I’m a newbie at sitting & a first-year THS member so basically - “duh” I know nothing.
COVID put a stop to the few sits we were dipping our toes in the water with thus far but we had big ideas and wildly imaginative plans. With that in mind, whilst idly moving the map to see sits, it occurred to me to wonder if there are ever sits in the “other” areas of the world - Russia? Africa, other than ZAF? India?
Has anyone been to these, or other non-standard places (for sits)?
@Angela does THS have any marketing strategies, or plans for these sorts of places?
Overwhelmingly, no, there aren’t very many sits in the places you listed. But they do come up occasionally. In our experience, both in observing listings and owners as well as speaking with friends and family from different countries, it’s often a cultural barrier. For example, our family that lives in Mexico are astounded that people let us (as sitters) into their home when they don’t know us. It’s simply not something they would even consider. A colleague in India is also surprised by it, but he argues that even when he takes a vacation his parents or parents-in-law would care for their home and that in many cases extended family live together anyway.
So, it often holds true that the more ‘exotic’ house sits we see are usually expats or owners working abroad.
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Of course, excellent point about India & sub-continent but I didn’t know about the rest-of-the-world resistance to having house sitters.
Both THS and the sitter community have a vested interest in getting more owners signed up; I wonder if there are any advertising whizzes who could lend their expertise to this purpose? In the community I mean, of course.
Interesting @Provence; are the portals you mention paying membership? I have huge reservations about free membership sites and there is no way ever that I would touch a sit advertised on a free site in Cameroon!
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@Saltrams we do get opportunities in “other” areas of the world … India, Africa, Russia infrequently & in small numbers. There are no active marketing plans to target these countries.
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I have seen sits for most places in the world on THS. Definitely India. About the only place I know for sure I haven’t seen is North Korea 
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The Couchsurfing website was free but they’re now asking for a $15/year payment since COVID. We’ve hosted people quite a few times.
We are super excited. We have just been accepted for a sit in Ecuador, yes Ecuador. It’s not till autumn 2022 but we have an adventure to look forward to.
I’ve seen sits for Argentina, Peru, Brazil, lots of African countries, Zanzibar, Reunion Island ……… the list is endless. As someone else said, it’s a cultural thing. Even in the UK there are hot spots for sits. The home counties and most of the south of England is easy to get sits but places like Liverpool, The Lake District, North of Scotland and North of England there are rarely sits advertised. I think it’s peoples mindset. Some of my family can’t understand why people would have us, strangers, living in their houses, looking after their animals.
Thank goodness there is still a thing called trust in this world.
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That’s wonderful news Elsie and what a location to be able to research and look forward to! We were contacted about a long term sit there a couple of years ago but it didn’t fit with our schedule at the time, so I’ll be really interested to follow your house sit and travel adventures in Eduador, as it’s still on our list for some time in the future! Congratulations !!! How long is the sit for?
Almost a month in Cuenca then we hope to do some travelling around the country. Do the usual, one foot in the northern hemisphere, one in the southern. We have work friends who settled in Quito so we will visit them as well. Happy days.
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Congratulations and excellent news @ElsieDownie … International pet sitting travel is happening again. Thought you might find this Washington Post article by their travel writer Andrea Sachs (now a great friend of TrustedHousesitters) this was her first sit and one of the best pieces of coverage we’ve had.
Great question! One of our favorite countries we’ve been to twice now is India and we’d love to do a sit there. I saw one a couple of years ago and immediately applied and was chosen. Unfortunately a few days later they contacted us and said they went with someone who lived closer which was understandable.
We would also love to sit in South America as we have been to a number of countries there.
We were very lucky to obtain a sit a few years ago in Australia as the listing had 55+ applicants!
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Congratulations Elsie! Ecuador is a lovely country, with nice people. We had a 3 month sit there on the Pacific Coast once and would love to do Cuenca. I have travelled around Ecuador a fair bit way back in the day. Lots of variety
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