A British woman ditched her role in the police and headed to Dubai with her partner to go on more holidays, triple her income and enjoy a crime-free life.
Fitness coaches Tommy Mitchell, 29, and Amber Travis, 24, ‘fell in love’ with the city after a two-week trip in January 2024.
Alongside their full-time jobs, they both worked as online fitness coaches and found it ‘easy’ to work remotely in Dubai.
The pair then decided to invest £12,000 into a business mentorship in March 2025 in Dubai to help build their client base.
By June 2025, Tommy had left his receptionist job and Amber left her role in the police due to their quadrupled clientele.
The couple made the decision in November 2025 to emigrate to Dubai, renting out their three-bed home in the UK and flying out in December with their king charles spaniel Ruby.
Despite the move estimated to cost around £20,000, they say their earnings are tripled, and the work-life balance is ‘better’ and the couple enjoy downtime at the beach every weekend.
Amber, a fitness coach from Bath, Somerset, said: ‘To have more freedom, a better way of life and more opportunities meant we could be anywhere in the world doing our job and it’s now led us to Dubai.
‘It was a massive decision leaving the police and I had lots of questions from friends and family asking if it was the right thing to do.
‘But in life you have to take risks.
‘The weather for one instantly makes everything better.
‘It’s genuinely so safe here.
‘For me maybe it’s because I worked for the police before but the level of crime and the difference in safety in Dubai is such a high contrast to the UK.
‘For me I have a different take but everyday in the UK there was probably something around every person crime-wise where as here there is honestly nothing.
‘I have no worry at all any part of the day that anything is going to happen.
‘We work in cafes and restaurants now and then and you can leave your laptop and phone in place whilst you go to the toilet.
‘People want to help you as much as they can.
‘We’re working hard but have a better work life balance.’
Amber began working as a policewoman aged just 18 in July 2020 and spent five years as a response officer, which she says was ‘amazing’ but ‘really hard’.
‘I think it comes with it’s challenges,’ she explained.
‘It was very long shifts.
‘There’s a lot you have to see and do in the police.
‘I was really enjoying online coaching but I had a full-time career alongside training and work for me was a massive responsibility and a job I was proud to be a part of.
‘It’s hard, I was at a turning point where I was doing something I loved already and I helped a lot of people in the police, saved lives and protected people but at the same time I was helping women another way though fitness’.
| Cost (£) | |
|---|---|
| Rent and bills before Rent and bills now Agency fees and deposit Business set up fees Visas Total cost of move |
2000 2800 5,000-7,000 for the year 5,000 1,000 20,000 |
Tommy says they are both ‘just about’ settling into life in Dubai and explained that in just six months of investing in their mentorship they had both quadrupled the amount of online business they had.
‘It has allowed us to travel a lot more and have more holidays in 2025,’ he said.
‘We’d get up early, do work for six, seven, eight hours and then get the chill time you have whilst being away.
‘Throughout 2025 we did another load of bodybuilding competitions.
‘It was a crazy year, zero to 100.
‘In November 2025 we went over to Dubai.
‘It was like, right, we need to get out here now if we wanted to grow more.
‘We got home and paid for everything, moved the company over and it was pretty much confirmed.’
But they admit the costs of living in Dubai are high.
Back in the UK, the couple were paying £2,000 per month for their mortgage and bills, whereas their one-bed apartment in Dubai is £2,600 per month for rent, with a further £200 for bills.
They have to pay agency fees and a deposit which they said is between £5,000 and £7,000 per year.
Business set up fees were £5,000, with visas costing the couple £1,000 each on top of the company set up fee.
Despite the move estimated to cost around £20,000, Tommy says they are able to earn ‘a lot of money’ before they are taxed.
He said: ‘With personal training for example back at home I was charging £70 per hour and probably only seeing £40 of that after tax.
‘Here I charge £100 and get to keep more of it, and with online coaching there is a bigger pool of people to be working with.’
Despite initially working hours from 5am to 11pm in their first few weeks in their new home, Amber says they have moved to ‘enjoy life’.
She said: ‘Another of the pros for us in Dubai is the better work-life balance.
‘People work hard and it’s hard working hours but there are so many nice things to do in your downtime and we have that time now.
‘In the UK I feel like with the weather there’s not always much to do outside of work.’
With the couple missing their family and friends, they have arranged weekly FaceTimes to keep in touch.
Tommy said: ‘I do actually miss walking over the fields with the dog as nice as the beaches here are.
‘I wouldn’t swap fresh air for good weather though’.
The couple pose a different sentiment to Kate Ferdinand, who recently revealed she has struggled since her big move to Dubai.
In a new episode of her Blended podcast, Kate has confessed that while Dubai has been an ‘amazing’ place to live, she’s ‘struggled’ with being apart from his two eldest sons Lorenz, 19, and Tate, 17, who have stayed in the UK.
She said: ‘I feel like we’ve opened our eyes to a different world. But I love London, I love the UK. I love so many things about the UK.
‘I do feel happy in Dubai, but I’m just missing a part of me.
‘Rio loves it so much. I am enjoying it, but I miss home quite a lot. I get upset. I miss the big boys a lot and I’m just struggling with that.’
