Within seconds of stepping off the plane at Dubai International Airport to start her new life as an expat in the UAE, English housewife Samantha Higgenbottom says she was already planning her ‘tell all’ book about life in the Emirates.
“From the very first glance out of the plane window I could tell that here was an exotic land filled with mystery and intrigue,” she tells The Pan-Arabia Enquirer while supping a Starbucks’ café latte in the Dubai Mall. “And I just knew that it would be packed full of enough eye-raising secrets to fill a dazzling exposé that would lift the lid on what it’s really like.”
Higgenbottom, 39, who has now been living in the city for a week with her hedge fund manager Darren and two cats, Misty and Pebbles, says she is yet to actually unearth any sensational stories worth telling, but is confident they’re just around the corner.
“Who knows what might happen. Perhaps I’ll befriend a group of well-connected women and we’ll spend our days shopping in designer boutiques and evenings drinking Dom Perignon aboard enormous yachts or inside vast palaces owned by chivalrous Arab billionaires who will fly us there by helicopter or drive us in their Maseratis,” she smiles, adding that she’d already bought a small notebook to jot down everything she’d witness.
“Or maybe my husband will leave me and I can write a heart-wrenching narrative about how it was the temptations of Dubai that lured him away. And don’t worry, I won’t be leaving out any of the details!”
Higgenbottom claims that the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper has already expressed an interest in serialising her story should she separate from her husband. “They’ve asked me to start compiling a selection of photos of us in happier times,” she laughs. “I’ve even got a photographer coming this weekend.”
Although not a single word of her gripping real-life Dubai-based drama has been written, Higgenbottom admits she hasn’t been wasting any time in coming up with potential titles.
“Obviously it might have to change depending on the content, but I’ve got a few ideas I quite like, including ‘Secrets Beneath The Sand’, ‘Divas of the Dunes’, ‘Dubai My Lover’, you know, like the James Blunt song, and ‘Behind The Veil’,” she says.
In the meantime, while she researches the juicy content for her bestseller, Higgenbottom claims she has another project in the works.
“The other day I noticed just how many restaurants there were in Dubai serving scrummy dishes from around the world, and realised that they was hardly anybody writing about them,” she says. “So I’m now in the final planning stages of setting up a dedicated food blog.”
h
October 18, 2012 at 5:57 am
http://www.amazon.com/Burqalicious-The-Dubai-Diaries-ebook/dp/B004JF4OMC
Samantha
February 25, 2013 at 12:31 am
This woman is a hilarious self-absorbed idiot. She has been in Dubai for a week?? If she wants to come up with a story I’m sure she will, I just wouldn’t count on it being in any way accurate or well written. Your life is a joke honey.
Jumeirah Bob
February 28, 2013 at 7:14 am
Er..Samantha, you might want to get out a bit more and look up the word “satire” in the dictionary…
Anonymous
March 7, 2013 at 9:39 am
idiot
colin roberts
March 7, 2013 at 9:39 am
hi samantha
try facebook and look up geordi armani – she’s a lady of much experience here and writes a daily food message
Bart
March 15, 2013 at 10:44 am
Wow a “dedicated food blog” She is one sharp lady. I can’t believe she came up with that idea all on her own. Can’t believe no one else is doing that here.
Dubai Living
April 9, 2013 at 2:46 pm
dedicated food blog about dubai cuisine…my great ‘go ahead’
Mikee Duabi
April 28, 2013 at 4:52 am
Real life is stranger than fiction
Andi
May 23, 2013 at 10:30 am
Perhaps she can get in touch with me and I can tell her about my horrendous court case with the labour court which incidentally I won and now my ongoing battle with HSBC with regards to my mortgage rate which has never decreased despite what my contract says!! And I am here on my own!! Go on, I dare you to get in touch!! And I have been here over 5 years!!! Still, if all you worry about is being a food critic probably not up your street!!
Anonymous
September 16, 2013 at 10:00 am
Samantha, you are priceless & make the PAE all the more compelling !