For many, the idea of moving abroad can be tainted by the fear of becoming homesick.

Moving out of your comfort zone and away from your friends and family might even stop you from making the life change you so desire and that is a real shame. Fear not, there may be light at the end of the tunnel if results of a new survey are anything to go by.

Accordingly to an annual survey of 2,000 British expats, 69 per cent think that they have successfully adapted to their new home country. This positive statistic is a far cry from just five short years ago when 68 per cent of those asked admitted to missing their friends and family. Most startlingly though is the fact that not one person admitted to missing the British countryside or our “cultural heritage”. Twenty-six per cent did admit that one of things that they miss the most is their favourite television programmes!

Experts behind the survey commissioned by NatWest International Personal Banking believe that the reason less people are suffering from homesickness can be attributed to significant advances in technology. Video-calling service Skype, Facebook and other social media tools mean that people are finding it much easier to stay in touch.

Ben Taylor of the PortugalBuyingGuide.com explained to us the fundamental role that technology has played in lessening the feeling of missing friends and family when he first moved abroad: “In the early days of moving to Portugal, homesickness did rear its head on occasion – often when photos of a social event appeared on Facebook and all of our group had been there except for us! It’s a thing of the past now – we feel distressed and homesick for Portugal when we have to visit London nowadays! Between Facebook, Skype and people visiting us, we don’t feel like we miss out one bit”.

CyprusBuyingGuide.com writer Lucie Robson tells us how it was technology that helped her help with homesickness even in the days before Skype: “I found that having a regular time to call family and friends back home really helped in the adjustment of being in a new country. Just knowing I would be speaking to my loved ones at a routine time got me through many a homesick week at first.”

Alexis Goldberg of the FranceBuyingGuide.com explains how she managed to avoid feeling homesick. “The fact that France is so close to the UK means that friends often pop over for a visit and we enjoy fairly frequent short visits back too. It’s so easy to stay in touch now with Skype, instant messaging and cheap phone calls, you are so busy chatting to your friends that you don’t have a minute to consider the distance between you”.

Technology having improved as much as it has means that expats no longer feel so isolated from all their loved ones. Homesickness is becoming a thing of the past and the fact that 87 per cent of those surveyed think emigrating was the right choice for them demonstrates this perfectly.

For a free guide to moving abroad download The Overseas Guides Company’s free Emigration guide by clicking here.