Both cities gained a lot of popularity in the last decade, and definitely not only to work. Nowadays these world cities are popular with travelers from all over the world and loads of expats. Despite the extreme heat and the humidity during the summer months, people free-willingly want to settle down here and students from all over the world come to study at one of the many universities. Although I flew into Abu Dhabi airport several times, I never really took the opportunity to explore the city.