Luisa Zissman has voiced her frustrations about being back in the UK after leaving her Dubai home on Monday with her children.
The Apprentice star, 38, relocated to the UAE in December with two of her three children, including Indigo Esme, nine, and Clementine and her Irish millionaire husband Andrew Collins.
She has been one of the most vocal Dubai-based influencers to throw their support behind the UAE government, even declaring it to be the ‘safest country in the world’ last week despite days of missile strikes and suicide drone attacks.
But on Monday Luisa returned to the UK, telling her 712k Instagram followers that she always planned to come back this week to record episodes of her podcast LuAnna, but had decided to bring her daughters over fears they may not be able to get back to Dubai.
Posting a video on Instagram Stories on Tuesday morning as she walked to work in London, Luisa declared she was in ‘my refugee era, displaced from my home,’ and admitted she was scared about returning to London crime.
‘Back in Blighty,’ she told fans. ‘I’m in Chinatown, I’m heading into the Global studios this morning. Obviously I am no longer in Dubai, I was due back for work anyway so I came back with the kids, they’re on school holidays now and I just wanted to bring them back with me.’
Luisa Zissman has voiced her frustrations about being back in the UK after leaving her Dubai home on Monday with her children
The Apprentice star relocated to the UAE in December with two of her three children, including Indigo Esme, nine, and Clementine and her Irish millionaire husband Andrew Collins
She paused as she looked around, admitting ‘I’m really paranoid someone is going to steal my phone.’
‘I’m now in my refugee era, displaced from my home,’ she added before heaping more praise on the UAE and her ‘very, very easy’ journey home.
‘It was actually fine leaving, it was very, very easy, we went through Oman, took us about 15 minutes to get through the border then flew out from Muscat to Heathrow.’
‘Back with Team Luanna for the next two days and I’m very excited to see my crew, and I’m very f**king cold and it’s very grey.’
Five days ago Luisa was posting from her Dubai home and assured her followers ‘everything is fine’.
The former Apprentice contestant is among a host of celebrities who relocated to the UAE in recent years for a sun-soaked life in the tax-free haven.
There has so far been a mixed response from those reporting from the emirate, with some influencers and reality stars claiming the feel ‘safe’, while others have openly discussed how scared they have been feeling during the missile strikes.
In her March 4 post Luisa revealed that she planned to return to the UK for work, but she was fearful she wouldn’t be able to get back to Dubai.
She said: ‘The situation here seems to be fine to be honest, the children have broken up one week early from school. I was due back to the UK on Monday for work so hoping that can happen. Can see lots of passenger planes in the sky.
Posting a video on Instagram Stories on Tuesday morning as she walked to work in London, Luisa declared she was in ‘my refugee era, displaced from my home,’
The star has been one of the most vocal Dubai-based influencers to throw their support behind the UAE government, even declaring it to be the ‘safest country in the world’
‘I’m worried if I come back to the UK for work I won’t be able to get back to Dubai, so will take the children with me and see my parents too.’
She also shared a video while out with her dog, telling fans she was ‘loving life’ and that she could hear passenger planes flying overhead.
Luisa is one of the many famous faces who have continued to paint Dubai in a positive light, after the US-Israel war against Iran sparked chaos in the UAE.
But for some influencers and social media stars attitudes shifted as the region entered a second weekend of strikes.
UAE claims that Iran has fired 238 ballistic missiles at their territory since the US-Israeli strikes began, with 221 destroyed and only two reaching their destination.
However, Iran has also used its ‘suicide drones’ to launch attacks on the Emirates.
A night drone attack on two of Dubai’s most upmarket areas left one man dead and two residential skyscrapers in flames on Saturday.
Smoke plumed from the 88-storey 23 Marina tower building near Dubai Marina after it was hit by the debris from an intercepted Iranian drone.
Later, it emerged that a Pakistani driver was killed after material fell on his vehicle following a drone attack on the 19-storey Azayez Tower in the upmarket Al Barsha area.
