Taking my Defender to the Liwa dunes – should I detail before or after?

[simondavenport]

I've got a trip planned with some friends to go camping near the empty quarter next month and I'm torn on whether I should get the truck properly cleaned up before we go or just wait until after we get back and deal with all the sand at once. Part of me wants it to look good for photos, but another part knows it's going to get absolutely hammered out there anyway. I've been looking at Land Rover Detailing In Abu Dhabi and some of those packages include underbody washing and ceramic coatings that supposedly make sand stick less, but is that actually useful for off-road abuse or just overkill for a daily driver that sees occasional dunes? Anyone here done a serious detail right before a desert trip and regretted it, or wished they had done it sooner?