Any full-timers here? How are you maintaining your lifestyle?

Sitters
#1

We completely sold up to live a nomadic life over 5 years ago. Covid has obviously made things more difficult, and I wonder how other are managing to continue house sitting full-time through the pandemic. Do you still have homes or other fall-back accommodation?

We thought about reinvesting in property, to provide a base, but neither of us relish home ownership again at this stage. Instead we’ve been converting a van to a camper over the past 2 months. This will give us a mobile home for between sits (it has solar power and large water containers), flexibility to stay on a driveway overnight for the handover or handback period for situations where this might be required, and give us somewhere to stay in event of cancellations.

It does however limit the type of sits we can take in terms of van space.

How are you keeping your house sitting travel lifestyle alive and manageable? Are there any other members who also have a campervan, RV or motorhome?

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#2

We also quit our old lives around 5 years ago to have a bit of an adventure and are still going. We backpacked and travelled for a couple of years before discovering housesitting and have now completed around 40 or 50 sits I think.

We also have no home but in addition to that don’t have a car either so it’s public transport and on foot all the time.

The pandemic has made it tough with multiple sits cancelled but we’ve managed to find a couple over the summer and have a few lined up for the rest of the year. Any gaps have just become opportunities for adventure so we’ve planned a few UK trips of our own. Currently on a 12 day road trip exploring parts of England that we’ve never visited and it’s great.

I think the key is positive thinking and never giving up. It’s all part of the adventure isn’t it?

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#3

Hey Vanessa!! Good to see ya in here. I’ve kinda stepped away from FB in the past year, so I’m glad to reconnect here! =)

We’re not full time house sitting at the moment (wah!). It honestly just does not seem that feasible in the U.S. because the distances are so large and there are fewer sits than the UK. I think we might have considered it in the UK, where distances are smaller and there are more sits. But we’re not keen to be flying from sit to sit. House sits have definitely picked up over the summer here, but they have slowed down again as I think people prepare to hunker down for the winter. With all the talk of possible future winter shutdowns, people here are spooked, and we feel like there will be a lot more house sit/travel cancellations in the cooler months. We dealt with cancellations and having to scramble for last minute accommodation at the height of the pandemic, which was super stressful as I think everyone here can probably attest to. So we made the decision to just hunker down for now.

We don’t own property and didn’t wanna go the camper van route (though it definitely does seem very practical). We’ve rented our own place for the time being, and are doing local sits in New York State. Well…we’re open to those, but haven’t done any yet, since there are very few here in the Northeast. I think New Yorkers are very traumatized with how bad things got in NYC, and everyone is being very cautious. We have repeats lined up in NYC for Thanksgiving and Christmas (same sit) and we are excited about that!

So we’re keeping house sitting alive in that respect, also still talking about it w/ others and encouraging them to try out house sitting locally, or to get house sitters to go on local trips. We see this as just another part of the adventure. It’s been really nice to be closer to my family for an extended period of time too, so that’s a definite silver lining. We’ll be excited to get back to full timing sometime next year when things have stabilized a bit more. Very curious to hear from other full timers as well, thank you for starting this thread! :smile:

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#4

So what happened five years ago? We have been full-time for 4 1/2 years. We have been busy and have a six-month housesit starting next month, goes to April. Hoping by early next year we will be able to start planning to go back to Europe. If not we will be looking at sits in New York City where one of our sons lives.

We were in NYC when covid hit on a six week housesit, which was a roller-coaster not knowing when the person we were sitting for could return. Then we spent a month at our sons in Northern California. Since then we have returned to full-time housesitting. The only change is we are only looking at the US sits, since we are US citizens.

So not a whole lot of changes for us, but really hoping to travel internationally again next year.
:smile: :purple_heart: :poodle: :cat2: :airplane:

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#5

A six month sit sounds fabulous, hopefully it could see you through the current uncertain pandemic crisis.

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#6

I think you are right. Full-timers are particularly flexible, adaptable and positive by nature already to live this lifestyle, and that makes a big difference. We had a wonderful time during lockdown and the slow reopening, in a small rental in Cornwall, that rivalled some of our overseas trips. Find the best in the situation eh? Enjoy the little things - we’ve been so lucky to have 5 years of travel and house sitting and gorgeous pets! What part of the UK are you in currently?

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#7

We were meant to be in NYC on a superb house sit when Covid struck! I was disappointed at the time as I’ve still never visited NY, although Ian has. You have so much to see across the USA… I am a little envious!! The UK can feel very small at times, but we are still managing to find places new to us! Fingers crossed for next year !!

