50 days in California – almost Accommodation Free!

We have just returned from a 3 month trip exploring California and had the most amazing time and with 50 days almost ACCOMMODATION FREE! saving us $6,380 and allowed our travel budget to stretch much further. We stayed in beautiful homes in locations we had always wanted to visit and with an added bonus that is positively PAWSOME!

For years we’d talked about exploring California. High on our list to visit were Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon and Death Valley in particular as well as San Francisco. We never really thought that dream would ever happen.

Being part of the TrustedHousesitters Community has given us that travel opportunity.

For the last 2 years we have been almost full time house sitting in the UK and in this time we saved £9,000 on rental accommodation to go towards our 5 year International house sitting travel fund. By living free of charge in other people’s homes while the owners themselves travel, allows our own travel fund to stretch much further. But the huge added bonus in this journey, for us as animal lovers, is that you get to have the company of the owners’ pets too.

With 5 great house sits booked on the Trustedhousesitters website, on the 31st October 2019 – feeling super excited – we flew out to Los Angeles. We had 24 nights in California before our first house sit began in San Francisco, so as soon as we arrived in LA airport, with our car rental booked, we set off up the iconic Pacific Highway Route 1 – the start of our leisurely 16 day road trip visiting all the iconic Tourist locations we had so wanted to see before any house sitting began.

At the end of our road trip we drove down to San Diego as we still had a week before our first house sit began – read here about our week in San Diego

Our first house/pet sit began 23^rd November with adorable 18 month old Samoyed – Mookie in San Francisco. This house sit meant we had 10 nights accommodation free in San Francisco, living in a modern 4 bedroom house in a great location very close to Ocean beach and Golden Gate Park. Mookie loved to travel with us as we explored the City, including Fisherman’s Wharf and PIER 39 with views of Alcatraz, Union Square, Mission District, Haight-Ashbury.

Our second house sit was 8 nights with sweet, very shy, Poodle Julian in San Rafael, just a little further North of San Fran. He loved walking into town with us and it was a lovely lazy week for us and great just living like a local. We had a drive to Stinson beach with him and a day out to the nearby beautiful bayside town of Sausalito that Julian’s owners had recommended to visit. We stayed with the owners the night before the sit, they cooked a lovely meal for us and left us their car to use. The have become great friends.

Our next house sit was further North, in the ‘gold rush’ town of Placerville, caring for Suni the cat and 3 hens with big personalities. Most morning we had a visit from the Wild Black Turkey crew!

It was during this sit that we were able to drive to Lake Tahoe. We got up early and with the pets all fed and settled we had time enough to drive all around the lake, stopping to take in the beautiful snowy scenery of the Nevada mountains, the stunning views of Emerald Bay lake, walking around Incline village and sitting at Secret Cove Beach. As we left in the evening we passed the South Tahoe ski resorts vibrant and colourful getting ready for the Après-ski mood. This was definitely a dream come true for us to visit Lake Tahoe.

After a leisurely 3 day coastal drive down to LA again, taking in Malibu as we went, where of course we had to stop and nose at the awesome beach front houses, we arrived at Venice beach for our Christmas and New Year house sit. A lovely modern house just 5 minutes walk to the beach, with cats x 2, Cashmere and Smudge. With these two easy cats we were able to explore Venice and more of Los Angeles – including Beverley Hills, Hollywood and Rodeo Drive.

We left our Venice Beach house/pet sit on the 4th January and then had another break in our house sitting calendar, so we took the opportunity to visit Death Valley.

We collected our car rental and drove over to Ridgecrest for an overnight stay and then we headed on towards Death Valley. As we drove closer to the California/Nevada border our views of the Shoshone mountains alongside the barren desert landscape were pretty spectacular.

We had booked a Motel at Pahrump, in the heart of the Mojave Dessert, but as our route actually took us to Death Valley side first and arriving at mid-day, we were able to spend a half day in the Valley getting a feel for where the main iconic sites were, chatting to the Wardens, collecting maps etc. We then drove to our Motel, great room with restaurant attached and friendly owners. It was about an hour away from Death Valley, anything closer was double in price, this suited us great.

