Travelling with a nanny to the UAE: Recommendations for convenience and peace of mind

Taking a nanny on holiday is an amazing experience. You can spend quality time with your child, relax, and enjoy a holiday in the UAE away from home without constant worries. But to ensure everything goes right, you must sort out all the nanny arrangements and pre-plan your trip. 

Generally, the rules for planning a holiday with a nanny are similar to the classic scheme. It would help if you found a place to stay, an attraction to visit, a car rent in Dubai, etc. And while choosing a car, you should consider that it has enough space for a nanny and a child seat. Therefore, it is best to stay in full-size sedans or spacious SUVs. In addition, you can rent several cars from a car rental company – for yourself and for the nanny (with or without a driver, if the nanny can drive), so that your holiday is as comfortable as possible and you can spend some time alone, solving your questions or just enjoying your holiday in the UAE.

In this article, we have compiled all the important points you should consider before starting your holiday with a nanny for your kids. 

Make a travel plan

Before you set off on your UAE trip, you should first discuss everything with your babysitter. Talk to her thoroughly before your trip to make a plan and ensure you’re on the same page and understand each other. It would help if you discussed the following things:

• The schedule—how long the trip will last and how much time the nanny will need to spend with the children (sitting with them around the clock or for a certain number of hours a day).
• Travel arrangements — where the nanny will live, whether you will need to get a rental car separately for her to drive the children.
• Compensation — how and at what rate the nanny will be paid.
• Scope of responsibility — whether your nanny will only have to look after your child or whether there will be other children.

The nannies near me may also have additional questions during the discussion, which should be clarified before travelling. Some families even make a mini-agreement (contract) with their nanny if travelling to Dubai for a week or more. It will protect each party to the agreement, as the document will spell out the responsibilities of all parties.

You must draw up an employment contract if you hire a nanny purely for the trip (her services are not used in normal life). It would help if you were sure to tell the nanny exactly what her duties would include. 

Another important detail is to check that your nanny has a passport and other necessary travel documents before your trip. In particular, if you plan to rent a car in which she will have to drive the child, she must have a licence quoted in the Emirates.

Discuss accommodation for the trip in advance

Travelling with you to the UAE is a job for the nanny. Accordingly, the costs of travel (tickets), accommodation and meals fall on the employer. Also, if your nanny has to look after the children during the trip (flight), these hours must be paid for. 

You should also ensure that your nanny has a private room to stay in while travelling. The option of a nannies services staying with children is only available if the child has special needs that require someone to be in the same room at all times. However, this should be agreed upon with the nanny. 

If the nanny lives in the same room with the children all the time, it blurs the boundary between working and non-working hours. It is in their room or suite that the nanny will be able to rest and recharge before the new working day.

Paying for work

Many parents often struggle with calculating the pay for a travelling nanny near me . Compensation can look different depending on the type of trip. In this case, it’s worth answering a few questions:

• Will the nanny stay with your child most of the day while you deal with your issues in the Emirates?
• Will the nanny be an extra helper and back you up while you are on holiday at the beach?
• Are you planning a separate holiday in the UAE without the kids, while the nanny will have to watch them 24/7, including sharing a room?

Most families pay their nanny by the hour – all the time they are with the children and out of the house (including payment covers travelling hours to and from the destination). The job is often paid at a standard rate. The overtime rate (1.5 times the rate) is used if the nanny works over 40 hours weekly. 

Many families pay a flat rate during rest hours (when the nanny sleeps unless they share rooms with the child and have to get up in the middle of the night). A flat daily rate can also be used for payment (this can cover daytime and nighttime).

It is worth discussing payment individually with the nanny before travelling.

Some more important tips for parents

Before going on holiday with a nanny , you need to take care of many things: choosing a hotel, finding a car rental service in the UAE, planning the itinerary, and packing. But the most important of them all is the issue of organising childcare. To make everything go as it should, parents should take into account a few things:

• You will cover all the nanny’s expenses during the trip. The only thing she will pay for while travelling is her expenses on her own time.
• If you are travelling to a place where there will be other children (children of friends, other family members), you should make it clear who exactly the nanny is responsible for – only your children or all of them. In the second case, the remuneration should also be appropriate. Even if the nanny will not be fully responsible for the other children, she will still be involved in helping them in one way or another. This work should be paid accordingly.
• Be sure to give your nanny a day off (a few hours to yourself). If your nanny has to be with the kids day and night, try to make sure she has time for trivial necessities—eating and taking a breather. The nanny should have some free time between her ‘shifts’.

One more small point while on holiday with your nanny : discuss with her how you feel about her drinking alcohol (not while she is watching the children!!!). For example, do you allow the nanny to have a glass of wine at dinner on her own time and so on?

Conclusions

In conclusion, remember that this is your journey, not your nanny’s. You can take advantage of luxury car rental services, plan to visit various attractions and take time for yourself, while your nanny should only help you with this. Being able to travel with the family she works for is just as much a job for a nanny as it always has been. Sometimes, it can be even more challenging than staying home with the kids. Therefore, it should be paid accordingly. 

Taking a nanny to the UAE is a great way to make the most of your holiday time. You can get enough time to relax, for example, go to an adult dinner, visit a spa, go on an excursion you’ve wanted to visit for a long time,e and do other things without the kids.