Thank you! We will reach out when we are in London - enjoy your adventures too!
@Bmwoods Thank you and yes that would be great and hopefully our diaries will align 
@Bmwoods how exciting! I love London (and a week will barely allow you to scratch the surface) but you are going to have a blast seeing all the history there.
We were just in Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra and Nazare Portugal last year. Had a blast but be ready for lots and lots of hilly walks. Knowing you can rest with a glass of Port wine makes it all worth it though!
Please make sure you send us all pics of your adventures. We love seeing our members enjoying their journeysâŚ
Yes we are very excited! and the Port wine (after our hilly walks) sounds delicious!
I do have a question in regards to posting on the forumâŚI completed our profile information, does this mean it will automatically show up in the âIntroduce Yourselfâ topic posts (I do not see it there)or is there something else I must do?
Hi @Bmwoods welcome to the community forum! Thatâs awesome you filled out your forum profile, that will help other members on the forum get to know you better. Your forum profile is separate from the âintroduce yourselfâ section on the forum. We would love it if you introduced yourself there too. Hereâs a post explaining how you can do that.
Happy travels 
I just saw youâll be coming to San Diego! When exactly will you be here? We have a THS member meet up this Sunday and would love for you to join us if youâll be in town then 
Hello everybody, I would like to add my thanks to THS too! I joined a few months ago after my regular house sitter moved overseas. I have now had three house-sitters through THS over the past three months and each sit has been a complete success. The three sitters have all had different personalities but it has been a pleasure to get to know them all. Iâve found the process very enriching, part of the experience of travelling itself. Itâs not always easy entrusting your pet (and house) to people you donât know but I now know from this experience and following the forum (even if I donât post much) that THS has a wonderful community. Thank you and Iâm looking forward to meeting more interesting people for future trips.
@Amanda_France This is so lovely to hear. Thank you for sharing.
@Amanda_France Iâm so glad following the forum helped you get comfortable entrusting your home and pets to strangers. That is a huge step. And Iâm especially glad that your first three sitters were complete successes. Where did you go on your adventures?
@Karen_E, the first two trips were fairly short family visits to Munich and Kent. The last trip was an amazing two week safari trip to South Africa, which really was an adventure 
Hi Julie,
Thanks for the info on posting our introduction - Iâve given it a shotâŚhopefully correctly!
We will be in San Diego from March 17-31st, so unfortunately will not be there in time for the meet up this weekend, however if anything pops up those last 2 weeks in March please let us know!
Cheers, Marian & Brent
THS is amazing in that a common love for animals brings people from all over the world, with different living lifestyles and lives together. Iâve experienced some fantastic people from sitting and got the pleasure of staying in some places I could only dream about staying but without winning the lottery Iâd never get the chance to!
Hi @Bmwoods loved reading your intro and seeing your pictures from your past sits, especially the adorable pig! Sad we will miss you tomorrow at our San Diego member meetup, but I see you will be in San Diego at the end of March. That is PAWtastic! @Kelly and I are planning another San Diego member meetup on March 26th and will post the details for that event very soon. We hope you can make that one!
@richten1 I agree completely. In many ways we have won the lottery.
Hi Katy, thank you for sharing your story. My life is much better since I joined THS. Many human and furry friends, and many stories to tell.
I think one of the greatest things for me is all the great folks we have met and become friends with since joining TrustedHousesitters. We would have never met otherwise!
We are Sitters and also do Home Exchanges. There has been some overlap! We did a Sit through THS in San Francisco. We were introduced to a friend of the Owner, and now we have done a Sit for the friend (privately arranged). Next, we are going to do a Home Exchange with the friend! We will stay in San Francisco while they are at our home in Manzanita, Oregon! Win-Win!! We have been invited back to THREE of our Home Exchange homes in the San Francisco area in order to dog sit! Home Exchanges turned into future dog-sitting opportunities and new friendships! What a great deal for all!
How lovely to read of your full joyful life, and THâs beneficial influence, Kate. Thank you for sharing this.
Some people I meet still donât understand the appeal of life as a sitter for THS.
Surely itâs very restrictive? What you donât get paid? Thatâs slavery!
Iâd hate not being able to have the whole day to myself to decide how I want to live it.
It must feel weird being among a strange personâs home and belongings.. etc.
My reasons for a lifetime of pet sitting for friends and family and now Home Owners of THS have usually been pet time, the stimulation of what the area has to offer, helping people juggle their lives and needs as well as cheaper trips away.
Iâve recently been made aware of an even bigger plus.
Two of the biggest benefits have been improving my mental and physical health.
I am always open to caring for cats but dogs take my top choice every time. Hereâs why.
So I went to the doctor for my blood results today. I took the old printout of results for the end of January 2025. The bad cholesterol was highlighted and shamed appropriately 230! â you need to work on getting that down!â ( Iâd spent Christmas and New Year in UK with cats and a forbidding snowy scene in Oxford.)
So, as I said, I returned for my new results today.
â Thatâs amazing,â she told me somewhat puzzled,â These results are identical to yours on the old print out.â Iâve never seen that before, itâs virtually impossibleâŚ.â
â New blood sample and test should have different results, surely? âI countered. I was so disappointed after lots of pet sitting dogs in the two month interim period. Walking a high average of paces each day. Iâd expected some progress.
âIâll check it up..â
â Oh ok, yes these are the new ones.. sorry.
Bad cholesterol .. 168, thatâs an amazing drop! youâve now reached a reading thatâs normal.â
I did mention about all the dog walking.. âincidentally would you recommend sea water for big blisters on the feet?â
I show her my blisters.
âWow you got those just walking? â
â Yes.â Iâve heard Vaseline on the soles helps prevent them? â
â Quite right, and sea water would help heal themâ
Pet sitting dogs specifically has brought me many health benefits, not least lowering my bad cholesterol readings without needing statins, or any other medication.
So yes This is something else that I get from borrowing peopleâs dogs for a few weeksâ playtime!
Arenât dogs just the best? I definitely need them in my healthier life!
