Thank you for sharing your experience. I am not a nomad but, still, I am pretty free and can work remotely, so that my search for a sit is very broad, both regarding the countries and the dates. R.
Great advice! Thnak you. R
Yes, good idea1 Renting a car only for a restricted period of time and walikng to places whenever possible. Thank Yoy. R…
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Thank you for your advice. I think the best way is to talk it through with the hosts. All these advices are precious to me. R.
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I was looking on a site that mentioned people who rent out their vehicles to visitors called Turo. Ive never looked into it. Just heard.
Turo is basically people renting out their private car. Something to keep in mind: The person usually has only one car. So if it ends up out of commission or unavailable to you for another reason, you might be left scrambling and your plans in disarray. This is more challenging in places where you really need a car and there might not be easy alternatives. Like if the owner cancels on you, which they can, you’d better have a fallback.
Ok thank you.
@Jackievw we’ve used Turo a couple of times in the USA and Canada and it was a good experience. It can be cheaper than car rental, if you find the right owner. I think they are also expanding to other locations but still very North American centric.
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Ok i did look them up and found them much cheaper than car rental. A rental for a week was over $1,000 Turo was more like $400-500. So definitely a huge savings. Thank you .
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When I travel in the US, I travel with my own car. When I travel overseas, I only apply to sits that are accessible by public transportation. I don’t want to rent a car and I don’t want to use a HO’s car, so I limit my search to sits where a car isn’t needed.
I considered Turo but you have to pay for your own insurance which can be expensive or risk expensive damages if you get in an accident. Your own auto insurance does not cover Turo vehicles.
Purely curiosity, but I’d love to hear reactions from sitters who prefer public transport and/or are from outside the US to our situation.
- Three bus lines within a block or so, but those bus lines simply go downtown (about five miles) to where the hub is. To use them to get anywhere other than downtown, you’d wait for another bus. So not really a great option.
- Car share readily available; we’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes for Uber or Lyft.
- We have a 2004 CRV that is reliable but shows its age that we offer to sitters, but obviously not everyone wants to drive the owners’ car, even if it’s a beater. (Americanese: a car that if you put a dent in it, it’s likely we wouldn’t even notice, much less care.) In our state, insurance covers the car (no matter who is driving it), so you’d be covered.
- Dozens of restaurants within .5-.75 mile. Small deli 1 block, small grocery .5 mile, supermarket 1.5 miles. Grocery delivery is available from the supermarket for a fee.
If you’re someone who would be happiest with excellent public transport, would this still appeal to you? Again, just curious!
That sounds strange. Why are there then three bus lines when they are the same?
Anyway, a hub in the center (where “everything” is) is the most efficient option for public transportation in cities.
They aren’t the same, they all have different routes they follow on their way downtown and out into the outlying areas. They just all happen to come within a block or two of my house in different directions.
So you can take a direct bus to lots of places, without a transfer.
Sounds ideal to me.
Oh, you definitely can! To someone who drives in a city where driving and parking are not horrible, it would be frustratingly slow to get to things that aren’t right downtown or along one of these routes.
I’m a fan of mass transit. My spouse and I really love sits in small cities like yours where we can do a lot of “urban hiking” and explore the architecture, museums, sights, and whatever is unique about a place. If we have to throw in car rental then that’s a dealbreaker. So during the summer I stayed in Portland where it was a good 30 minutes to downtown by bus and then other buses or trains to other destinations. No problem. I knew what I was getting into. Recently, we did a sit together in Pittsburgh. Also about half an hour – walking, fennicular, bus to downtown and then other buses to destinations. Not as convenient or quick as Portland. but doable. We did wind up spending more money than we should’ve on Uber/Lyft so that we could enjoy ourselves and not neglect the pet. Also it was still cold and rainy in Pittsburgh! There was one day when we wanted to visit the Fallingwater house about 90 minutes from the city by car, so we rented a car for the day which worked great as I actually had a “free” day from my preferred rental agency.
I do look at the location carefully and what the HO says about mass transit, but also I try to confirm even before applying with Google maps. This can be tricky without the exact location, so I ask as well during the video chat.
I think most people who get by most of the time without a car are good with mass transit even if it is a little slow, but if you have to factor in getting back for the pet, it can’t be too slow. Personally, I wouldn’t be comfortable borrowing a petparents car unless it was a rural setting where there was no choice. I’m might choose a sit like yours if I wanted to be in Cinncinatti, or I might look for one closer to the center. I might figure a dedicated budget for Lyft or combo of Lyft and buses.
Just at your listing. I think you should definitely add the info about the bus lines. Also something I’ve noticed: Sometimes sits are walkable to a place but there are no sidewalks and the walk itself seems hazardess. I think HOs should mention if that is the case.
Major factor: How long can your pets be left on their own? Because whether transit or driving, or whatever else, sitters need to know whether it’s realistic to do or see what they want to.
Thanks, Marion! Hadn’t thought about mentioning that we’ve got good sidewalks here for really as far as anyone would want to walk. Always something new to learn about how other sitters assess a sit!
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Maggie8K, oh, good point…they’re actually fine even overnight, we often go out for a weekend and just leave them a clean box, plenty of kibble and water, and open toilets seats just in case. 
I hadn’t really thought about adding that in for cats because it seems so normal to me, but for someone who hasn’t owned a pair+ of healthy young cats, it may not be obvious that out first thing in the morning, back in at midnight is not out of the question.
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