We drive to most of our sits and we travel with a supply of food etc etc. It always feels weird for me bringing in things to someone else’s home. We are twenty sits in and it still feels weird. Anyone else?
I usually bring in my main bag and stuff for the freezer and fridge. I then wait for the owners to leave before bringing everything else in from my car as, you may have seen from a previous thread that I have a lot of stuff!
Not sure why you feel weird though.
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I have a bunch of stuff for my kid’s move into her campus apt. But her bike, stored at a friend’s, got stolen, so I needed to empty out the back so we could buy a used one, no bike rack with me. And it was truly weird bringing everything in. But only 2 days into the sit.
We are massive foodies and ALWAYS have a ton of food and stuff as well as our usual stuff and have done over 200+ housesits and no never feels weird - its our life so … 
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Totally get it! 
I don’t feel weird, exactly, but I do always feel a bit awkward when it’s the day of arrival & handover, and an owner says we can go ‘settle in & unpack.’ Personally I don’t like unpacking my stuff until after they’ve left, because I always feel awkward if I need to move things around & make space. Whenever this happens, I just go and unpack like 2 things and fluff around for a while 
Then after they’ve left, we ‘bump-in’ as I like to call it (theatre kid… I also call moving out day ‘bump-out day’ )
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Yeah I always do as we tend to bring a fair amount of food items and spices as we like to do our own cooking rather than dine out. I don’t particularly like going grocery shopping on sits so plan meals prior to travelling to the sit and bring food items that I need. I prefer to spend time with the pet(s) and explore the area rather than shopping.
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No. For instance, I brought multiple bags of groceries with me on a sit where I wasn’t sure what was available after the car-ferry ride over. I unpacked them in front of my hosts and they said, oops, wish we’d cleaned out the fridge for you. But it turned out fine. I even offered to have them take some of my snacks with them on their plane ride, because they were flying themselves.
Most of my hosts whom I overlap with actually offer to help carry my bags into the home. Maybe more so, because I sit solo and I’m a woman?
No, I don’t feel weird, but I usually arrive after the homeowners have left. I mostly sit for cats so a personal handover isn’t as important as with dogs.
Yes…and this is just how some of us are ! And, when I leave I go over every inch of the home to be sure that I leave nothing behind - even trash !
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We travel to the majority of our sits by car so pack everything and a little bit extra ‘just in case’!
If we are staying with the hosts on the first evening we take in an overnight bag and our cold food to put in their fridge. The other stuff gets taken in after their departure.
If they saw us unloading the car they would be horrified and think we intended to move in permanently 
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As a sitter who always travels via public transport, I am astonished and amused (and quite impressed) by how much folk in this thread manage to squeeze into their packing for a sit. Who knew!
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I know - seriously impressive.
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I even take my sous vide. How’s that for commitment 
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@Oztravels . . . I’ve just had to google sous vide.
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I even take my husband. Comes in handy occasionally 
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Same same! @Twitcher We only ever bring our fridge/freezer bag & foodie items in directly on arrival. If we’re overlapping the night we’ll bring toiletries and other overnight basics in later -after drinks/dinner etc All the rest- our crates of food supplies, luggage bits, yoga stuff, the hubbies guitars and amps etc we bring in the next day!! 
I.e We ‘move in’ properly after they are safely out of the way!
If we are overlapping at the end we do all that in reverse! I e Everything packed and car loaded before they arrive- just fridge & overnight stuff remains!
It doesn’t feel wierd- it just makes sense to operate like this and helps keep clear boundaries. We usually can’t relax properly till the hosts have gone anyway!
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We ought to make a video and speed it up (like a Benny Hill sketch if anyone is old enough to remember). It would be so funny!
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My husband and I travel pretty lightly even when we are in the US and go to all of our sits by car. We both have a backpack and a carry on suitcase–though I did have a full-size one up until January 2023. And we usually have some food with us, but usually not too much as we only buy about a week’s worth of groceries at a time. Most often it is stuff that lasts awhile like oil and salt.
We usually don’t bring the food in right away unless it is something that needs refrigeration. We eat pretty simply so we don’t have a lot of spices, special cooking equipment,etc…other than a pour over filter thing my husband uses to make coffee in case a place doesn’t have something.
Many hosts have commented how surprised they are that we travel with so little. But we are also full-time sitters without a residence so we don’t own very much.
My own mug. You’d be surprised how many hosts have commented that I bring my own mug.
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I only quoted Benny Hill at a random woman on a bus in Albania yesterday @Twitcher Luckily she understood! (Her video was TOO fast like his) #nostalgicmoment #iamthatoldtoo 
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