, become active, meet up with people when you travel to the new land, build up an advance network. Do language classes back in the UK to at least get some basic vocabulary - and if it's a different alphabet learn to read it - and practice reading every advert, newspaper headline or whatever you can when you do visit! When you do get here, make an effort to use the language. I have finally convinced the local shop where I get most of my groceries to tell me the total in Arabic instead of showing it me on a calculator and they will do that now unless they are very busy.

The best piece of advice I was given by another single woman who lived here for 6 years before returning to the UK - and I shall pass on is - spread your load. Inevitably, coming to a foreign country with a completely different language and bureaucratic system, you will need help. Don't allow yourself to be totally dependent on just a couple of people, and in turn, always keep part of you independent and out there meeting others. With all the will in the world, there will be times they can't be there for you, or time moves on and your friendships evolve, change, dissolve as they would anywhere else.

I have been very lucky and have made some amazing friendships here - people have helped me, and in turn I have helped either them or others.

Go out and about on public transport - really it makes all the difference instead of sealing yourself away in a little bubble. Go shopping alone - yes ok you may get ripped off from time to time, but if you don't get out there, you won't know.

Do not burn your boats back in your homeland. Maintain a bank account there and a credit card - if you want (have) to move back to the UK, not having a credit track record essentially makes you a non-person these days and you can find it hard to re-establish yourself. Set up online banking too. If you have two online accounts, you can send the same £10 round in circles month after month thereby keeping both accounts active (make a standing order to yourself from both accounts so £10 goes from one to the other then a week later comes back again). Occasionally use your credit card just to keep that record going.

Do bear in mind that you are moving to a foreign country and as such will always be susceptible to political change - visa rules may change, changes of government may lead you to have to leave with nothing, whatever! Have a Plan B.

What are your plans for the future?

Don't worry, be happy :D