Traveling House Sitters

[ExFlyBoy5]

I recently heard about an expat couple that are members of a house/pet sitting service and are using this to travel the world. I was somewhat curious and came across this article about a couple that do this and well...I am intrigued.

Anyway else do this or considered doing something like this?

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/couple-travel-the-world-house-sitting/

Traveling around the world while staying in other people's homes for free might sound too good to be true. But a semi-retired couple from Norfolk, England have managed to do just that. Jonathan and Julie Ashworth, who are both in their 50s, sold their home back in 2017 and now spend their days globetrotting while looking after other people's houses, and pets, in exchange for free accommodation.

 

[braumeister]

It has been talked about here from time to time. A search shows a number of threads, but here are just a couple:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/pet-home-sitters-while-on-extended-travel-112639.html

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/has-anyone-used-trustedhousesitters-99978.html

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

It has been talked about here from time to time. A search shows a number of threads, but here are just a couple:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/pet-home-sitters-while-on-extended-travel-112639.html

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/has-anyone-used-trustedhousesitters-99978.html

Both those threads look like they are more along the lines of GETTING a house sitter as opposed to BEING a house sitter. Nonetheless, I will take a gander.

 

[braumeister]

You can find out a lot about becoming one by looking at housecarers.com and trustedhousesitters.com

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

You can find out a lot about becoming one by looking at housecarers.com and trustedhousesitters.com

Geez...I guess you REALLY don't want me talking about it here, eh?

 

[braumeister]

Geez...I guess you REALLY don't want me talking about it here, eh?

No idea what you're saying there.

 

[dixonge]

we've done a bit of it - it's sort of a mixed bag, tbh. Yes, you have a place to stay. But you are tied down and can never travel for longer than 3-4 hours away from your house. Housesitting is less stringent, but pet-sitting is much more in demand. Can be used strategically combined with hostels, hotels and AirBnB's to reduce travel costs.

I quickly tired of having the commitment. Fits much better with backpacker/young nomad life than older, expat traveler life, in my opinion.

 

[bearkeley]

We’ve done several and really enjoyed it. It’s important to pick the right location, home and pets that meet your travel plans to make it worthwhile. It’s very much like online dating - you’ll need to create a good profile to get selected, but you also want to be picky to find your match.

For us, we usually like house sits that lasts 4-6 weeks in locations we wanted to explore. A car must be included if not directly in the city and must have a pet that is treated as a family member. The house also needs to be clean and in a desirable area.

We’ve been able to house sit 4 times in Australia, in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and to this day, keep in touch with the families. We lived like locals and learned how to sail by joining the local sailing club; explored numerous beaches and hikes, rode bikes and ferries, learned how to appreciate wine, etc. It made sense when lodging costs are high and when we are in one area for an extended time. We’ve spent about a year in Australia over 4 visits, almost half of the time, house sitting.

 

[Lakelife]

We have also had a great experience with TH and have completed over 20+ housesits in the last few years all over the world. It’s a wonderful way to travel to the locations you want to explore as a local. We love pets so for DW and I it’s an added bonus to see the sights for 5-6 hours daily and come home to a loving pet companion.

 

[Scuba]

DH and I are also intrigued by this idea. We may try it once our dog passes. He is very high maintenance and requires a drug regimen twice a day due to congestive heart failure, so the last thing we want when we travel is to be tied down by another pet. When he’s gone, though, I think we would enjoy having someone else’s pet to care for temporarily.

 

[Sunset]

We have also had a great experience with TH and have completed over 20+ housesits in the last few years all over the world. It’s a wonderful way to travel to the locations you want to explore as a local. We love pets so for DW and I it’s an added bonus to see the sights for 5-6 hours daily and come home to a loving pet companion.

Basically are you trading the free housing for your effort , or do they also pay you something as well ?


What is the weirdest or most awful one you got to do ?

 

[Lakelife]

Basically are you trading the free housing for your effort , or do they also pay you something as well ?


What is the weirdest or most awful one you got to do ?

Yes that’s exactly what it is, no payments are made by either party, although gifts may be given but not expected. About 50% of the time we will also get use of a vehicle which is another savings. We have stayed in many multi million dollar homes which we would never be able to afford on our own. It’s a really great program to us.

Honestly none have been weird or awful, we are very selective at what we apply for. Typically no more than two animals at a time, with no medications needed, and no extreme walking.

 

[Surewhitey]

Basically are you trading the free housing for your effort , or do they also pay you something as well ?


What is the weirdest or most awful one you got to do ?

We did a few variations of this while living in Playa del Carmen.

When we went back (second stint) we let one of the dog-sitting clients know that we were coming back & they just happened to need a 3-4 month house sitter (free rent, utilities). We just "needed" to make sure the cleaner, pool and yard guys did their jobs. Tough one...

The weirdest one was a couple from Chicago going on vacation and they wanted their pet to have it's own vaca. They flew him down, we picked him up and kept him for like 14 days at our place. DW took him to the beach and snapped a bunch of pics and sent a collage to the owners. They loved it.

We lived in a modest part of town and offered pet sitting for homes in the ritzier parts of town. When they went out of town, we got a mini vaca from our modest home. Typically a couple of weeks at a time that paid us to live in their house and walk the dogs. They also had cleaning staff, lawn & pool guy which is nice to have.