A note before you read this. On the video, we asked people to watch this one without the children in the room, and if you are new to the channel, this probably is not the one to start with. It is for people who have followed our journey and know what we are about.
We have had the chance on this channel to celebrate a lot of milestones. This one has a very different tone. But we would be doing you a disservice if we only ever showed you the good bits.
So this is an honest account of 24 hours our family spent in Dubai during the regional escalation involving Iran, and how it felt.
First, what this is not
This is not about politics. We do not play in that space and it is not what we are commenting on. We are not going to tell you who is right or wrong, or try to explain a conflict we are not qualified to explain.
We also want to say clearly, and we said it at the time: we know there are scales to this. There are people in far more dire situations, in far heavier conflict zones, than we were. What we experienced was largely uncertainty, fear and concern for our family. We do not want to take anything away from what other people are going through. It was simply the worst thing we had experienced, because it was happening to us.
With that said, here is what happened.
How we found out
We were at Dubai Mall. Adam was in a coffee shop, Sara was shopping, and the boys had gone off together, because they are getting old enough that we are testing giving them a bit more freedom.
Adam got a call from our friend Connor.
"Where are you? Stay there. There has been an attack on Abu Dhabi. I have been told to stay in shelter."
The first instinct as a parent is not analysis. It is get the family in one place.
Sara's reaction when Adam called and said stay where you are, without explaining, was to assume something had happened to one of the boys. A lesson in itself about how you deliver that kind of news to your partner.
At that point it was Abu Dhabi, which felt far enough away not to panic. What shook Adam was different: when we did our research about relocating, this was a part of the world that did not get drawn into this. Seeing anything land anywhere in the UAE was not the world we thought we were moving into.
Getting home, and telling the boys
We got in the car and Adam drove, which for anyone who knows us is out of character.
Then one of Riley's friends texted him to say he could not come out and play because of the attacks. And suddenly you are making a parenting decision on the spot.
How much do you tell them? You do not want to lie. You do not want to wrap them in cotton wool. But your job is to make them feel safe.
We settled on sharing what was happening at a high level, without the detail of what it meant for us right there and then. As things went on we became more honest, because they were hearing things regardless.
By the time we got home it was not Abu Dhabi any more. Our group chats were going, friends across Dubai were messaging about things they could see and hear. That is when it hit Sara.
"Panic sets in, but you do not want to show the boys that panic has set in."
Sara reorganised an entire wardrobe that afternoon. Keeping your hands busy is its own kind of coping.
The information problem
This is the part Adam found hardest, and it is worth passing on.
"One of the things I have really struggled with is working out what is actually true. I did not believe it would be this difficult."
Between genuine reporting, rumour, and everything else circulating online, separating fact from noise took real effort. Reports at the time described a large number of missiles and drones, with the vast majority intercepted, and that the bangs people heard were often interceptions, with falling debris causing damage. We are not presenting that as settled fact. Go and look at proper sources rather than taking it from us.
What we can tell you is this: the real impact was the fear. The uncertainty and the not knowing.
The night
We tried to put a film on and paused it, because there was too much noise going on around us.
You hear a bang and you do not know what it is. You become sensitive to everything. A car going down the road and you are asking what was that.
As a family, what you are advised to do is stay away from windows and doors. So we had a conversation we never expected to have, which was: if Adam says bathroom, and says it in a certain way, everyone goes to the downstairs bathroom, because it is the room with no windows.
Later, an emergency alert came through on our phones. It is the most piercing sound either of us has ever heard, location based, telling you to take shelter. All four of us ended up in that bathroom with a blanket, trying to make sense of it.
At around 8:30 the next morning, there was a bang that sounded like someone had run straight into our front door. Adam actually looked through the peephole. Within about a minute, three more.
By early afternoon, it had been quiet for two or three hours.
Has it changed how we feel about Dubai?
Sara:
"It has not changed my opinion on living in Dubai. Weirdly I still feel quite safe. If someone said we can get you on a plane to the UK, let's go, I would not go."
Adam: more undecided at the time. His view was that how it gets dealt with matters as much as what was happening, and that he needed to see how it played out over the following days, weeks and months.
What we would say to someone planning to move
Adam put the difficult question directly to Sara on camera, because a growing part of her work is helping families relocate here, and it would have been easy to just not publish this video at all.
"Take pause. I do not think anyone would want to bring their family to Dubai right now, and there are no flights right now. Take pause and see how all this unfolds, because it is the unknown."
That was our honest answer in that moment. It was not a permanent verdict on Dubai, and it should not be read as one now. If you are planning a move, look at the situation as it actually stands and at official guidance, rather than at how one family felt during one particular week.
Thank you
The messages we got, from family and friends back home and from people who only know us through a screen, meant an enormous amount. That people cared enough to check in on us is something we will not forget.
We have written plenty about the good parts of this life, and we stand by all of it. Our guide to moving to Dubai with family and our neighbourhoods guide are still where we would send you to start. This post simply sits alongside them, because an honest picture includes the hard weeks too.
If and when you are ready to plan a move, the neighbourhood quiz is a good first step, and the relocation package is there if you would like proper help with schools, housing and the process. No rush, and no pressure.