One huge unknown for us when packing our lives into suitcases and taking off into the world was house sitting opportunities. When we left Australia we had one sit organised in the UK. Would we like it? Would we want to continue doing them? Would there be opportunities to sit in other countries around the world?
The answer is YES to all of the above! Out of 365 days of travel we clocked up 128 days of house sitting in multiple locations throughout England and France. But, what does house sitting involve?
House sitting is a service you provide, usually for free, in exchange for accommodation. You live in someone’s house while they are away. It may include pet sitting and gardening too.
We use the largest house sitting platform, TrustedHousesitters to organise our sits. It’s a seamless experience that we would recommend. The process is simple to set up:
- Create a profile about yourself, your experience with animals and availability. Don’t worry if you haven’t been a pet sitter before, talk about any animals you’ve owned and you can attach your Airbnb account as references until you start getting references for house sitting.
- There’s an annual membership fee which is approximately the cost of one night’s accommodation. You can reduce this by 25% by using our link and code EDVENTURE25 at the check out.
- Once you’ve set up your profile, you can search and apply for unlimited house sits all around the world!
- Homeowners will often contact you for a video call before deciding if you’re the best candidate. This is an opportunity for you to check it’s the right sit for you too.
- The owner will either accept or decline your sit application.
- Once you’re accepted you can discuss details like when you will arrive, how to get there, etc.
We love that we can experience being with animals without the life-time responsibility. Our kids have had more exposure to different breeds of dogs and cats than most would have in a lifetime. We also love being in a home, where we can spread out and live a bit more. Having a full kitchen and pantry, sometimes a vegie garden or fruit trees, and a backyard for the kids to play! There’s so many positives to house sitting.
What surprised us the most was falling in love with the animals that we met along the way! Each pet has welcomed us into their home and touched our hearts. We feel so blessed to have spent that time with them. The pet owners have been pretty good too! We’ve been picked up from the train station, had cooked meals waiting for us and even got to decorate the Christmas tree! We have made plenty of friends along the way.
If this sounds like a fun way to see the world then join with TrustedHousesitters and get 25% with our code EDVENTURE25. Happy travels!
