At last, your life-long dream has come true. You’ve packed up all your possessions and finally said goodbye to the UK to live a long-awaited life in Southern Cyprus. But what happens next? How do you deal with the mixed emotions that will follow? First and foremost, you need to realise that after feeling euphoric, it is quite normal to start having the strangest feelings, often those of loneliness.

Missing family and friends tends to be top of the list, as does lack of familiarity. Moving house in the UK is stressful enough. Emigrating is a totally different experience. Remember, it is perfectly normal to have highs and lows.

When I first emigrated, I found supermarket shopping one of the first things to resolve. Initially, it was quite difficult and time consuming and involved a lot of trial and error.

What I suggest you do is go and walk around the main supermarkets to get a feel for them and compare prices. While you are doing this, remember anything imported from the UK has a duty on it, so is usually quite expensive. However, there are expats who have set up shops selling UK goods and they are usually half the price of the local stores, so do try them.

You may want to find a local doctor and dentist fairly quickly, get your internet connection up and running and of course, get your car taxed and insured.

One of your priorities will obviously be keeping in touch with family and friends. They will want to know how you are getting on, so call them and send pictures of your fantastic new life. If you all have computers, you might want to think about using Skype to do this. It’s free and very simple to use.

Quick tip - bear in mind that most people in Cyprus use mobile phones instead of land-lines because they are so cheap. If you do have a landline installed, remember to put the prefix 1018 before any UK number you dial from Cyprus to get a cheaper rate. Please note, this only applies to calls from landlines.

Once you’ve dealt with your priorities, forget the rest of the paperwork and immigration processes just for a few weeks. Cyprus authorities are quite relaxed about this - it’s not like the UK where you have strict deadlines to meet all the time.

Emigrating is exhausting; there are so many changes to cope with. Don’t underestimate how tired you will feel. Use your break to fully explore the area where you are now living and have some fun. Sit and read books around the pool, swim, go to the beach and relax. Rest assured it won’t be long before you get bored with all this – it’s a novelty at first!

Now we come to making friends. In Cyprus this is so easy – far easier than the UK, because everyone has much more time on their hands. The way of life is very relaxed. For example, it’s not unusual for lunch to last three or four hours. Nothing is hurried. This takes some getting used to, but once you get into it, you’ll never look back. And with a much less stressful life, you will feel better too.

There are an abundance of different clubs and activities you might like to join, such as walking, biking, tennis, golf, swimming, arts and crafts, computer clubs, darts, football, flower arranging, boules, yoga … the list is endless. Expat clubs are a good starting point too; they offer very helpful advice when you are new to the island.

Once you’ve had your month off, then it will be time to continue with all your paperwork. Make sure you have everything in triplicate - as the local government offices are renowned for losing documents.

Final tip - never part with your originals!