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Two winters of trying to spend December near my son in Dubai, and what I got wrong the first time
I help with the Thursday rota and a few of you have asked how the Dubai trips went, so here it is properly.
My son moved out there for work in 2022. The first winter I booked a short let for six weeks through a friend of a friend, which I now know is how everybody starts and how everybody gets caught. The flat existed and it was clean. What I had not asked was which side faced the road, and whether the cooling was included in the rent. That bill came separately at the end and it was not small, and I had budgeted nothing for it, because at home when you take a place for a few weeks the heating simply comes with it.
Second winter I did it differently. Four weeks instead of six, a building two streets back from the main road, and I asked for the last three months of bills before I paid anything. The agent found this very funny. He sent them anyway.
The other thing I learned is that nothing is settled at the counter. Everything happens by message afterwards, and if you wait a day the number moves, sometimes down.
My son says I have become insufferable about it and now gives my number to his colleagues' mothers.
Anyway, that is why I missed the Advent supper twice. I am here this year.
Since two of you asked afterwards what I actually used to look at prices, https://emirates.estate/ is where I ended up, mostly because you can see how long a place has been sitting there. The ones that have been up for months are usually the ones where the number on the advert is not the real number.