In 2013 my husband suggested we leave our “very responsible, very high stress” jobs and travel around the world. He was shocked when I said yes! After researching long term travel, I found THS and applied for our first sit in Scotland. We traveled for nine months and had two additional sits in Portugal and Australia. We also used other sites for work exchange and spent time harvesting saffron and olives and working on farms. We visited family, took a cruise to get from one place to another and filled in the blanks with Airbnb’s and inexpensive accommodations. It was glorious.
Since then we’ve tried to do one or two sits per year in order to keep our reviews current. We live in Michigan and our goal starting in 2022 is to housesit during the winter months.
I wonder how many people never ask that question of each other when they both want the same thing Sounds like you had an amazing time… I’m hoping to get involved with grape harvesting now we are living in France, something I’ve wanted to do since my 20s and never managed!!
We joined workaway and got to live with local families in exchange for approximately 5-6 hours of “work” which for us it was fun. We even ended up going back to Italy for another saffron harvest season a few years later. My only advice would be to read reviews because some workaway listings are better than others.
It is a small world! When did you take care of them?
One of my favorite memories is going to the pub and noticing that people brought their dogs in. The next day we took Ollie and Rory with us and everyone knew them!
I’d never heard of house and pet sitting until a friend suggested it as a means for my elderly cat to stay home whilst I travelled overseas. THS looked okay so I joined but had no luck attracting a sitter (I thought my listing was pretty good too, especially compared to some I see each day)! Fortunately I got a lovely sitter through another site who cared for my puss really well.
The seed was planted. Once my puss was no longer with me, I became a THS sitter, and love the life I lead, both here in Australia and overseas (up until last year). I know it’s suggested when starting out as a sitter to apply locally but my first three sits were in England! Nothing like the other side of the world to get initiated into the wonderful world of house and pet sitting!
We were with Rory and Ollie for a few days in August 2019. We too walked to the pub, the MHOR84, with them.
We love taking dogs to the local pub and we realised how lucky we are in the UK that you can take dogs inside quite a few pubs and cafes, even having a meal with them. They are usually recognised and given dog treats by the staff. When we started our overseas sittings, we were disappointed in how many places you could not take dogs, including on public transport.
I agree, the UK is incredibly dog friendly in that way. I remember friends coming over from the US and we took them to a pub. They couldn’t believe how many dogs were sat with their owners! Lots of cafes now have the dog friendly symbol (a big paw print) in their windows (or did pre-covid), and put out treats for dogs, plus water bowls. Like you, we were quite shocked when we started traveling how this isn’t common practice around the world.
Sounds like you had an amazing time… I’m hoping to get involved with grape harvesting now we are living in France, something I’ve wanted to do since my 20s and never managed!!