A new chapter after 4 years of full time pet sitting šŸ¾

Meet-ups & Travel
1

Life is all about stages, I guessā€¦ and I think we might be coming to the end of one of ours. :blush:

My husband and I have just realised that weā€™ve been full-time pet sitters for 4 years. Four years! We honestly canā€™t believe it.

When we started, the plan was 3 monthsā€¦ 6 months maximum. And here we are, four years later!

Weā€™ve had such an amazing time. Weā€™ve spent time with some incredible pets, met so many lovely people and stayed in some really interesting places. Weā€™ve absolutely loved this way of life.

But weā€™re starting to feel that maybe we need to stop for a little while. Weā€™re thinking about spending the winter in the south of Spain, staying in one place and renting an apartment or something similar.

And hereā€™s the funny partā€¦

One side of me is already thinking ā€œOh my God, am I going to get bored staying in the same place?ā€:joy:

But then, after four years of moving around and basically having our next sit to look forward to, I suddenly realised I have no idea where to even start looking for a rental!:joy:

Itā€™s not really long-term, but itā€™s not short-term either, so weā€™re in a bit of a strange in-between situation.

I was wondering if anyone here has gone through the same thing, going from full-time pet sitting back to something a bit more ā€œnormal.

How did you find it? Did you enjoy having a base again, or did you miss moving around and travelling?

And, of course, if anyone has any tips or ideas for finding somewhere to rent in the south of Spain for the winter, Iā€™d love to hear them!

It feels very strange after four years of planning our lives around where the next sit is. :joy:

Would love to hear from anyone who has been through a similar transition! :heart:

2

Not really the same as only 15 months, but we travelled solidly for that time, some sitting, but mostly paid stays. After 15 months of moving I was ready to go home. But I do have a happy me base so a definite place with family and friends. It has not been boring to come home. I can imagine maybe you just need some time to totally call your own without the responsibility of sitting.
In terms of places, well so much choice in Spain, we were very impressed with the Asturias when we were there a couple of years ago, but enjoyed many other parts of Spain also. Good luck.

3

Whoops, just re read south of Spain and winter, so not the Asturias.

4

I was never a full-time nomad, but have been travelling excessively for the same amount of years, over 4 years now actually. Feel like I am coming to the end of the road as well, as it is getting too lonely and tiring. Changing my mindset to someone who stays at home and has a life in one place is an ongoing process, though.

I hope it goes well for you, I trust it will help that there are 2 of you going through the same thing. I have mostly been travelling alone with my partner joining occasionally.

5

I think you may get bored, to be honest.

We are not nomads and have always had our lovely home as a base. We have been house sitting for nearly 17 years and keep thinking we have had enough of packing and cleaning.

We had a strange feeling yesterday as, for the very first time, our dashboard is blank, nothing planned. Before the day was out, I applied for one for next year.

So, I am wondering whether your funds will allow you to apply for some short ones but use Spain as your base?

Each winter, we have a holiday in the Canaries but are always looking at the dogs walking by, missing them already! Perhaps you can find an animal shelter once you find your base and help out there.

We use Airbnb and Booking.com for apartments so have a look to see if there are any reasonable long term rates. @Colin is an expert of Airbnb and may be able to help.

Good luck

6

@Itchyfeet My dashboard currently has one remaining sit plus my current one. It used to be full for months ahead.

7

Same here, one short local on site sit in a couple of weeks and the next two are repeat sits off site so not on the THS calendar.

8

You could always change your mind if you get bored. You also could sit and have a home, like many of us do.

If affordability is an issue, maybe you could Airbnb or sublet your home for stretches.

Once, when I was moving to somewhere unfamiliar for a new job, I sublet several places for a total of about a year, so I could familiarize myself with the area before buying. I walked into each place with just clothing and my tech gear ā€” my hosts had left all their stuff for me to use. You could sublet out in such ways, too. My various hosts were traveling or teaching at another university for a semester.

9

Following your post closely. My partner and I have been petsitting full-time for over 6 years, and we ā€˜dreadā€™ the moment that we will want/need to stop.
We have exactly the same questions: where are we going to ā€˜settleā€™ and wonā€™t we get bored?
Let us know how it goes! :grinning_face:

10

Hahaha, itā€™s funny you mentioned Asturias! We love northern Spain and were also considering Galicia or Asturias, but we thought that for the winter, it might be better to head south.

