Hello Fellow Sitters, I have had a great autumn and going into spring with my first sitting season. These have all been stateside in one state.
I understand the THS process and I am ready to adventure in Europe. My inexperience with the geography of areas has been my concern.
I have found there are Planning Maps from travel writers that cover several Cities and Countryside that I want to explore. Have any of you used these before and did you like them as a reliable resource??
Ordered one of the United Kingdom and Ireland maps.
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I am a tech-freak so I use google maps on all of my devices. If I’m going to be without wifi/data, I download the portion of the map (ie all of southern England) to my device so I have access offline.
I’m going to assume this is not a possibility for you?
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Hello, This tip should be shared with the greater Sitter group!! Good one.
Appreciate the tip on using google maps. I would totally do this once in the country for routes and travel modes.
I want a big map on the wall or desk to area plan the overall three months of sits. I am an analysis geek who gets stuff done. (dreaming about 3 months’ worth)
LuvPets
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We also use GoogleMaps, but what might be even more important than geographical distance is how well connected places are to each other. E.g. I have a direct flight from here to Barcelona (1000+ km) for 50 EUR, while we had to travel 10+ hours with BlaBlaCar to visit my partner’s family in Poland (also 1000+ km). In France e.g. even smaller places often have a direct and very fast connection to Paris, so we often went through the capital to get to another small place (on the map it would have looked like complete non-sense).
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As Timmy says, the important thing is to have a sense of what transport connections are like. For example here in Ireland the train network is very minimal and bus services outside the cities are not great either. When you have a sense of where you might be going you could always post here asking people who know the area for their experiences of getting around.
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I agree with Timmy and even though I’m based in the UK I always use google maps (usually pretty good for finding transport, supermarkets and restaurants in a location) and google to see what public transport is like near any potential sit. I also look at the nearest airports and transport from these to the sit (although most of the time HO’s have picked and dropped me off!).
We also use Google Maps as mentioned by @Kelownagurl but I also love the detailed travel maps you can put on the wall and plan routes with. I have one currently for the West Coast of America so I can plan our rough route from San Diego to Seattle. It’s a great way to visually see and plan where you want to be.
We also have many detailed maps for Europe, you should find the one you ordered for the United Kingdom and Ireland helpful and you can then pinpoint specific areas of interest for the various regions. I know you can “Google” almost anything with places to visit, key sights etc nowadays but I must admit I do like travel books, I find them perfect for planning trips and great for reading on the plane and spiking my excitement! 
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@Samox24 yes I’ve often used Rick Steves, Rough Guides, and Lonely Planet Books. They give information on getting around for the independent traveler using pubic transportation, while recommending when a car is necessary. Since it would be expensive to buy all these books I find them at my library (USA) or at used book stores on or offline .
@ExploreDreamDiscover I especially love Lonely Planet books, I am always adding these to my collection! 
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@Timmy I’ve seen blablacar offered as a transportation option. Is it like uber and other ride shares? (I’m a sitter from USA )
Also, I’ve found Rome2rio website helpful for getting transportation option and itinerary planning ideas.
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Blablacar is for long-distance ride sharing. Usually you pay to cover the petrol costs (although some drivers also try to earn some extra pocket money).
@LuvPets we too use Rick Steves his app is amazing especially for Europe. If you or a friend has a AAA membership they also give out free maps to where ever you are going. You just need to go into one of their locations (I think) it’s been awhile since I’ve done this but I am a BIG map fan and collect all kinds of maps and love to have a physical map for trips too other than using Google maps. Last time I went in they were happy to supply me with any map I desired.
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