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#8

Hi Sam! Lovely to see you here too! I’ve missed you on FB but also wish I could step back from it sometimes!! I’ve been following you online though. We were meant to be travelling to NYC for a 6 week sit as Covid hit and I was hoping we might finally get to meet, but not to be! We are thinking also of heading down through France to Spain in the van to Andalucia and hunkering down, taking any local sits. Ian is not keen on a third winter in the UK haha! I think the theme here on this thread is that as full-timers, it’s the adventure in life we crave, and we are certainly getting that at the moment. Stay safe and sending a big hug x

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#9

Hi, that was so brave of you both. We remember reading your Story, (your first emails at your work😄) it is inspirational. Especially as its just you and your backpacks. Hats off!
Good luck with all your plans (think we sometimes ‘chat’ on Twitter together :blush:)

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#10

Yeah I think we cross-tweet a lot Julie. Is that what it’s called? Probably not. Still wandering around on our little adventure, currently in Shropshire.

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#11

Hi Vanessa, what a great conversation … after seeing Ian’s handy work a camper van looks like the way to go.

We sold our home in Vancouver, :canada: 4 years ago and quite honestly it’s not something I would do again, pet and housesit full time without a home base, but that’s for another Forum discussion.

We’ve been “resident” in one of our daughter’s Airbnb properties since March 27th (not looking forward to the bill :wink:) I’ve continued to work remotely for TrustedHousesitters and it doesn’t look as though that will change anytime soon.

We always recommend full time sitters have a Plan B, as I know you do, but no one could have planned for this pandemic, I think being able to weather it financially is the most challenging add accommodation issues and I wonder just how many full time, of “no fixed abode” sitters/travellers will rethink their lifestyle and future plans.

They don’t all have an Ian Usher!!

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#12

Yes, I thought the timing was perfect. Gives us a chance to regroup and hopefully, travel will be possible again…

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#13

We have a son that lives in NYC, so we try to be there as often as we can. I so hope you get to go next year!! I never get tired of NYC.

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#14

We love it when members share their stories …Jon and Jo @Jon-JWalking found 6 weeks in Hove, Brighton a welcome opportunity to relax, chill and forget there was a world of madness outside.

This sit was also a little “Meant To Be” moment and shows how our community can help one another. I was actually confirmed to do this sit, I had done the same sit last summer and being in Hove allows me to be in the office, this year the office was closed of course and it really didn’t make any sense for me to be there but of course I would never have let the owners down, enter Jo and Jon, it all worked out beautifully a win win win … no pets just LOTS of plants but then Jo has emerald fingers.

Here’s their Hove story: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/blog/stories/housesitting-in-hove-jo-and-jons-story/

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#15

Haha! Cross-tweet, I love it! Enjoy Shropshire. We were getting along nicely camping isle of Skye, great weather, until today :cloud_with_rain:. - realised w are Not Hardy Campers :grin:

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#16

Oh no. Scottish weather can be unbelievably bad. Let’s hope its only a blip.

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#17

Thanks for the lovely write up Angela, it was a wonderful opportunity that we just couldn’t refuse. Hove was a great place to spend the summer. Thanks again for suggesting us.

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#18

I am completely envious of your van, Vanessa! Jordan & I have also thought of going that route or buying a small camper to tow. It’s amazing all of the inspiration online. But, we aren’t handy, and I think having a home base during all of that would be key, which just isn’t in the plans for us currently.

We are back down in the SE of the US, where we spend most of our year, after being “stuck” in London for all of lockdown and then quarantining and staying with my parents in Maryland for a couple of months. We are relieved to be back pet-sitting. We started off planning a lot of repeat sits, which we love, and being that we do so many sits in this area, it wasn’t that difficult, but filling in the spaces has been the challenge. As you said, as full-time sitters, now for 3 years, we are all so flexible and know it will all work out as it should, so we are continuing with that way of life, as it hasn’t steered us wrong.

I will start back working at the hospital in northern Florida in a couple of weeks, which will be something I’ve been away from for almost a year, but I’m happy to help out my fellow co-workers, as they have been heroes through all of this. We are currently booked through til December, just trying to figure out where we want to spend the holidays and finding the perfect sit for that time.

Spending a couple of months with family really brought forth how much we miss time with them. We often get so caught up in booking sits, that we forget to take the downtime to spend visiting loved ones.

Anyway, this has become long-winded, which is something I’m notorious for, but I’m happy to be here with all of you, sharing our stories and getting acquainted even more. Stay safe & keep smiling :smiley:

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#19

We’re currently travelling around Worcestershire, Shropshire and Staffordshire on a 12 day road trip. So many places that we’ve wanted to visit in this beautiful part of the world.

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#20

We had a three week housesit in Hove that was cancelled of course, would have loved to stop by the TH offices, maybe next year. Glad you got a long sit in Hove.

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