Hello @danapez and welcome to the forum and to THS. When you say you live across the pond from England, I’m assuming you live somewhere in North America. You may not want to see areas that are local to you, but there is a vast difference in country, landscape, and lifestyles without crossing the pond. On a more positive note, things do seem to be more encouraging for travel this year, so you’re likely to see more homeowners easing back on their hesitancy to accept travellers from other countries. It’s unfortunately from experience, of the complications that can come about from the unexpected during the pandemic, that made many homeowners (and sitters) more cautious.
You may want to embed your sitter profile in your forum username. Many forum members will be happy to give constructive feedback that may help you tweak your profile. I’ll add the instructions next:
Adding your profile to your forum username
If you have not already asked for references, I’d encourage you to start there. Homeowners will rely on those, until you get your first THS review. Once you start getting reviews, it often makes it far easier to get a sit. Until then, consider sharing related experience that will assure homeowners that you are equipped to care for their home and pets. Also, the reasons why a homeowner selects a particular applicant are so varied that you might still get chosen, even with no THS experience. We all had to start somewhere.
It is a good idea to make your first sit a relatively local one. That way you may be able to visit the homeowner in person, which also helps everyone assure that it’s a good fit. You may be pleasantly surprised at learning more about areas that are relatively close to you that you didn’t know much about before the sit. I say that from experience. 
Francine,
Voluntary Forum Moderator