Dubai International Airport was also forced to close on Saturday after a suspected Iranian drone strike triggered a huge explosion near the complex, with passengers ordered off planes.
Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison has shared an update with fans as she and husband Ercan Ramadan attempt to flee Dubai.
On Sunday Vicky, 32, revealed they had been driven a whopping 11 hours across the border to Oman amid the ‘rising panic’ in a desperate bid to finally fly home to the UK after their three previous flights were cancelled.
Vicky Pattison has shared an update with fans as she and husband Ercan Ramadan attempt to flee Dubai after the US-Israel war against Iran sparked chaos in the UAE
Vicky and Ercan abandoned plans to try to fly to Australia or New Zealand, but wanted to return home and be reunited with their beloved dogs Milo and Max as ‘quickly and safety as possible’.
Alongside snaps of their mammoth trip to Oman, she penned: ‘We’re so sorry for our radio silence over the last week, with everything unfolding the way it was and changing so rapidly we desperately didn’t want to say anything insensitive or hyperbolic that would add to the rising panic around the situation’.
‘We really appreciate all your messages of concern and just wanted to reassure everyone that we’re fine. After 3 cancelled flights and the realisation that we definitely weren’t going to make it on to Australia and New Zealand we wanted to try and get home as quickly and safely as possible’.
She went on: ‘I understand that there are a lot of people still in Dubai feeling really calm and safe however, we wanted to be back to our babies, work and normality and we felt like Oman was our best option’.
‘We made our way to Oman from Dubai with some of our friends via private transfer, we used this company @skyevipcarrental and found them to be professional, reasonably priced and comfortable’.
Vicky continued: ‘All in all, the journey took us around 11 hours, including around 2-3 hours at the border crossing, checking documents and passports and cost about £130pp’.
‘For anyone stuck in Dubai and wanting to get home via Oman, I will put more information on @vickysvacays.. I just don’t want to overwhelm or bore anyone on here. We are going to try and enjoy our last days away and explore Oman hopefully.
‘The last week has been quite unsettled and we understand people feeling unsafe and uncertain.. we have experienced moments like that, but ultimately feel like it’s important we acknowledge our position of privilege.
She added: ‘We are extremely grateful to be making our way home and are thinking of anyone feeling fearful or unsettled, anywhere in a world that is rapidly becoming an increasingly scary place to be.
‘Finally just a little Thankyou to @addressbeachresort and @uaegov for keeping us safe, calm and informed when possible. We will keep you updated and are looking forward to getting home in the next couple of days.’
Meanwhile an influencer trapped in a five-star hotel in Dubai has said Brits who have managed to flee the city ‘have been lucky’ as she faces a £3,000 bill in living expenses while she remains stranded.
She explained how the couple wanted to return home and be reunited with beloved dogs Milo and Max as ‘quickly and safety as possible’
‘We’re so sorry for our radio silence over the last week, with everything unfolding the way it was and changing so rapidly we desperately didn’t want to say anything insensitive’
Lily Mann, 25, arrived in Dubai with her boyfriend James Shires, 33, on February 26 with the intention of a week-long holiday.
The couple has since spent the last two days trying to navigate a way back home after their Etihad Airways flight to Manchester Airport was cancelled, leaving them to either pay upwards of £10,000 each for a one-way flight or to wait indefinitely.
They join the thousands of British travellers stranded in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran elicited retaliatory strikes by Iran across the region.
This comes as the UK has halved the readiness time for aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales ahead of a possible deployment to the region, it was reported on Sunday.
Ms Mann, who also works as a freelance social media manager, told the Daily Mail ‘the flights home are just not there’.
She said: ‘We have been very, very unlucky and people who have got out have been very lucky.
‘The few flights that are showing are business class or first class seats, which are coming up to around £10,000’.
This has forced them to continue staying in the five-star hotel FIVE Luxe JBR, with the holiday extension costing upwards of £3,000 in holiday costs and dog care.
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