MummOfTwo

Hi,
We are coming to AD this weekend to look at the area before deciding whether to move as a family of 5 (2 primary school kids, 2 adults and an elderly parent).
We only have Sat, Sun and Mon to look around and visit the office.
Can you please advise
1) Itinerary to make the best use of time (need to look at areas, where the schools are etc)
2) Can anyone recommend a reliable taxi driver they use that we could ask to book for half a day to drive us and show us areas
3) Do you have any estate agent contacts for a look around (might be too short notice)
4) Anything else I have missed

Other queries
Has anyone moved with an elderly parent and what have you done about medical insurance for them?

Thanks in advance.

UKMS

I can help with a couple of points

I think from previous posts you mentioned that your partner was going to be working in Al Raha ? Have a look at propertyfinder and search on a radius of there to give you an idea of property types and locations.

Have you done any research on schools ? If not have a look at https://www.edarabia.com/abu-dhabi-schools-fees/ this will give you schools by fees and curriculum and you can see on Google maps the locations in relation to Al Raha and other places nearby. Maybe worth contacting some schools to see what the position is on places .... little point in setting your heart on a good school if you cant get in.

I cant recommend a driver but you can hire Uber cars by the hour if you have some properties set up to view

regarding estate agents there are many and propertyfinder will at least give you some starting contacts to begin with. Having said that being blunt a lot of agents wont devote much time if you are not in a position to move fairly soon, you can solve that by being creative about your current plans

Regarding parents I dont have direct experience but my colleague recently moved his parents here from India and he simply hunted around the insurance companies for the best deal taking into account their pre existing conditions. Dont risk chancing it on holiday insurance and dont risk not declaring existing conditions, it could cost you dearly if something serious happens.

If I was in your position I would hire a car, spend the next couple of days researching school locations (try to contact the schools if possible) and areas to live and drive yourself around, you will get a better feel for the place and have the flexibilty to go where you want when you want.

MummOfTwo

Thank you that is really helpful info.
I have contacted schools and many of them say to register or have a waiting list. It was only Cranleigh that say they have very limited space for yr 3 so aren't taking any assessments.

Yes that's right, he will be in Al Raha..we are just trying to work out where best to place ourselves, probably more dependent on which school we get. I guess it's all linked, except we know we don't want the kids to have to travel too far/long.

UKMS

Im not now based in AD Im in Dubai but my advice is always to settle on the school and after sort your house otherwise you can end up with awful school runs if you do it the other way round.

If you know when you are moving over then as best you can make a school choice or get on the waitlist as soon as you can. Another option is for your partner to move over first and then sort stuff out initially, then bring the family, this also serves as a 'just in case' the job doesnt work out for any reason. Rather than all of you arriving on day 1.