Relocating to the Gulf

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#3465835 1-Mar-2026 17:50

Handle9:

We’re fine. We didn’t sleep all that well, especially when an emergency alert went off at 12.30 but all is well.

Pretty frightening especially for the kids. Hope there’s a Plan B in place as it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon. You were so close to getting out of there as well. Wish you the best and to find a way out of this mess.

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#3465837 1-Mar-2026 18:24

Eva888:

Handle9:

We’re fine. We didn’t sleep all that well, especially when an emergency alert went off at 12.30 but all is well.

Pretty frightening especially for the kids. Hope there’s a Plan B in place as it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon. You were so close to getting out of there as well. Wish you the best and to find a way out of this mess.

The reality is we are of far less chance of being hurt from a missile than driving a car. This is probably one of the safest days to be in Dubai as a lot of cars are off the road

It’s unsettling but incredibly unlikely that anything will come close to hitting us.

There are a few missiles and drones coming at a time not dozens or hundreds. As I said it’s unsettling but not all that dangerous for us sitting in our home as they are targeting military bases and strategic targets.

Eva888

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#3465843 1-Mar-2026 19:16

Are you far from the airport? X reporting another hit there an hour ago. Hard to know what’s true and what’s purposeful misreporting on Social media.
Can’t help thinking about you guys there especially the girls. Courage required and prepping in case power goes out etc.

Tinkerisk

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#3465845 1-Mar-2026 19:21

I would try to get my ass out of there ASAP. Any airport is a potential strategic target (at least for misguided drones and missiles of questionable technology and reliability). 😎

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#3465847 1-Mar-2026 19:33

While I appreciate the concern it’s not particularly helpful to us answering lots of questions or having people make uninformed comments.

A lot of people’s anxiety levels are being ramped up by being bombarded with people from home. I’d like to avoid that if I can otherwise I’ll just jump off here for a while.

We are currently safe, very unlikely to be harmed and all in a decent place mentally. We’d like to stay that way.

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#3465854 1-Mar-2026 20:51

Handle9:

We are currently safe, very unlikely to be harmed and all in a decent place mentally. We’d like to stay that way.

I don't doubt that. It's more about the airspace closures or flight cancellations... not about the relatively unlikely scenario of actually being affected. But okay – to each their own.

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#3465856 1-Mar-2026 21:11

I’m signing off here for a while because the usual suspects can’t help themselves. See ya later.

Handle9

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#3468551 10-Mar-2026 18:13

So it's been a week and a bit of this crap now. I'm still safe and where I live is pretty unaffected. We had friends round for a BBQ on Saturday night and for all intents and purposes behaved like nothing had happened.

It's very different for people in other areas. A very close friend lives under an attack path and has multiple interceptions a day near their house. He and the kids will leave for a while as he can work remotely. His wife has to be here for work so she'll stay.

The school holidays got moved up a week, starting last Saturday. At the same time the flights for our holiday to Japan got cancelled. We had a think about it and decided to send my wife and girls home for a few weeks. If there is no school there is no rational reason for them to be in the country so they may as well spend some time with friends. They flew out yesterday (after a 4 hour delay due to a flat tyre) and have just landed in Christchurch. They'll fly up to Auckland now, have 10 days with my Mum then back to the south island for around the same with my wifes mum.

I'm under no real strain here and safe and happy other than being apart from the family.

pdh

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#3468614 10-Mar-2026 22:46

Thanks for the update - stay strong.

tdgeek

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#3468647 11-Mar-2026 08:52

Handle9:

So it's been a week and a bit of this crap now. I'm still safe and where I live is pretty unaffected. We had friends round for a BBQ on Saturday night and for all intents and purposes behaved like nothing had happened.

It's very different for people in other areas. A very close friend lives under an attack path and has multiple interceptions a day near their house. He and the kids will leave for a while as he can work remotely. His wife has to be here for work so she'll stay.

The school holidays got moved up a week, starting last Saturday. At the same time the flights for our holiday to Japan got cancelled. We had a think about it and decided to send my wife and girls home for a few weeks. If there is no school there is no rational reason for them to be in the country so they may as well spend some time with friends. They flew out yesterday (after a 4 hour delay due to a flat tyre) and have just landed in Christchurch. They'll fly up to Auckland now, have 10 days with my Mum then back to the south island for around the same with my wifes mum.

I'm under no real strain here and safe and happy other than being apart from the family.

Good to hear.

Eva888

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#3468653 11-Mar-2026 09:20

Glad you are all safe and hope it ends soon for everyone’s sake.

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#3469251 12-Mar-2026 09:16

I do appreciate everyones good wishes. It's a strange time, and I can't seem to get to sleep tonight, but for all practical purposes it really is almost entirely normal where I am. 30km up the road it's a bit of a different story. I'm bloody glad we moved from near to the Al Minhad Air Base.

Eva888

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#3469291 12-Mar-2026 10:13

Understandable when you are alone without those closest to bounce ideas off and share plans with. Hopefully there are some Oz and Kiwi in a similar boat that you can connect with to talk. Problems shared etc.

Hearing from a variety of sources, we have a pretty good picture of the difficulties facing everyone left in that part of the world so 'say no more.' Just hearing that you are managing and safe is good to know because we can’t help thinking about you. Hang in there.

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#3469296 12-Mar-2026 10:24

I am glad you and your family are safe, even if the situation is still causing some unsettled feelings.

Handle9

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#3472265 21-Mar-2026 17:43

Given this looks like it'll be going on for a while we've pushed the familys flights back here out a month, to the end of April, and then will reassess after that. I'm still safe and well, I caught up with friends at the pub yesterday and had a great time. If it's still going on I'll probably come back to NZ to see the family for a week or two in early April.

The biggest impact from the war on most people here is uncertainty. Daily life continues reasonably normally but it's always there hovering in the background. In the meantime I'm working through our permanent move, I got my offer from Singapore this week and I am working through that. I also have another potential option but whatever way we go it'll be tricky to get out of here. The main issue is our dog.

We have prepared for the move and already have a valid rabies titre test, which can be the biggest delay but pet relocations are inundated with people moving temporarily or permanently.

The other thing that is difficult at the moment is moving our household. With the straits closed it could be months before we can move a container but that is manageable if costly. We'll see what happens.

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