Hi everyone !
This is my very first post although I have been a member for quite some time (since my age started with a 5, ha ha )and have enjoyed reading posts on this forum since it started.
For some time I have been thinking about how THS has changed my life for the better and I have decided to share this with you all, as I suspect others have had the same experience.
I started out as both a pet owner and a sitter. My first (cat) sitters were a wonderful couple and I was able to holiday in peace knowing they would look everything just as I would. In fact, they stayed on for a few days after I got back and we had so much in common and we got on so well. This was the start of a wonderful friendship, that has seen us keeping in touch and even meeting up in other places around the globe as our calendars allowed.
In between times I sat a wonderful Labrador, for a lovely American couple, which led to my getting my own Labrador girl, as I loved the breed so much (I had finally retired and my dear cat had passed away). We also hit it off, and we now say that their dog has a European step-sister 
Most recently, my cat-sitting friends retired to sunny Spain and, as I had just retired myself, I thought it would be great to escape the European winter for few months WITH the dog. My friends researched their local rental market and now I am writing this from the sun room of my beach-side rental, as the dog waits rather impatiently for her morning walk on the beach, before we all go to the market together.
Thank you THS for enriching my life! Don’t get me wrong, I was always happy with my life before and my own adventures, but THS has truly enabled me to travel more than I thought would be possible and-most importantly- to meet like-minded souls who have also become good friends! THS confirms my belief that there are more good people in the world than bad, and that pets and pet owning do/does not respect international borders 
Kate
What a fabulous story.
Hi @KateY
A warm welcome back to the forum, and thank you for sharing your lovely story with us.
It never ceases to amaze me the connections we make through house and pet sitting, as well as the lifelong friendships that you make along the way.
Spain is a wonderful place to escape the harsh European winters, and may you and your labbie girl continue to enjoy every moment.
What a fantastic post @KateY !
Thanks for sharing your story with us @KateY. You brought warmth and sunshine into all our lives today!
Truly a life changing experience, and 
agree that finding THS has enhanced so many lives. Thanks for sharing the story of your journey!
I know exactly how you feel, especially today.
Separate post coming to a forum near you soon.
Enjoy and best wishes
@KateY - Totally agree. We have just joined, have accepted our first sitter and already we feel our lives have changed. In only two weeks we have met two couples that seem amazing and we are so excited about future travel both as HO and eventually sitters. Having heard about this service/community, our daughter and fiance are already considering being sitters themselves. I have found that as I have gotten older I have become more jaded and cynical about humanity. Since joining THS I am already feeling more positive having been reminded there are still good people out there. Just reading all of the profiles made us realize how many like minded people are out there and this forum has shown how big this community is. Thanks for your story :o)
Such a win win for all involved
Thank you for sharing your story @KateY. I started out in a similar way to you and now just love my life as a home and pet sitter.
I love this! One of my closest friends is a fellow dog lover I met while we were both away from our home countries. We’ve kept in touch for years now and have met up several times to travel together. I look forward to getting to know amazing people through THS and expanding my network of animal-loving, traveling friends!
Inspiring!
Absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t agree more - The whole reason my husband and I got our dog Zorro (an English Springer Spaniel) is because we fell in love with one we sat for years ago and Australia. We are still good friends with the owners and can’t imagine our life without Zorro. I never would have thought that all those years ago sitting for that springer would one day lead to me working for THS…life is funny that way. Yes THS has very much changed my life too and in more ways than I can tally.
I’d love to see a photo of your lab! All my neighbors have Labs and I love playing fetch with them. So eager to please 
I love this so much! Thank you for sharing
Oooh! You only need ask and I will sort through my hundreds of photos of her 
!
Here she is at a roadside stop during our three-day drive to Spain.
Beautiful!
All of this is so true! We love experiencing the wonderful adventures that have come our way since joining THS
Hello @Bmwoods and welcome to the Community Forum and thank you for sharing your experience of THS 
Do you have any favourite destinations you love to house sit or do you have any new destinations on the horizon where you would like to go? 
Hi Samox24,
We will be exploring a few more US cities - Tuscon, San Diego and San Clemente sits are scheduled…then we are very excited for our first venture international!
We are heading to London, UK mid Sept 2023, then making our way through Portugal and Spain. London is a short stay- maximum 1 week. It is our first visit so we will have lots to explore, and will probably not be looking for a sit - however if we are anywhere near to you maybe a meet up would be possible
We will be looking for sits while in Portugal or Spain (Porto, Lisbon, Madrid & Barcelona, Malaga & Marbella are all on our list)…and pretty much anything in between. Exciting adventures ahead!!
@Bmwoods It sounds like you have many exciting destinations planned for your travels and sits! Most definitely we would love to, we are very near to Oxford so we can easily get in to London to meet up with you if we are around in mid September… I never quite know where we will be that far ahead! 
Enjoy your travels 