Great, thanks! So, I am wondering, if I have a specific trip or location in mind, can I put it out there to try and find house sits in the area? For example, I would like to travel to New York city at a certain time and am looking to do a house sit with a specific trip in mind? thinking maybe I can not only get a sit but also tips and travel information for the area as well…?
Hi again @Cyndy I’m going to move this to the sitter category because you will get great help from our experienced sitter members and Membership Services around saved searches, as a member you can add your location preferences …
Pet and housesitting is a great travel lifestyle however it isn’t a solution for travel accommodation the commitment to pets and homes is always a sitter’s priority, there are always opportunities for exploring and owners are usually very helpful with their local knowledge.
Applying for sits and being successful as a sitter is as much about the why, as the how and where.
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Hy Cyndi,
Matt and I often use TH to find sits in a particular area at a specific time. That’s how we currently have only a 5-day gap between sits running through November 2021.
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I agree with @Angela_L. Allthough you will definitely be able to explore the city/area you’re in, the pets come first.
We had a 3-week sit in Barcelona, but George, the doggie we cared for, didn’t like to be left for more than 2-3 hours. So, we took him with us on most of our walks/visits. A different Barcelona stay than one where you would be constantly visiting…
Of course this entirely depends on the animal. Cats are usually easier.
Bear in mind that sits in places like London, New York or Paris are hugely competitive, so make sure your application stands out!
Good luck and enjoy!
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Angela: I totally agree that when sitting, pets and responsibilities take priority over sightseeing , but in cases like this, would it be possible for THS to create a space for sitters to do a special listing with their availability and desire to sit in a specific location at a specific time - just like you allow HO listings? For example, If a sitter is looking to visit relatives in an area over the Thanksgiving holidays, but prefers to do a sit rather than be crammed into their childhood bedroom or get a hotel. I love THS, but I would sometimes like to be more pro-active instead of just setting up saved searches and waiting for a homeowner to post a listing in a desired area. We pay the same fee as homeowners, so it would be nice to allow sitter listings, even if we would be limited to a few listings per year. Just a thought…
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Great suggestion and feedback @Southernsitter something for product to look at. Thank you
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@Southernsitter as HO I would totally use that! I’d love to see a list of sitters looking to come to my area, dates, experience, etc. I know it’s on the profiles when you click but I can’t click through thousands of sitter profiles. And I agree, it must be hard to feel like you have any stake in the game, just waiting and hoping 
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@Southernsitter @Shafofo
At first I thought that may be a good idea but now I am not so sure.
I like to see places listed that I have never heard of and then apply. Is there a danger of there being a pool of sitters as you suggest for quite a few listings. The HO chooses someone from the list, sends them private dates and the listing is never out for the public to see.
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There is nothing in my post to indicate I wouldn’t ALWAYS put pets first.
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@Itchyfeet good point. So… not a solution.
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Oh, I never meant this as a replacement for homeowners normal listings. I was just thinking that it would be really helpful for sitters to not always have to be so passive. Homeowners can always choose whoever they want. But as a sitter, I like to visit my hometown periodically and it would be nice to be able to actively post my interest and availability to travel to that specific location.
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I believe you can set up an alert for any specific city, ex. New York. I believe you can even use the filter if say you only want to sit cats in New York. THS would send you an alert if this type of sit and location is newly posted. You can even go through the New York listing and favorite a sit that interests you, if and when it gets listed you would get an alert and can apply, hopefully before too many others do.
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Yep, that’s what we do, in addition to obsessively checking the listings 3-4 times a day as well. 
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I think there are two views. One is the possibility of a kind of “I’m in the area anyway” announcement or “I would like to travel there during this time” announcement.
For the first, I see a possible need, and it could be a help. Maybe there are HO who would like to have the guarantee that the sitter will actually come. This will be the case if the sitter plans to go to the area anyway. But maybe this also helps to find last-minute sitters if something unexpected happens or if a sitter cancels. So it’s not that bad of an idea.
I don’t think it is a competition. The sitter and HO still have to match. In the demands and the period.
There is no advantage if I, as a sitter, want to go somewhere specific at a particular time, but the HOs from the area doesn’t want me as a sitter.
And for the Second, I also think that with THS, you can’t really plan where you will end up. A wish like “I’ll be in London in August 2022” can come true, but it doesn’t have to. For something like that, the competition is significant, and even if dates come up, you still have to be selected. THS is not a travel agency.
Similar thread about this
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I totally agree, as someone who seeks different locations to be near an event or visit, while making the animal a top priority, I would love to be able to advertise my availability.
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Hi @JennJenn welcome to our community forum thank you for joining in the conversation, it’s great to have you here and we can’t wait to get to know you better and share in your THS story so far.
Enjoy the conversations, connecting with members from around the world and welcome again.
Angela & The Team
It was not meant as a complaint, but rather as a suggestion to allow sitters to be more proactive. I love THS and actually said that in my post.
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I woke up today to the most serendipitous reply to an application I made yesterday. Two years ago I had my first overseas housesit, in a very ‘niche’ area on Florida’s Gulf Coast. I loved everything about it, and actually shed a tear when I checked in at Tampa to return to England. Then C19 happened but I’m due to return to that housesit this August (praying …!). Yesterday a HO in the same gated complex posted a sit but as a teacher I cannot make the dates so I messaged the HO anyway and asked her politely if she would keep me in mind for future sits. She replied overnight that she is a near neighbour of the lady I am sitting for and that she knows all about me! In fact she is travelling with my original HO on the August sit! And yes, she will most definitely mark me up as a future sitter. Happy days!
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One thing that did work for me two years ago. I was taking a Transatlantic cruise from Miami ending in Copenhagen. I was to have a week alone (preferably Amsterdam) before taking a train to Paris, meeting my daughter for a few days before we embarked on a week long Bordeaux river cruise. I changed my THS header to read. Location Amsterdam with my dates. The first Amsterdam sit I applied for in De Pijp selected me as she read I’d already be there and I described in more detail and offered to send her my cruiseship booking. It actually worked out great as Amsterdam was my second to last stop, so I actually took my luggage off and dropped it at the HO home, kept a carry on, finished my cruise and was able to jump on a short cheap KLM shuttle with no luggage fees back to AMS to start my cat sit during Tulip Season I might add. Greatest trip ever. I’ve actually been getting facebook memories almost daily from that month long adventure.
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What a great story … and making of FB memories @trekker954
Many sitters especially full time nomads will change their profiles to reflect their current location, when applying for sits.