Whether you’re moving to a city, town or rural village in Lithuania, Estonia or Latvia, the following five tips should help you settle into - and enjoy - your new life in the Baltics.

1. Neighbours
Introduce yourself to your new neighbours as soon as is convenient, perhaps bringing taking them a gift – they’ll appreciate the friendly gesture and you will at least have made a move to be welcomed into the community.

2. Join social groups
Keeping busy and finding ways to integrate are essential to settling in a new country. Find social groups or join clubs; go to church or pursue a new interest. Meeting new people who share your interests will make life more fulfilling for you. Given the Baltics is not a particularly place for Brits to settle in, there’s likely to be a society where the only qualification you need to be a member is simply to be British!

3. Language
If you haven’t already started to learn the local lingo, now is the moment to enrol in a class! It is very difficult to enjoy local culture and to meet people without even a basic knowledge of the language. No one need worry about making mistakes, just think about language as a communication tool and even if you don’t find languages easy, any effort you make will be well rewarded.

4. Internet forums
Expat forums can be a great source of free information about your new home and since most new arrivals in a country have the same questions, you can be pretty sure that any question you have will have already been answered. They can be especially useful for finding recommended local trades people or service providers.

5. Staying in touch
Make getting a mobile, phone line and internet connection a priority, so you can contact loved ones back in the UK - and they you - as and when you want to. A good idea is to arrange a regular time to contact them so you get into a routine of exchanging news. This really does help during those first few weeks.