UK Edition
Mother knows best when it comes to planning a family move overseas
For parents moving abroad with their children, reliable local knowledge about schools, playgrounds and neighbourhoods can be hard to find.
Spotting this gap in the market, Kaamna Bhojwani-Dhawan, a mother of two and serial expat, launched a service to connect those planning a move with local parents in their intended destination.
"I'm on my third expat posting and know well that even if you move with a company, relocation consultants don't have the in-depth and specific knowledge that parents need - but local mothers do," she said.
“When parents are planning a move they are faced with a thousand different unreliable sources of information when they search online. For us, when we moved to London with a five-year-old and a three-year-old, we found it hard to know where to start. In a city like London there are so many options when it comes to schools, for example.”
Despite the American-sounding name of her service, Mom Aboard (momaboard.com/plan-my-move), it is designed for people of all nationalities and covers ten cities, including Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Melbourne. Five more, including Los Angeles and Sydney, are coming soon.
Parents who sign up for the service, which costs from £175, outline their planned location and needs, such as finding a home, a school or family leisure activities, along with the ages and interests of their children.
They are matched with a local parent who can give inside knowledge and advice and produce a custom-built itinerary. This can cover other topics too, such as finding a doctor or babysitter, or even a family-friendly coffee shop.
For an extra fee, the new arrivals can even meet up with their adviser for coffee.
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The parent-ambassadors who create the itineraries are generally travel writers and bloggers, all of whom have children.
Mrs Bhojwani-Dhawan, 36, who is originally from Mumbai, India, has lived in Australia, America and now London with her husband Rohit Dhawan, who works for Google, their son Karam and daughter Kimaya.
Her background is in social media and marketing work, and she launched Mom Aboard on Mothers’ Day (March 6). It also offers trip-planning advice for families going on holiday rather than making a long-term move.
Although there are parent groups in cities around the world, such as Match Up Mums in London, and websites such as mumabroad.com, Mrs Bhojwani-Dhawan believes her international pre-departure advice service is unique.
“We combine the recommendation angle of those sites with the personalisation you may get from your one-to-one relocation consultant,” she explained.
Her next goal is to launch a similar service for women travelling solo in order to provide city-specific advice from locals.