I’m very sorry to hear this. I do agree with others that the owners should have a back up plan. All our owners have these plans. They also have plans for their arrival home, for if their travel plans are disrupted and we have to leave. We aim to arrive at least a day early. It’s rare that owners don’t offer us to stay the night before (some a couple of nights). If the time lines are very tight we ask when making arrangements if they have a back up plan.
We had one sit where we missed a flight but still arrived two days early and the owner was still upset because she’d made a lot of plans to show us the area. But she didn’t tell us she’d made these plans until we were delayed! She was still annoyed which we thought a bit unreasonable. For our sit starting tomorrow we are travelling by train on the day a train strike has been declared and we can only get part of the way to the sit (as far as Manchester, about an hour away). We would have taken a (very expensive) Uber if we had to but when we let the owners know and they quickly jumped in and offered to pick us up. Teamwork!
Travel is always vulnerable to problems like you’ve experienced. We can only do our best to mitigate the negative impacts and be understanding with each other.
We travel a lot for pet sits and normally leave at least 24 hour cushions in case of delays. However, we still had situations where a flight and ferry were canceled while traveling within Europe. We learned the hard way sometimes flights only go a couple of times a weeks during low season. We had this happen to us going from Spain to Italy for no apparent reason on a flight and France to England for a ferry due to a storm. We went to all costs and measures to get to each pet sit as quickly as we could and hope travel insurance would reimburse us. With both situations the homeowners were so grateful at our efforts they offered to chip in to help with the additional costs. The Italy sit had to delay their travel and the England sit had a back up plan if needed. We did not accept funds from either of them but it told us they were grateful we were so committed. Both scenarios were very expensive and we did not get reimbursement from insurance. Both pet sits invited us for a return pet sit so did not blame us for things out of our control.
When it comes to travel both parties need to be aware no matter how well you plan and leave cushions, unusual circumstances can still arise. We have paid for a night hotel for our pet sitters flying. We figure if they were planning on coming a day early they might come two days early if we pay for a night. To us it is telling them up front we know they invested in this pet sit by paying for flights and we are invested in them.
As long as you are communicating with the homeowners as events unfold, they are normally reasonable humans. I do discuss a plan B with all homeowners whenever we are flying. Hopefully they were just feeling really stressed about their own travel and responding in a way that didn’t feel supportive towards you.
When I apply to pet sits who have early morning flights and no where to stay the night prior, this is a red flag to me that they really don’t get it. I have to really want to be in that area for some reason to pay for a hotel because they booked their trip without consideration for the challenges/costs to a pet sitter.
Wishing you the best once you arrive and settle into the pet sit. Keep us posted!
This is so unfortunate @sarahmarye — I always arrive the day before to avoid problems caused by travel delays. Nice HOs don’t mind at all (and it’s a HUGE red flag if they do).
Airlines & airports are so scr*wed up these days we cannot rely on their scheduling to happed as scheduled.
This is such a useful thread for this new sitter - I am starting off with fairly local sits (45 mins to 2.5 hours drive from home) before venturing international, so I am learning from you all.
I’d like to add that allowing for the HO return to be delayed is a good idea - my recent HO’s flight was cancelled because of Storm Henk and even though she arrived home only 6 hours late, I couldn’t wait for her to get home because I had an appointment that afternoon. I stayed on as long as I could to walk her dog (a delight!) as late as I could, and on future sits I’ll make sure I have ample wiggle room whatever mode of transport the HO is returning by.
Somewhat OT but could be relevant since you mention wanting to sit internationally - ALWAYS tell the border guards you are there for tourism, do NOT mention housesitting, and for the love of ceiling cat, do not carry the letter that THS provides to show them. If you don’t know what this letter is, enjoy your bliss.
Thank you - wise advice
We’re flying to a new sit this Sunday and I just checked the flight after reading about all the 737 Max 9 planes being grounded in the USA due to last week’s emergency. Sure enough, our scheduled flight is with a Mexican carrier on a 737 Max 9 with the seating configuration that most likely has a plug.
After finding this out, my first step was to purchase seats near the Emergency Exit, on the aisle for a quick exit if the plug blows out. My second step was to book a flight with a different Mexican carrier on an Airbus. I’m pretty sure the first flight will be cancelled and hopefully I’ll get my money back, but even if we don’t we’ll make it to the sit and yes, we’re arriving a day early. Traveling is an adventure, isn’t it?
@AnnieNai very practical thinking. I am not sure that all sitters (myself included) would have thought to check the type of plane they were due to fly on ( but my husband probably would have )
Please let us know how it all works out ?
There are apps or sites where you not only know the plane you’re flying on, they can help you figure out which seats are best in that model.
Hi Silversitters. In annswer to your request, we were lucky but we also had a Plan B. We were flying on a Sunday and Aeromexico cancelled the Thurs. flight scheduled for a 737 MAX 9 and the flight after ours, on a Monday, also a 737 Max 9. We were assigned a different airplane and arrived with no trouble.
We did purchase tickets on a different airline, in case our flight was cancelled, but we didn’t need the backup flight and were able to get a voucher for the cost when we cancelled. We arrived on schedule at the sit on the day of our flight. All’s well that ends well.
Sometimes people will voice their own irritation without thinking of how it will be received. Don’t be discouraged by what you sense the HO is thinking/feeling. Everyone hits bumps in the road.
Definitely not a failure.
Although this may be something to think about for future and ask especially if you’re coming from far away.
I go pretty hard with the planning and preparation so we do an orientation day or two before every sit to allow for time to get sitters used to our dog’s routine but this also acts as a natural buffer for us on the front end of our sits. We also tend to put a buffer on the end just in case we run into issues trying to get home. I think a lot of people do this in different ways but it’s something worth discussing and asking questions about with your HS’s moving forward because these things happen, are no one’s fault, but still can be very unpleasant.
When sitters are in the local vicinity, I’m less worried but tbh, when I know a sitter is flying in from across the world and we are their first stop onto the continent, I am always more nervous and will ask explicitly when they will actually get into the country or on continent and even offer to provide an extra soft landing just to make sure they’re here for the dates we need them, etc. Ngl but we usually defer to people we know are at least on continent already over people who are flying in (not the only consideration but definitely one that comes into play when we’re deciding on sitters).
Sharing this simply so you have an example of one HS/HO’s thought process on either side.
I feel sorry for you and the host about the experience! Also, there are so many useful pieces of advice here that I’ve learned a lot from.
Next month, I am going to sit at a place that’s a 12-hour drive from my home. I’ve planned to drive there over two days and have booked an Airbnb for the journey. The host needs to catch a plane, so I’ll be arriving a day early. They are very welcoming and have offered for me to stay at their place. I guess I’ve just learned how important it is to choose the right host and to plan your time wisely. It’s always good to have some cushion time.
I always arrive a minimum of a day early and most of my host’s have offered for me to stay. I’m starting a sit in Toronto Saturday and arrived yesterday. I booked an airbnb for 2 nights then will be heading tomorrow ahead of sit to the house. I like doing this so the pets can get to know me. I hate being rushed or being late so I’ve made this my practice.