@CatherineL, we’ve been full-time housesitters for three years. Unplanned. Opportunistic. Early retirees. Heck, we had never heard of housesitting. We are fortunate to housesit by choice. We have used it to visit international family; to adventure to new countries (15); to bridge a time gap until next life phase; and to explore shortlisted countries for future residency. We periodically touch base and assess whether we’re still enjoying the housesit experience. Fatigue is real so we try to balance dogs, cats and no pets. Curious your reference to Portugal - we were actively planning to relocate there (lovely spot) but changes in NHR tax program two years ago caused us to pivot … and to apply for housesits to explore a Plan B location. For us, housesitting has yielded several epiphanies - per recent thread.
But sometimes it’s as simple as carpe diem - seize the day. Photo from walking dog this morning. Life is good 
