Enjoying the journey, not just the destination

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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We take many planes to reach international housesit destinations. They are often very efficient from perspectives of time, cost and connections.

But sometimes we consciously choose inefficient travel option, say where it offers a pleasurable experience. Over the last week, we have travelled over 2,000km between housesits by car and ferry. Long way by most standards, and probably unimaginable to some housesitters accustomed to very busy road (e.g. UK motorways). But the journey was through simply beautiful locations, including twice over the Rocky Mountains! We’ve done long train journeys in Europe that have also been lovely. Sometimes it’s worth enjoying the moment, and the view :grinning_face:

What’s the most enjoyable travel experience that you’ve taken between housesits?

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Looks lovely! On our recommendation our current sitters took the train to us instead of flying. They enjoyed the slower experience.

Personally I love road trips, trains, ferries, etc…flying is my least preferred way to travel but it’s often the fastest.

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I’ve taken trains and planes between sits. In the U.K./Scotland/Europe, that’s easy.

Between sits, I’ve gone to Paris, London, Ireland and other parts of the U.K. Before sitting in Glasgow, I spent a week in Edinburgh and then trained to my sit.

A friend I sit for in Italy let me use her home as a base as well. When we overlapped for weeks, so she was home with the cat, I took a bunch of train rides, as well as bus tours across Italy — Venice (with Murano, Burano, Torcello by ferry), Florence, Naples, Positano, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius, Pompeii, Orvieto, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano and more.

Coming up soon, I’ll sit for her again and when she returns we’ll drive across parts of Italy and take a ferry ride involving Finland, to visit Estonia. Separately, I’ll be taking the “red train” in Switzerland.

Road trip wise, not involving sitting, my husband and I’ve covered the U.S. and parts of Canada over decades. We have an RV, which we take sometimes.

Less than a couple of weeks ago, we wrapped a loop from Oregon down the West Coast, to the Mojave Desert, Vegas, a bunch of national and state parks in Utah, up toward Idaho, including stops to see lands covered by lava ages ago, fossils and more.

I’m sitting in NYC now and plan to visit D.C. after. Then return to Oregon and start another road trip, including Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Custer State Park, Rapid City (South Dakota), Jackson Hole (Wyoming) and the Badlands. We also enjoy Boise (lovely, walkable city in Idaho), so will stop on the way home.

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@Maggie8K, wow - sounds like wonderfully adventurous experiences :+1:.

Seemingly like yourself, then we strive to ‘live local’ in international housesit locations - whether in terms of enjoying local culture, foods, drinks, locations, stuff. As the saying goes - sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know - and travel can open imagination to opportunities that are unplannable. Happy days.

Hope that you continue to enjoy the ride :grinning_face:.

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Yep, the journey is part of travel for us. Worst part is getting from Australia to wherever we are going. Then I am dead happy to be hopping on trains and buses. Worst train trip ever, night train from Yangon to Mandalay in Myanmar. Described to us as riding a pig on a horse on a boat. Kinda not wrong, airborne in my bunk and the squat toilets in total darkness with that momentum was a challenge. And it was a night train so you didn’t see much! Oh well it’s a good story :rofl:

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I usually do only one sit at a time, since I sit only part time. But I like to tack on extra travel to sits. Like I did one in San Antonio, Texas, where I flew there on a one-way ticket, then rented a car and did road tripping toward Dallas, visiting with a friend there, going to museums and flying out of there.

On the way, I stopped in various towns and did sightseeing. Like I visited a distillery that makes whiskey I enjoy, saw an archeological site where wooly mammoths and other fossils have been found and are still being dug up, visited towns with generations-old barbecue joints.

Driving, I travel at my leisure and book hotels live, stays depending on how much I like a place.

The state has what’s known as the Texas Barbecue Trail, which many travelers come for far and wide. The first time I visited even decades ago, I remember German and Japanese tourists sitting nearby, digging into terrific barbecue.

The towns can be charming, with historical buildings and good stories. The barbecue joints are a legacy of German settlers who originally raised cattle. Back then, refrigeration wasn’t a thing and smoking meats helped preserve them. And as it turned out, the barbecue turned out to be a better livelihood than just raising cattle, at least for some families.

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Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren’t no Ten Commandments an’ a man can raise a thirst;

For the temple-bells are callin’, an’ it’s there that I would be

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;

On the road to Mandalay, Where the old Flotilla lay,

With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!

O the road to Mandalay, Where the flyin’-fishes play,

An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

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I think that’s my worst train trip too.

We were lucky we got two compartments for our group of friends and I was even luckier to get a real bed instead of a bunk bed. We had a great time but the journey was tiresome with lots of disruptions because of heavy rain and landslides. It was terribly hot and the overhead fan had a couple of screws missing. I had to choose between being boiling hot or being afraid of having my throat cut by a flying fan blade. I chose not to boil but I barely slept a wink.

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Did the same route some 5-7 years ago, though I opted for a couch. Buses are the best way to travel in Myanmar, I was told. Apparently, the trains are ancient and slow, and I was warned against taking them. However, I imagine it must have been quite an experience

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We had a two berth sleeper. The door rattled so much my husband attempted to fix it and it fell off in his hands! On the upside I can’t imagine ever doing a train as bumpy again. It would have been a long way on the bus @august

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“Only” 9 hours as compared to 18 on the train :wink:

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Haha, we thought the train would be more comfortable I guess :rofl: when I booked it with a local travel agent he said “why? Are you sure?” We said “oh for the experience” yeah it was an experience :wink: ah well still alive and travelling :heart_eyes:

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