Hello and Happy New Year from Austin, TX!

Hello everyone!

I’m Sara. I currently live in Austin, Texas but am from Minneapolis, Minnesota originally. I was a member of TH back for a year in 2017/2018 and have just rejoined. I’m happy to be back and looking forward to becoming an active sitter with TH. I would love some feedback on my profile. I am planning to give up my apartment this year and hit the road in search of a new place to call home. I am most excited about a big New England (USA) and Northeast Canada adventure starting in August. Hoping to cobble together a schedule of TH sits and staying with friends along the way.

Have a great day everyone!

Sara

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Welcome (back). To me, as another sitter, your profile looks great. I did take a look at your www site and none o the photos loaded. Did you sit some wolfhounds in Ireland? Sam, about 180 lbs lived with me in St Paul, Minn and Southern Calif for about 8 years and he was a delifght. From the days of film cameras and I’ve not digitized the pics. Elephant pics - I spent about a week at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center with SoonSok. Had a wonderful time,
tom

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Hi Tom -

Thank you so much for taking a look at my profile and for the feedback on my website. I haven’t ever heard that the photos didn’t load so I wanted to ask a couple of questions about that if you don’t mind. Were you using your phone or a laptop/desktop? Have you run into that issue with any other websites lately?

How wonderful that you had a wolfhound! They are gentle giants and I would love to care for one (or more) one day. Glad you got a chance to hang out with the elephants, too.

Sara

Hi @SaraY
Welcome back to THS!
Your profile reads well and the pics look great. I haven’t read your website.
My only suggestion would be to add a more recent reference as it’s a while since you’ve housesat.
Good luck! Your plans sound wonderful and it’s entirely possible!

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Thank you, Smiley! That’s a good suggestion to ask for more updated references. I’ll get on it!

Sara

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You’re welcome. We’re here for each other :grin:

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Hi @SaraY,

and welcome back! I had a look at your profile and I too would recommend asking one of your recent homeowners to come over to leave more recent references. As for your website all the images loaded just fine and quickly for me. I am on a desktop using safari. Wow so many cute furry friends you’ve made. Please come back and post on "Who’s on a house sit now?" topic when you’ve got your next sit booked!

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Thank you, @Kelly - I appreciate it! Glad to hear you didn’t have any trouble with my website. I’ve reached out to some clients to ask them to submit reviews to TH. I’ll let y’all know when I’m on my first (since rejoining) sit!

Sara

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Hello @SaraY firstly Happy New Year to you and welcome back to the wonderful world of TrustedHousesitters! :slightly_smiling_face:
Your profile looks great, I love the photos, especially your opening photo :dog:
Whenever I think of Austin I start thinking of Rainey Street and all the fabulous live music and food! :notes:… must get back there soon I think :sweat_smile:
You will certainly have fun during your travels in New England and Northeast Canada, both equally beautiful and I am sure you will find many wonderful sits along the way! Are there any particular places you are most looking forward to visiting when you are there? :slightly_smiling_face:

@Samox24 Thank you! Austin has changed so much since I first moved here in 1993. My ex-husband owned a condo at the end of Red River at The Villas on Town Lake one block from Rainey Street back when the area was all tiny cottages. We moved to San Francisco in 1999 and rented the condo to two very high maintenance/destructive tenants for a year before deciding we didn’t want to deal with being landlords and selling it. The whole complex sold out to a developer about five years ago.

I don’t have any specific plans yet but I’ll be traveling from Minneapolis - Traverse City (friend lives there) - Toronto - Montreal - Niagara Falls - Syracuse (friend lives there) - Quebec City - Prince Edward Island (want to do the PEI walk) - Nova Scotia (sister renting a house 4/15-9/30). From there I’ll bounce around Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I have friends in Eastport, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If you have any suggestions for things to do/see, let me know!

Sara

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@SaraY sounds like a fabulous trip! :smiley: … I always love visiting Niagara Falls, I find myself mesmerised every time I visit!
When you are in Massachusetts you should try and visit Rockport, certainly one of the best quaint beach towns. Also nearby you have Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea and Salem.

Some photos from one of our visits to Rockport, MA.

Another great place to visit is Burlington in Vermont. In Downtown Burlington you will find Church Street Marketplace where you will find historical architecture, year-round festivals, music and plenty of places to shop and dine.

I also love the covered bridges in Vermont. The bridges were roofed and enclosed to protect the wooden structural elements from the weather, which in Vermont can be quite harsh.

I took this photo in Arlington, Vermont.

There are so, so many places I could recommend for your entire journey, I think they will all require individual posts on here! :sweat_smile:
Anyway I hope these couple of ideas help to give you food for thought for your forthcoming travels in the meantime. :slightly_smiling_face:

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@Samox24 Thank you so much for these great suggestions and the photos! I looked at your profile - love that you live in the UK and have all these suggestions for New England! I just followed you on instagram.

Sara

We are also from the UK and love Montreal and Quebec City. If you search on here I think there was a thread where someone asked for advice on whether to visit Montreal, Quebec City or Ottawa. There could be some good information on there. We’ve also enjoyed visiting Niagara Falls a couple of times, and Toronto but all a few years ago.

@Samox we’ve been to Gloucester and Salem Massachusetts. One of the fun things about visiting New England is getting to visit all the towns named after places in the UK. Gloucester UK is just down the road from us! I think we must have missed Rockport Massachusetts though. One for another trip.

Another Rockport that we really liked and that might fit into your itinerary @SaraY is the Rockport in the 1000 islands region on the St Lawrence River between Toronto and Montreal.

I think we need to start spreading our housesitting wings further afield soon and revisit some of these places with the children this time!

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Thank you, @Debbie for the suggestions and the tip about searching the forums. I hope you get to spread your wings soon!

Sara

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Same here in New Zealand @Debbie. Before the pandemic I visited Cheltenham, across the water from Auckland City. It has a beach, so very different to our Cheltenham! Lots of the streets in New Zealand are named after English cities. Personally I prefer the Maori names for towns and streets, although they can be tongue twisters! :joy:

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