Greetings from the Asheville, NC area - home of weird stuff, many breweries, Bold Rock Cider, and the Biltmore Estate., but I actually live south of Asheville in a sleepy town called Fletcher with my hubby Mark, and our dog Bandit, 15 and cat Boodah, 18.
I joined TrustedHousesitters last month after having enough of unreliable/unavailable and nonresponsive sitters that I would invite for a sit in our home. I was happy to find this alternative. We were very lucky for 3 years with a local sitter that was such a good and trusted caregiver to our little old men. Unfortunately, she moved to Michigan, so the search was on again…and again…and again…
The concept of bringing together people who love to travel and people who need a housesitter is a new one for us. We usually rely on someone local, but even on here that isn’t happening so we are of course trying folks who want to travel to this area to visit. Fortunately, we are in a very desirable location in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It just means having a different sitter every time.
We like to visit the higher elevations in the Smokey Mountains sometimes or head to the beach to Topsail Island (Surf City, NC). We want to plan a 3 week-long trip to Italy sometime once COVID is over so I can visit my grandpap’s ancestral village in Ripacandida as well as AirBnB down the west coast, up the east coast and back around again.
We like to cruise as well - our favorite being a 7 day Alaskan cruise, but while the food is great and you are pampered, you really don’t get a lot out of the ports of call.
We do go to Mexico for a week or two every year or every other year. We are researching expat life there for retirement. Our last trip was 6 nights in Tulum, 4 in an AirBnB in Playa del Carmen, and 4 nights in Cozumel. We had a great time and love the Maya, but it’s time to see other parts of Mexico, like Le Paz, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Queretaro, Oaxaca, etc for a month or two at a time. We are working on our Spanish.
Someday, I want to visit the UK too - I have so many online friends (Genesis fan club friends) there that we probably would not need to get a hotel or AirBnB for a visit.
The 2 bands that I travel most frequently to see are Genesis and My Morning Jacket. My hubby shares no interest in EITHER (LOL) but he doesn’t mind the trips to Mexico for the My Morning Jacket One Big Holiday festivals if it means alcohol and a swim-up bar.
~Gina (Mark, Bandit, & Boodah)
Another thing my hubby shares no interest in! LOL But that does sound like a lot of fun.
) to give us the opportunity spend two weeks in NZ … we had an amazing time, as well as being in the middle of a terrifying earthquake in Christchurch (2011) but that’s another story, anyway the point of this is I have a passion for horses and riding and one of the best rides I have ever experienced is a 3 hour Lord Of The Rings Ride which took in many of the locations where the movies were shot … it is truly breathtaking scenery.
. Met him many times afterwards and have practically lived in the UK thanks to THS. So don’t give up on your dreams, ever. I actually sat a beautiful cat for two women, mom and daughter who went to Japan to see their favorite band!
; the place is beautiful and there are a lot of other places in NZ where you can see sites from the two series, such as Mount Doom. And Milford Sound in the South Island is a must.
