Highlights:
- Agree on sit via website and Skype or Zoom for introductions and expectations
- If multiple sits, allow a couple of days in between to change locations
- Ask about cars, neighbors, vets, any special requirements
- Send owners photos of pets every few days during sit
- Shorter sightseeing trips so not to leave animals for long time
- Able to cook many meals at home
- Housesitting is a slower paced way to travel
As avid travelers the past 15 years my wife and I have taken vacations abroad staying in AirBnb’s and enjoyed the experience of a short stay in a village or small town. Both of us dreamed of spending extended time abroad, living as a local, but weren’t sure how to go about an extended stay. We had briefly read about housesitting, but we were unsure how to start.
We loved the feeling of community and camaraderie one gets from being immersed in a local community in Europe. The markets, coffee shops and restaurants provide an experience seldom duplicated.
Can We Do This?
Over the years we had talked about and researched aspects of house sitting/pet sitting abroad but felt we really couldn’t achieve this because of full time jobs and having pets at home.
While the dream was planted and pros and cons frequently discussed, we didn’t know if it would be right for us. Our thinking was we couldn’t achieve it until we both retired.
Fast forward to February 2019; I had been retired for 10 years working part time and Kathy made the decision to finally retire from her job as a project manager. We are now full time retirees!
In years past it had been difficult to do any extended travel because we had our own pets. The previous year, we lost our yellow lab Charlie to old age. So we are currently without a personal pet, allowing us the freedom to lock and leave our home for an extended periods of time.
After research and investigation online including reading about housesitting and blogs, we realized we were very close to taking the plunge to making our dream of house/pet sitting a reality!
The spring of 2019 we had arranged to travel from the US overseas to visit some friends in France, and thought “why not tack-on a trip to the UK prior to France? They speak English, and it would be a good place to try this house/pet sitting idea.” After reviewing several on-line sites, we chose TrustedHousesitters.com. We signed up and paid the annual fee, which covers background checks and administration.
The Profile:
We spent several days creating our online profile, along with asking friends and colleagues to write brief references; and of course picking the right photograph! We had read that each of these items were important for a profile that gives home/pet owners confidence in our skills and level of responsibility. With profile complete, we then searched Trustedhousesitters.com for suitable sits matching our dates. We searched for dog only sits during our selected dates to start. We applied for 4 sits, and were pleasantly surprised when we got almost immediate response from two of our applications. After a Skype with one prospect and emails from another, we secured two separate housesits that coincided perfectly with our time frame.
Logistics:
Once accepted for actual “sitting assignments”, this decision, while intoxicating, quickly made us realize there were many other details for extended time away to consider besides booking airfare. What about postal mail? What about all monthly bills? What about houseplants and utilities? Who needs to be notified?
After more research, we concluded we could hold our mail with the Postal Service, made all our bills auto-pay or direct draft so we could pay them easily on-line, stopped all Amazon auto ship packages,(hard for my wife to do!), and found a friend to water our plants and check on our house once a week. We made arrangements to rent cars for the weeks of our assignment, booked accommodations for nights that we didn’t have sitting assignments, bought train tickets, etc. We decided on a direct flight from where we live in Austin, Texas to Heathrow in London.
The “Sit”:
Our housesitting adventure began on May 15, 2019 as we boarded our flight. We allowed three extra days prior to the start of our first sit to allow time to see some sights and jet lag recovery. A hotel close to Paddington station was our pick to minimize time spent in London upon arrival, as well as being close when we needed to catch our train to Cambridge.
Our first night in London, by chance, we were fortunate enough to secure tickets and see Eric Clapton perform at Royal Albert Hall. A wonderful concert in an amazing venue. Being flexible to spontaneous experiences is a wonderful advantage to housesitting that we hadn’t realized. Continued below album…
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The next day we secured our senior rail passes and our train tickets for the one-hour train trip to Cambridge, where we had a arranged a two-night stay to sightsee prior to the start of our assignment. We had booked a rental car for the duration of our assignment in Garboldisham, through Sixt car rental.
We had confirmed before we left our T-mobile phones would work in the UK, allowing us to use Google maps to navigate. We arrived at the agreed upon time, to meet our hosts and were immediately greeted by Zoe and Dillion, two Labrador retrievers we would be caring for during the next 8 days. Continued below album…
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Our hosts had provided us with a complete welcome packet of instructions (as suggested by trusted housesitters.com) outlining dog activities, suggested walk routes, restaurants, and grocery store. Other items in the booklet included house/facility items, vet info, neighbor contacts and various sites to see in the surrounding areas. Our hosts informed us that the dogs would be fine for up to 4 hours a time alone, which would allow us to include blocks of sightseeing during our stay.
A caution was given about the youngest chocolate lab Zoe, not being off leash outside the gated area, as she was a “runner”. Being only 2 years old, she was well behaved but still full of mischief too, in addition to being a “runner” she liked to go ”counter surfing” in the kitchen for items left in reach, and she loved to chew on rubber shoes. Our host also advised us to keep the backyard gates firmly latched and make sure Zoe was always on a lead, as she would “bolt” if she got the chance, and she was very quick on her feet. We heeded their advice carefully!
We appreciated the complete briefing from our hosts, and then they left for their flight, leaving us to mind their home and their dogs. Our adventure in the English countryside begins.
Our first two days of housesitting were filled with discovering new sights walking the dogs in the tranquil country lanes, filled with the smell of flowers, seeing pheasants, hearing doves cooing and taking in the peaceful surroundings. The dogs both seemed to take to us and enjoyed their twice daily walks thoroughly. We communicated daily with our hosts via Whats app and sent pictures of the pups.
The second day after the evening walk, I brought the younger dog, Zoe to the back door through the back yard and left the gate open for my wife as she was bringing up the rear with the older, slower dog, Dillion.
Having a momentary lapse in memory and judgement, I unhooked the lead from Zoe before I had her completely inside the house, and in a blink of the eye, she bolted like a streak between my legs and out the gate, before either of us could stop her!
As you can imagine, panic and fear overcame us as Zoe took off in the rear yard of the house through the open pasture and fields. She was gone in a flash!
Both of us quickly called her name and looked to no avail all around the house, yard and adjacent fields. We put Dillon in the house, quickly grabbed some dog biscuits and split up going in two different directions to try and locate our missing Zoe! Our minds were racing and filled with the dread of our first dog sit ending in utter failure for losing the dog we had been entrusted mind.
After 10 minutes, which seemed like hours, relief was at hand as my wife found the speedy escapee, two houses down, cornering some cats that thankfully had distracted Zoe and allowed Kathy to lure Zoe with biscuits and re-clip the lead on her collar.
A valuable lesson had been learned by two rookie pet sitters, keep the leash on the dog at ALL times and make certain the gate is closed and latched at all times! Even if someone is right behind you.
The rest of our week in Garboldisham thankfully, was peacefully free from any more dog drama, or missing canines! Our short outings included trips to explore the villages of Bury, St Edmunds, Sandringham Estates, Castle Rising, Norwich, Thetford and Diss. Continued below album…
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Would we do this again?
Absolutely! Words can’t express the joys, cultural interactions and life experiences, we have collected during our first housesitting/pet sitting adventure. Plus a five star review from our hosts made our day! Visiting quaint English pubs, grocery shopping, and cathedrals that were breathtakingly beautiful was a dream fulfilled. Our first house sit was an enchanting experience and we eagerly await our next assignment.
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