Julie and Jonathan
The Global Pet Sitters
HI THERE! We are Julie and Jonathan – aka ‘The GlobalPetSitters’.
Just an ordinary couple who travel the world looking after homes and pets.
WE MARRIED IN 2005 and shortly after made a life changing decision to quit our secure jobs in Schools, (Jonathan a Swimming Teacher and Julie a School Bursar), with a plan to travel the world.
OUR PLAN ….. Jonathan had always promised that we would spend the rest of our lives together on an Adventure.
At first we spent the Winters travelling warmer Europe, mostly Spain, finding well priced rental apartments in great locations and the Summers visiting family in the UK, all the time working on and developing a small online business… OK as well as daily walks along the beach. We were good at keeping our costs low and we saved enough money for trips to New York and Sydney. Life was great and we felt like we were living the dream. But then we began talking travel again and of our globe trotting dreams and that was when Jonathan came up with a plan.
IN NOVEMBER 2017, after some hard saving and quite a bit of planning to get the best deals and offers (Jonathan had more than a few spreadsheets) we set off for a 2 and a half month trip exploring some of Asia – Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Of course we had to keep on top of our online work whilst we travelled – this was going to be a good test to see if we could make it all happen – combining travel and work.
AFTER OUR AMAZING ASIA TRIP we had caught the ‘travel bug’ hook line and sinker! and we wanted more of this!
But funding this would be our problem.
THEN……. we came across the most fantastic ‘accommodation saving opportunity’ with an added ‘pawsome’ attraction!
While reading a few travel blogs, we came across the concept of International house and pet sitting. Wow! This appealed to us so much – being able to travel, see new locations, live in different homes and with the companionship of pets! Having had our own pets in the past that would have just hated to go into kennels, we knew how important a live-in pet sitter could be for owners that needed to travel. As animal lovers who wanted to explore we thought this could be perfect for us – travelling the globe and caring for other people’s pets and homes.
We researched a little more and found the house/pet sitting community Trustedhousesitters – this was the website that impressed us the most and we signed up. As genuine pet lovers that wanted to travel, this seemed like too good to be true! We knew it would be a massive responsibility caring for other peoples’ pets and homes, we made it our mind set of treating it as if it was our job and giving 110% commitment to every sit.
We began our pet/house sitting locally in the UK, as we wanted to build up a good number of reviews which would help us when applying for future international sits. In the UK we were able to meet owners first, which we thought, if it was us we would want to meet the guys that you would be handing over your house keys and treasured pets to. We keep in touch with many of the owners we have sat for and many are very good friends now. The very first house sit we applied for we were accepted for, we were thrilled.
January 2018 – the owner was a ‘newbie’ herself to the Trustedhousesitters website as well as us, which kinda felt nice, both of us starting out together. We are now lifelong friends with Diana the owner and sitting for her and caring for her home and adorable beautiful Txuri, a Pyrenean Mastiff, in the coastal town of Aldeburgh will always be one of the fondest of all our pet sitting memories, we feel so lucky that the start of our house/pet sitting journey was with them
We’ve had an amazing time and completed over 50 sits now and we’re super thrilled to have gained over 50 Five Star Reviews. Each and every sit has left us with fond memories. We’ve met wonderful kind owners, many have become our friends now and we keep in touch. We’ve cared for adorable pets, each and every one of them. November 2019 we began our International house sitting journey beginning with 3 months in California, so many highlights – San Francisco, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Lake Tahoe being at the top. We met kind generous owners and adorable pets that we will never forget . We were only able to fund this amazing trip thanks to our house sitting journey.
We are together 24/7 – it’s perhaps not for everyone – but over 7,000 days later, we are stronger and happier than ever. Our plan is to carry on ‘Living the Dream’ – travelling the world as house/pet sitting digital nomads, albeit mature ones!
We can’t imagine not house and pet sitting now. Life is so varied and interesting!
We’re so passionate about this amazing lifestyle and the journey we are having, if anyone wants to know more about how to get started with your own house sitting journey, we are very happy to answer any questions, give advice if we can, you can contact us on our Contact Page we’d love to here from you.
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