Hi, all - I’m retiring in December 2024 and I plan to travel the world, with Trusted Housesitters as a major part of the plan. I know there’s a lot of info in this forum re getting started, but I’d like to chat with someone directly who has done something like this - - to develop a strategy for initial and advanced planning
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Hi there
House-sitting full time for 10 years. Happy to help. Just shoot me a message in my inbox
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We sit as a couple, we’re in our 50’s and 60’s. We just started sitting last spring but loved our first sit so much that we ended up sitting full time pretty much straight away. Now we’ve completed 20+ sits, and we love our life with new found furry friends.
You’re more than welcome to drop me a message if you like. xx
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I retired December 2022. This is what I did last year:
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Woah! How do you travel? How
much do you take? 
Thanks so much for responding.
My plan is to house sit pretty much full time. My goal is to travel the world in segments and to drop back home in between.
I’ll be 65, not sure if one of you is as well. If so, how did you handle the health insurance?
I welcome any and all advice on how to get started? How far in advance should I sign up for THS and how far in advance to begin securing sits?
Laurie
Thanks so much for responding.
Are you over 65? If so, how have you handled health insurance?
How far in advance should I sign up for THS and how far in advance to begin securing sits? Were your sits consecutive? I’m thinking of traveling the world, but in segments, and dropping back home in between.
I will take any and all advice on how to get started!
Thanks for responding!
I will be traveling alone for the majority of the travel, would like to do longer sits. My goal is to explore the world, trying to figure out how to do so with consecutive sits. I’ll drop back to the US in between segments of travel.
I travel very lightly. All I need are the basics and I’ll wash along the way.
Can you tell me where you’ve traveled and how you approached it?
How far in advance do I need to sign on to THS and begin to secure sits?
Are you over 65? If so, how have you managed health insurance for overseas needs?
Laurie
Many sitters find that their applications for overseas sits are not successful until they have a few THS reviews on their profile.
Therefore it can be good to start out by applying for a few local sits so that you can accumulate some reviews .
Applying for sits that are several months ahead can be helpful if you want to get cheaper flights . However, always have a Plan B for accommodation incase the sit is cancelled.
Something to consider is if your planned itinerary includes Europe and you are not a resident of the EU. You can only spend 90/180 days as a visitor in the Schengen area .
So this needs careful planning.
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@ljhuber Welcome!
We did the same thing as you’re planning about 18 months ago. We have sat all over Europe and New Zealand throwing in a couple cruises, vacations, and visiting friends and family. We didn’t adhere to the commonly recommended path as we didn’t “do local sits to get reviews” and we started out sitting in Europe(we’re from the US). We’ve had great results and are booked up well into August along with a 3 month sit near the coast of southern England next Jan-Mar.
Feel free to message us as we enjoy sharing our story and any tips we can pass on from our experiences.
Dan and Nan
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Thanks so much for reaching out.
Great advice on getting a few sits under my belt. I’ll
make a plan to do that in the time leading up to the big launch!
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I am also new to using this site, though have house and pet sat for friends and family, trading services. I am not retired at 58, just taking a break, and can do some remote work part time. I also have some of the same questions as @ljhuber. Im in the U.S but would like to start sitting in Europe in the next couple months. I see great tips here. Some say stay in states to get some reviews but the other couple @Danandnan said they traveled to Europe from the start. I am open to either way. But Ideally would like to travel Europe for a couple months sitting full time. Need tips on finding info for travel by rail, bus or any way other than air travel. I would like one flight over and back for financial reasons. Thanks for any info or tips.
For train travel www.seat61.com is an excellent starting point.
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Welcome @Clever
Homeowners are often willing to pick a sitter up from nearest airport/ train or coach station .
Flixbus can be a cheaper way to travel between cities .
The U.K. has more sits available than sitters so that can be a good place to start in Europe. London sits are popular and get snapped up quickly but there are lots of other lovely cities to visit in U.K. . ( for example Oxford, Bath)
THS Tip -When using the THS search function to find a sit -sort by distance - as the results that come up may be an hours drive or more away from the city you are searching for .
Always have a Plan B for alternative accommodation as sits occasionally get cancelled due to exceptional circumstances.
Enjoy your house sitting adventures and please report back to the forum about how it’s going, it is inspirational to read about other sitter’s experiences.
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Thank you so much for these valuable tips! Looking forward to my new adventures and will be using this forum a lot!
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Thanks so much for the link. Bookmarked it! 
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Hello
I am new to TH and not sure how to navigate the whole thing
How can i make sure that i can see my preferences as soon as they are posted
Can I post somewhere where I want to sit and dates ?
I realize I don’t know what I don’t know.
I’m going to Europe in July and would like to travel around by doing some house sits. How can I indicate my available times and locations?
Karen
@Karen65
Hi Karen
As for notifications, you can save certain search parameters and you will get a notification any time a sit that matches that criteria gets posted. You can set just a particular location with no other criteria, or you can get more specific, such as a particular location within a specific date range. You can also specify certain pets,etc.
These notifications aren’t in real time however, meaning you won’t get them the second a matching sit gets posted. I have always set notifications on the app and it appears they come hourly. If you set these notifications on the website, you get them through email and not sure how frequently they come. Also, I believe the most basic level of membership only allows a limited number of saved searches while higher tiers offer unlimited.
Personally I don’t find this feature that valuable, not only because the notifications aren’t in real time, but because of the rule where a HO can only get 5 applications at a time before a sit goes into ‘reviewing status’ If the sit is in a popular area, by time you get notified it may already be ‘in review’ and you cannot apply. And if you are looking to go to areas that aren’t as popular, getting the notifications isn’t as important since there probably won’t be much competition. I personally plan to downgrade my membership next time it is up for renewal because one of the main reasons I upgraded was for the unlimited saved searches. But now I don’t find this feature useful at all.
You can also ‘favorite’ sits that are not currently active, or are active but you can’t do those particular dates, and you will get a notification if the homeowner posts a new listing. And homeowners who have a premium membership can see who favorites their listing. This opens up the possibility of getting invited directly by them for a future sit though not sure how often this happens.
There really isn’t any way to indicate where you would like to sit and when, save putting this information in your profile. You can change your location to somewhere you would like to be, allowing you to show up in the search for local sitters. Same goes for changing your location to where you are currently sitting if you would like to get more sits there.
For example, I booked a sit in Costa Rica for next month and as soon as it was confirmed, I changed my location to there since that is where I will be when my schedule opens up again I and would be open to staying longer. I did get one invite so far but I wasn’t available for the dates they needed. This strategy isn’t really anything to rely heavily on though.
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You cannot indicate that, you need to look yourself. In the web interface, click “Find a house sit”, and zoom in on where you want to go:
Apply filters for July and look what is there. You can also save that search which will generate a daily email with new listings.
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Thank you to all the members here that replied to my post with such great advice! I decided to apply for sits in my state to start since there are so many beautiful areas I want to explore while gaining valuable experience as a sitter, and hopefully some great reviews lol! My goal is to travel to the west coast and then to Europe soon, but in the meantime I have confirmed 5 sits between April and June in my state. I will post updates about my experiences. Appreciate the valuable advice from everyone!
Sincerely, Celina
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