We got the dates wrong, and it cost us a weekend we didn't have.

Our old lease ended before the new keys were ready. Both flats are in Al Barsha, so I told myself it was nothing. Same area, same school run, a few streets apart. I'd just stack the boxes at a friend's place and sort it out.

Then the friend's landlord said no. The "few days" gap turned out to be longer than a few days. I booked the first storage unit that looked cheap and had availability, and only afterwards looked at where it actually was.

What went wrong

The unit was a long way out. I'd seen the listing, I'd seen the price, and I never typed the address into a map. On the Friday of the move I did the maths in the car with a sofa strapped in the back and two kids asking where we were going. It was far enough that the whole day went on it. Loading, driving out, unloading, driving back, then the school-night routine still waiting at home.

The second thing was the pickup. I assumed the operator would collect from the flat and deliver to the new one. The company I called said "yes, we can arrange transport" and I heard that as "it's included". It wasn't. It was a separate charge, quoted after I'd already paid the deposit, and the quote came by phone, so I had nothing to point to.

I'm not blaming them entirely. I didn't ask the right question. But I'd have asked it if I'd read the right thing first.

The piece that would have saved me

After the fact, a neighbour sent me this guide to temporary storage in Dubai, on a UAE city-life site rather than anyone's sales page. I read it on the sofa among the boxes and winced a few times.

Two things in it changed how I'd plan this. First, most of the storage sits in just a few pockets: Al Quoz, Dubai Investment Park and International City. From Al Barsha those aren't equally convenient. Fifteen minutes away and fifty minutes away are completely different weekends, and you feel it with children in the car.

Second, the advice to get the pickup price in writing before anything else. Some operators fold it into the rental, some bill it on top, and some are really removal firms that happen to have a warehouse. You can't tell which from a listing. You only find out by asking, and then keeping the reply.

It's a practical read and it doesn't pretend there's a perfect option. What it doesn't do is tell you what to do about your own street, your own school gate and your own landlord's handover rules. That part is on you.

What I'd do differently

Here's the short version I wish I'd had on a sticky note:

* Pick the district first, then the operator. Work out which of the storage areas is realistically reachable from your building at the time of day you'd be driving.
* Ask for the pickup cost by message or email, and ask what exactly it covers: both flats, stairs, lift, a time window, the second leg.
* Ask what happens if the new keys slip. Can you extend by a few days, or is it a full extra month?
* Ask about access. Can you go back on a weekday evening for a school uniform or a charger, or is it appointment only?
* Decide what must stay with you. Passports, school bags, chargers, medicines, the kettle. Everything else can go.

The access question matters more than I expected. The things we needed in the gap weren't the big items. They were the small ones: a winter jacket (it was still hot, but the school wanted it on a list), a particular cot sheet, a box of documents I'd packed because it was "tidy".

Al Barsha is not one place

People say "it's all Al Barsha" as if it's one tight neighbourhood. Al Barsha is split into numbered sections plus a South part, and the roads that connect them are not always as direct as the map suggests. My old flat and my new flat are in the same named area, yet the drive between them depends on which junction you use and how the traffic is behaving that day.

Why does that matter for storage? Because your starting point isn't "Al Barsha" in general. It's the exact building. The drive from the edge of the area towards the main roads out can be quicker than the drive from the middle of it, and a school run that already uses half your morning will soak up any extra distance.

So I'd stop thinking "storage within reach of Al Barsha" and start thinking "storage within reach of the building I'm leaving, and the one I'm arriving at". They can give you different answers.

A smaller tool for the distance problem

One other thing I found afterwards: Storage Finder Dubai. It's an independent site that maps facilities and lets you compare them side by side, and it isn't run by an operator, which matters when you're trying to be sceptical. You choose your own district and it shows you how far each place is from there.

That is the step I skipped. I'd have saved myself the Friday if I'd done it before paying a deposit. I wouldn't use it as the only source, though. A map can tell you how far something is, but it can't tell you whether the person on the phone will put the pickup terms in an email. Treat it as the distance check, then do the asking yourself.

The lease dates, and the bit I can't promise

If you can, talk to both landlords or agents early about overlap. Even a day or two of access to the new flat before the old one ends makes a gap far less painful. Some will allow it, some won't, and many will say yes informally and then go quiet. Get anything like that in a message you can screenshot.

If the overlap isn't possible, think about whether the gap even needs storage. A small gap might be handled by moving only the big furniture and keeping everything else in the car or with family. Storage becomes worth it when the gap is long enough that the stuff would otherwise be in someone's way, or when the school week can't absorb a second move.

One caution about everything above, including the article and what I've said. This is written in October, and terms in this market shift. Rates, minimum rental periods, whether pickup is bundled, how renewal works: those can all look different by the time you renew, or even by the time you book. Check what's current on the day, and don't assume a month-to-month extension will cost the same as the first month. Ask about it in writing at the start.

If I were doing October again

I'd choose the nearest sensible storage area from my actual front door, get the pickup terms by message, keep a small bag of daily-use things out of the unit, and book the move for a day that doesn't collide with a school event. Fifteen minutes each way is a chore; fifty is a lost Saturday, and I'd now pay attention to that gap before I looked at the price.