About
About Hold Out Days
An independent publication about leaving home at short notice — written for the likely version of the problem, not the dramatic one.
What this site is
Hold Out Days publishes plain, practical writing about leaving home at short notice. The subject is the ordinary interruption that actually happens to ordinary households: a fire in a building, a gas leak in a street, a river that came up faster than anyone expected, a few days somewhere that is not home.
We are not interested in the end of the world. We are interested in the Tuesday night when a family of four is in a relative's living room without the medication, because nobody had ever decided where the medication lives. That problem is common, it is solvable, and solving it takes an evening.
Why it exists
Most writing on this subject has one of two problems. It is either aimed at people who enjoy equipment, in which case it is a shopping list, or it is aimed at people imagining a collapse, in which case it is fiction. Neither helps the household that has an hour's notice and a cat.
So the test for every page here is narrow: after reading it, can a reader do something differently this week, with what they already own? If not, the page is too long or it is not finished.
What we do not do
We do not give advice about your home, your health, your insurance or your circumstances, and we are not qualified to. We do not promise that preparing changes an outcome — Leaving early and leaving organised reduce risk; they do not remove it. We do not write for people who are in the middle of an incident; that belongs with the services responding to it. And we do not publish invented figures, invented experts or invented experiences.
The full statement of those limits is on the Disclaimer page, and it is worth reading once if you intend to rely on anything here.
How the writing is produced
Our starting points are the published materials of the bodies whose job the subject is: civil protection and emergency management agencies, fire services, public health authorities, utilities, veterinary and animal welfare organisations, consumer bodies and insurers. Where their guidance differs between countries — and it often does — we say so instead of presenting one country's rule as universal.
Figures are either sourced or attributed to the kind of organisation that measures them. Where we cannot support a number, we do not use one. The Editorial Policy describes the method and the correction process in detail.
How the site is paid for
Advertising, and affiliate links on some pages. No advertiser sees or approves an article, and no payment buys a recommendation. The Advertising Policy sets out exactly what the commercial arrangements are and what they do not touch.
Who publishes it
ADS TECH - FZCO
Tax identification number 100599274600003
DSO-THUB-G-D-FLEX-G043, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Telephone: +971 55 432 8593
Email: info@holdoutdays.com
The site is produced under the responsibility of Nehme Gaith.
Corrections, questions and permission requests all reach a person: the Contact page lists which address to use.
Where to start reading
The main guide is the place to begin — what to have ready, in the order that matters. After that, the article on the bag and the one on documents go deeper into the two parts that people most often get half-right.