Retiring to Northern Cyprus and Making New Friends

The thought of retiring abroad is increasingly on pre-retirees minds nowadays for a number of specific reasons. Firstly, as the state pension in the UK is eroded by ever higher costs of living in Britain it makes sense to examine whether other, overseas destinations can allow for the state or even a private pension to go that much further. Secondly, more and more people are retiring abroad and it is becoming easier to do so.

But with the decision to expatriate in retirement comes a number of issues, concerns and worries. In this article we’ll tackle retiring to Northern Cyprus and making new friends – because with a good network of familial and friendly support behind you, you can do anything!

When you move from the UK to North Cyprus you will no doubt be leaving some of your friends and probably most of your family behind. This can put a dampener on the exciting adventure of relocation...but only if you let it! Getting family out of the equation straightaway, look at it like this – you are going to be living in one of the most desirable, beautiful, laid back, affordable and unspoiled locations in the world. Chances are VERY high that you will be inundated with family coming to visit you throughout the year!

And when you finally need a break from all the visitors, let me guess, you’ll probably get on a flight from Ercan or Larnaca to the UK to catch up with...your family?

Seriously, if you’re planning your retirement in North Cyprus you won’t have time to miss your family because they will be forever visiting you!

When it comes to friends it’s a little different. If your friends in the UK or around the world are of a similar age they too may be thinking of retiring overseas – in some cases close friends retire to the same location and you come across this in Northern Cyprus all the time. This is excellent news. But for those of us who have to retire and leave friends behind or even wave them off to some other equally fascinating, beautiful and affordable location it is important to immediately establish a new base of friends and a new social network.

The best piece of advice we can impart is, get out there, get meeting new people, but don’t assume the first people you meet with be your best friends for life. You have to be a friend to have a friend and so build up relationships slowly and carefully and make sure your friendships are based on common areas of interest, common levels of respect and shared values.

There are many ways to meet new people. There are all sorts of social clubs in Northern Cyprus from the British Residents Society to bingo, badminton, church groups and even darts and slimming groups. Look in the Cyprus Today newspaper, look in the variety of free magazines available each month, pop to the weekly expat markets on Fridays at Pegasus and the Carpenters and find out what’s going on that you might be interested in. Join the choir, join the am-dram society, go to church or take up line dancing. The more actively you socialize, the more you get involved the more you will find moving to Northern Cyprus and making new friends a breeze.