Introducing Intentionally Abroad, a better way to find your home in the world.
A bespoke global relocation consultancy to take you from “Where to?” to “We’re home”.
Moving abroad shouldn’t feel like a high-stakes guessing game.
You’ve made the decision. You are ready for a better life overseas. But everything feels overwhelming and paralyzing. You’ve done research, you’ve read articles, you’ve asked for advice, but you still can’t confidently answer “Where should we go, and HOW”?
Intentionally Abroad eliminates the guesswork so you can move with total confidence.
Where, why, and how, customized for the way your family actually lives.
Global relocation is not just a lifestyle change—it is a complex, high-stakes strategic decision. Standard international relocation services offer generic country rankings and tax overviews, but they fail to solve the most critical variable: where your family will actually thrive on a daily basis.
At Intentionally Abroad, I help families, global nomads, and international executives navigate global moves with absolute precision, eliminating the trial-and-error of expensive and stressful missteps.
What we do:Through bespoke ecosystem mapping—analyzing everything from visa requirements to schooling philosophies and dietary needs to micro-neighborhood alignment and lifestyle rhythm—I design a tailored Relocation Blueprint so you land exactly where your family belongs.
My work is about uncovering what truly matters before you make major commitments, so you can make the right decision the first time.
The Reality of Global Relocation
Standard relocation advice focuses on countries, visas, property prices and lists of “best places to live.” But a destination can be perfect for someone and still be completely wrong for the way your family actually lives.
A destination can rank #1 on every top-10 list and still be a mismatch for your personality, daily rhythm, sensory needs, or educational preferences for your children.
Portugal, Thailand or Bali might be paradise for one family and completely wrong for another. Even within a single country or region, choosing the wrong city or neighborhood can turn an exciting move into an exhausting, costly mistake.
Without deep personal alignment, even an "ideal" country can feel like a complete mismatch.
Conversely, when you deeply evaluate your family’s true daily needs, you land in the exact neighborhood where you can actually flourish.
How I work: High-touch, deep alignment, rigorous research, complete lifestyle architecture.
Uncovering Hidden Non-Negotiables
Beyond just "where can I get a visa?" or "where is there a big expat community?": I look at your complete Life Architecture. I tease out the critical daily details that will directly impact your quality of life—sensory considerations, dietary needs, walkability vs driving preferences, social connection styles, core educational values, and more. These are the unseen, often unrecognized things that make a difference between a place that feels like home, and one that just feels wrong.
A bespoke Relocation Blueprint
Whether you’re deciding between countries, narrowing down a region, or have already chosen your destination and need help identifying the right neighborhood, I map your unique profile and immigration needs against candidate regions, distilling endless global options down to a tailored shortlist of 1–2 specific, high-alignment destinations for you to choose from. Not “you should move to Thailand”, but rather “this specific neighborhood in this particular city would be a perfect match for you and here’s why”. Clarity, highly personalized.
Protecting your investment
Moving abroad is an expensive proposition, both financially and emotionally. A carefully considered move can save enormous emotional, practical and financial costs. My goal is to help you get the decision right before you’ve signed the lease, enrolled the children or shipped your life halfway around the world, saving your family from the emotional friction and immense financial cost of having to pack up, correct course, and move all over again.
Ways to work with me
-
Eliminate the guesswork. Find your ideal global destination before committing your family’s future.
Moving halfway across the world is a multi-thousand-dollar decision, both financially and emotionally. Endless online forums, social media trends, and generic "Top 10 Expat Destinations" lists often hide the true reality of living somewhere full-time. We engineer a data-driven, deeply human roadmap that distills global possibilities into 1–2 high-alignment destinations tailored specifically to your family.
What’s Included:
Phase 1: Lifestyle Architecture Assessment: Our flagship, deep-dive questionnaire capturing your family's dynamic, micro-climate needs, budget parameters, schooling priorities, and lifestyle values.
Phase 2: 60-Minute Vision & Alignment Session: A strategic Zoom consultation to review your profile, get to know you and establish your strict non-negotiables.
Phase 3: Global Research & Filtering: Thorough academic-grade comparative research and filtering of possible destinations down to the micro level, mapped against your profile, lifestyle preferences, and visa feasibility.
The Output: The Signature Relocation Blueprint: A custom report delivering 1–2 precise micro-locations globally—complete with school alignment notes, local culture insights, micro-climate breakdowns, and the exact strategic rationale for why they are your best fit.
Optional add-on:
Tailored Reconnaissance Itinerary
A curated, day-by-day immersion plan for your pre-relocation visit, allowing you to experience candidate neighborhoods as a private resident rather than a tourist.
Best For: Executives, Founders, and families with global flexibility who want to relocate intentionally and prevent expensive, stressful missteps before signing a lease or packing up their lives.
Investment: From $1,500
-
A mini version of the Signature Relocation Blueprint, this is for you if you’ve already chosen a country but want help with the details and the how. I’ll take you through step by step, help you choose the right neighborhood, and guide you on what to do and when, from selling or renting out your old home to arriving at your new home.
USD $500
-
A full, white-glove, end-to-end service combining my signature relocation guidance and “where to go” decision making with full concierge services so you don’t have to worry about anything. I work with trusted logistics companies, visa agents, tax attorneys, and real estate agents to handle everything including finding the perfect home, arranging the lease or sale, school enrollment, supermarket location and shopping services, so you can just arrive and start living from day 1.
Who it’s for: Busy executives and families who value time, exclusivity, and flawless execution.
From USD $5000
Meet the Founder
Dr. Erin O’Brien | BA Hons (Oxford), MD, MPA, MA
Designing Life Architecture, Not Just Relocation
Having lived as an expat since age 14, I grew up as a third-culture kid and am now raising my own multi-passport daughter across the globe. With elite academic training and professional experience across medicine, education, and private personal assistance, I bring intellectual rigor and deep lived-experience to high-touch family advisory.
Where traditional relocation firms rely on off-the-shelf city guides, I approach every assignment as a bespoke research project. I know how to ask the precise questions others miss, dissect complex local nuances, and uncover the critical micro-details—school dynamics, community rhythms, neighborhood microclimates, and local infrastructure—that dictate daily happiness.
Having personally experienced both the triumph of finding an ideal home and the acute friction of moving to a location that looked perfect on paper but felt completely wrong in practice, I understands the real emotional, logistical, and cultural stakes of global moves. My personal journey culminated in discovering my own ideal sanctuary—an experience that proved just how transformative true location precision can be.
Academic Rigor & Research Precision
I combine this lived empathy with world-class research capabilities. My diagnostic inquiry model draws from an elite and extensive multi-disciplinary education across four leading global institutions:
University of Oxford: BA Hons in Modern History: Foundational training in critical analysis, complex problem-solving, and rigorous research methodologies.
University College London (UCL): Advanced study in a primary global capital, fostering an expansive view of cross-border environments.
Emory University: Medical degree (MD) training, instilling a diagnostic approach to uncovering hidden variables, assessing risk, and synthesizing non-obvious data.
New York University (NYU): Further graduate education in global strategy and organizational frameworks.
“We knew we were ready to leave the UK, but after months of thinking and looking and planning, endless spreadsheets and sleepless nights, we still didn’t know where was right for us. Erin made it so much easier! She asked questions we’d never even thought about, walked us through step by step, and we ended up somewhere that felt like home from day one.”
— A.H., London, England