11

Snap, weā€™re the same. We started with the intention to just do the odd sit here and there, but within 3 months we were sitting full time, and after 3.5 years we were happy and content until the last month, and since weā€™ve been sitting weā€™ve had an amazing time, although we arenā€™t stopping sitting, weā€™re just going to mix/balance/change how we travel.

Long story short, over the past month weā€™ve ended up doing a handful of really short sits one after another (away from THS), and I think thatā€™s what ended up making us ā€œwant a breatherā€, because we find the shorter sits less relaxing and way less fun, itā€™s the slow travel aspect of THS that we loved.

So, for our sits weā€™ve got planned for 2027 are great, because 4 out of 5 of them are repeat sits so we love those pets/places anyway, and the 1 new sit is in a great location with a gorgeous cat, so more relaxing anyway.

And, 4 out of 5 of them are 2.5 weeks or longer, and the 1 that is shorter is a return with pets we love in a place we love. So thatā€™s great too.

Weā€™ll still return to sit those pets weā€™ve sat for before now and again, but with the rest of our time, weā€™re going to house swap for the odd month here and there, because weā€™re already members of a house swap site anyway.

12

We are at the beginning of our full-time pet sitting journey. Like you, we are starting with about 5 months booked and are not sure if weā€™ll continue. But we were also looking at Spain before we decided on pet sitting.

(Edited to remove link in accordance with our forum guidelines)

13

Welcome to the world of full-time pet sitting!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: And thank you for sharing the link. That place looks really appealing, tbh. Weā€™ll definitely consider it!

14

Thank you for your message. Yeah, I agree it can be tiring and lonely at times, even travelling as a couple. Meeting with friends as a nomad can be a real challenge!

15

Hi @MyrCar

Congratulations on four years, thatā€™s amazing!

I remember when you posted in January about knowing when itā€™s time to give up full time pet sitting, so itā€™s great to see you back with another update.

Please keep us posted on how things are going - after four years full time you definitely deserve a rest on your own schedule! :heart:

Jenny

16

Wow, 17 years is a big number! Weā€™ve been pet sitting for 10 years in total, 4 of those as full-time pet sitters.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share some ideas for the transition. :heart: We will miss being around animals for sure!

As for Airbnb and Booking, I try to avoid them as much as possible for political reasons, which I know will probably make our lives a little more difficult! I trust weĀ“ll find a place somehow! :crossed_fingers:

17

Wonder how well Craigslist would work nowadays.

I sublet many years ago, before Airbnb, Booking and such were a thing. Back then, I used Craigslist. It was straightforward and every listing I pursued turned out well, with legit people who were easy to partner with. I took a job and knew no one in the U.S. South, had never lived there before.

Even more ancient memory, because Iā€™m old enough to remember before the internet took off: I found my first roommate/landlord out of college via classified newspaper ads, which were in print. :joy: I found him over the weekend in a part of the country new to me, because I started a job the week after graduation.

18

@Maggie8K I am also that old. I remember I found a room in a shared house to rent from a classified newspaper ad when I moved to a new town.

19

yes! Same timeline as yours, 10 years, 4 years full time. In April, we didnā€™t renew, because of the fees. I got SO sad, depressed for weeks. Nothing to look fwd to, no pups and kitties to meet in the future and no more of that life I craved so much. Iā€™d look at dogs in the street and immediately got super emotional. Since then, Itā€™s been ok, but boring. Just normal life I guess.

We know well the Fuengirola and Velez Malaga area, and if costs are important for you, Iā€™d look into the Costa des Sol Oriental, Torre del mar, Torrox, Nerja, etc. that tends to be cheaper than the Costa del sol Occidental. No trains though only buses! Oh and I would look at Idealista EspaƱa for short term rentals off season. They arenā€™t as straight fwd as airbnb and booking, but in the winter, they might be.

Let us know how you get on!

20

Craigslist very American based, each country seems to have had their own version in the past, gumtree in Australia, trademe for New Zealand for example. Perhaps someone can advise the Spanish equivalent? Or the old fashioned letting agent.