As another year draws to a to a close, what is your 2024 round up?
We took a well earned holiday in the Canaries through the whole of January but still had a great year including…
Merry Christmas everyone!
Your figures don’t quite work. 358 nights sitting and 33 in Airbnbs & 2 with family?
I’ve managed 4 countries too: Australia, New Zealand, England and Scotland. Haven’t counted up the number of nights sitting yet….
Yes, lots of overlapping……
15 sits, 4 countries U.S. Toronto, Canada, Scotland, England. 5 doggone cute dogs, a Scotty, a year old Frenchie, a 10 year old Bichoodle, a year old Minature Poodle, a 12 year old Italian Spinone, first time wth that breed, countless cats including 3 Birmans, 2 Siberian Forest cats, a highly energetic Bengal, and many more! It was a wonderful and purrfectly furtastic adventure 
i have not counted the days. I also had serversl gaps which afforded me time to explore, travel around as well. No holiday sits as I’m home in Northern California with friends and family.
@colin
OK! Time to do my 2024 round up too!! Can’t believe how fast this year has flown!!
81 days on 5 sits in the UK (9 dogs, 1 cat, 7 chickens)
3 months in Bulgaria with street dog organisation (countless dogs)
Rest of the year in rented places in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Greece, South Africa, Kenia, Belize, Lima and Shanghai.
All of Europe by car, and as we walk at least 10k a day, often much more, we walked about 3650-4000k. Oh, and cycled and swam and I try to hit the gym 3 times a week.
Another interesting sit year!
25 sits (including 2 repeats in Spain and England)
5 Countries (England, France, Spain, Germany and KL, Malaysia )
254 Nights Pet/House sitting
19 Cats
23 Dogs
17 Chickens
3 Terrapins
A fish tank
10 nights with family.
3 weeks airbnb in Mumbai (dental trip!)
Approx 3 weeks airbnb inbetween sits including 2 weeks in Spain due to a cancelled sit.
3 nights aparthotel in KL pre-sit
2 sit dramas!
review!! Because we objected to extensive building work happening during our week… & which was only partially disclosed on arrival evening! They got a hard review from us…I sat less than usual early in the year due to an illness in my family.
13 sits
118 days total
15 cats
3 dogs
6 states including Asheville NC for Hurricane Helene. That’s an adventure I’ll never forget!
I can’t wait to get back on the road again next week.
We are light weights compared to others but we do open our garden from April until August so sits generally outside that.
We are on our 3rd sit in last 12 months. 3 weeks in Brussels with lovely very old border terrier. 3 weeks in Ireland with 2 cats and now in sunny Spain with two cats that are bigger than the border terrier. All delightful in different ways. We would have like another sit in Spain as we are in the country making the most of our 90 allowed days (b…… Brexit) but nothing being advertised at the moment. Thankfully we have family and another family house to stay in so will make the most of it. All our sits have been delightful in terms of pets and accommodation and hosts.
Yes, my summary will appear anemic as compared to all the nomads BUT it does include venturing out of my own country for 3 sits and that is a first for me!
8 sits, 2 countries, 39 nights, 13 cats
We did one sit in Arizona last February.
We’ve made multiple attempts to secure a sit in Italy, but are still constantly thwarted by the 5 application limit. In fact, just now I got pinged that a favourited sit had an opening that worked perfectly with our current travel dates in Italy next spring. I went to show it to my husband to discuss, and then two minutes later, it was “reviewing applications.”
So currently, for our purposes, Trusted Housesitters still sucks. We’ve already downgraded to a regular account. Might just cancel it altogether next time it’s up for renewal. It’s just so frustrating.
Question: how do you do overlapping sits, with THS making it impossible to apply for a sit when you are still booked for another sit. This has been really such a bummer for us as full time housesitters without a homebase…
My understanding @Wiebke is that both members of the sitting couple have THS memberships. This gives more ability to apply for sits even if dates conflict. They can also split up so one member finishes up a sit while the other member goes ahead to start the next. I believe this gets explained in the application and there may be a link added to the partner’s profile.
We are also full time sitters with no home base and the no overlap rule was a bummer for us too, so my husband bought his own membership (using my refer a friend code to get the 25% discount).
Now we have two memberships, making overlapping possible for us again.
There is no way that THS can stop you from arranging private sits through other platforms that overlap with a THS sit.
We’re amatuers. Not nomadic. Firmly nested plus my spouse has been forced back to the office several days a week. Still we managed to:
And the best part is when we travel, our multicat NYC home is always occupied by someone enjoying the city.
Nine sits done so far in 2024. Just in the U.K. and U.S., because I don’t want sit responsibilities when visiting elsewhere.
114 sit days total. I sit solo and only while telecommuting. If I want to do significant sightseeing, I add days at a hotel.
One of my 2024 sits led my husband and me to move cross country — we missed the other coast and I went house shopping while sitting. I also did a couple of great local sits for the first time in 2024, as our new-to-us house was remodeled.
I’ve just started a 10th sit for 2024 today, in a gorgeous house in San Francisco, with three cats. The first-time THS hosts have shown great hospitality, offered a thorough welcome guide and did a nice handoff. Very comfortable guest quarters with privacy, lots of space and amenities. They were very appreciative and offered to have me stay extra days after their return, if I like.
I pursued this sit even though I don’t usually sit at year-end, because it looked like a good repeat sit in a city where I have lots of friends. These hosts have a second home and travel a lot. They said they got applicants quickly, but thought we were a perfect match.
I had a great year! Lots of sits and wonderful pets as well as some non-sitting travel. I’m currently ending the year with a repeat sit in Luxembourg.
Have a happy New Year!