We stayed in Pahrump for 3 nights which gave us 2 further full days in Death Valley. The weather was great for us, mostly blue sky days and what an amazing place Death Valley is. It really is sheer beauty around every corner. The colour palette of Death Valley is mind blowing. From the entrance to exit there are picture perfect landscapes and just driving around there were so many breathtaking views. Snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains, desert plains, massive craggy rocks and canyons, the colourful 8 mile loop of Artist’s Palette and Artist’s Drive, the massive Mesquite Sand dunes, Zabriskie Point for amazing views over the rocks and canyons and the best place to see the sunset. The Badwater salt basin, 282 feet below sea level – it was like nothing we had ever seen before. Dantés View was closed at the time of our visit. We pinch ourselves that we have been able to visit this amazing place, for sure Death Valley will be high on our list of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.

After Death Valley we drove down to beautiful Palm Springs as we still had 7 nights before our next house/pet sit. We got a real bargain with our Palm Springs Accommodation in a great location, really comfortable rooms and the same brilliant rates all year round. Palm Springs is in the Sonoran desert region of the Coachella Valley. The City is surrounded by mountains and towering palm trees can be seen everywhere. Palm Springs has an upmarket feel, the main central street is full of great little restaurants and cocktail bars and boutique shops and gift shops etc. The coffee shops are a great place to sit in the sun and people watch. We loved the very popular Thursday evening VillageFest – stalls of arts, crafts, farmers market, hot and cold food vendors. We had some great food.

Our next house sit was back to the coast of LA, in Santa Monica. We were just 10 minutes walk to the beach, caring for Kai the German Shepherd/Pit bull cross. This was one of our most challenging sits but in the end our most rewarding.

Santa Monica has a beautiful long sandy beach and here you get to see views of the glorious sunsets over the Pacific. This is where you head to if you live in LA to get away from city life. We checked out the average nights cost to stay in Santa Monica if we weren’t house sitting with free rent and it was well over $120/night. The carnival atmosphere along the beach areas is vibrant especially on the central beach Pier – this is where iconic Route 66 finishes. The beach next to the Pier is where the original Muscle Beach was located and it’s still the venue for beach work outs and practicing acrobats – what a location for an outside gym!

Downtown Santa Monica has a classy feel with a large open air shopping Mall and a pedestrianised smart 3rd Street Promenade. At the weekends talented buskers/artists perform here, hoping to get spotted by the LA entertainment world. There’s a twice weekly Farmer’s Market, it’s very popular!

After Santa Monica we headed to the nearby quieter beach resort of Redondo, checking into Moonlite Inn for our final 3 nights before leaving the California on 28th January 2020. Redondo has a beautiful long sandy beach and again you can see, as most of the California coast, amazing colourful sunsets over the sea. Yep, we’ve had our fair share of superb California sunsets.

We had 3 lazy days walking the beach, watching the pelicans on the rocks, reminiscing about all our amazing times as we had travelled around California and pinching ourselves that we had made it all happen and it had been so much fun. All the places we had seen, the adorable pets we had cared for and the lovely people we had met. It was all so much more fun than we had ever dared to hope it would be.

Spending all this time in California and visiting so many amazing locations would never have been possible without joining Trustedhousesitters and having the opportunity to stay in owners homes exchanging our care of their home and pets for free accommodation.

From California we headed straight to Spain – living in a beautiful villa with pool in Javea, caring for adorable Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Tully and Tizer.

You might also like to read these:

Venice Beach So What’s It Really Like

We were excited to be spending Christmas and New Year in Venice Beach, we’d been pretty lucky to be chosen for the sit from quite a few applicants and would be caring for 2 easy cats for the owners. We headed straight down from our house sit in Placerville via Pacific Highway 1.

Tip: To give yourself the best chance of getting some amazing sits like this one in Venice Beach take a look at our post on Joining Trusted House Sitters, full of tips on how to stand out above the crowds!

We had the use of the owners lovely 3 bedroom home just a 20 minute walk from Venice Beach Boardwalk. A pretty good location to explore Venice and nearby Santa Monica.

Venice Beach was not quite what we expected, or should we say not like the photos depicted. First impression of the boardwalk was of a mix of graffiti, an abundance of clothing stores, fast food outlets and we feel we have to mention it, the numerous homeless people encamped along the boardwalk. We only mention this as we want to portray and honest version of our stay in Venice. We also feel very sorry that our fellow humans have been put in a position that they have to live on the streets. We’d be very interested to here anyone else’s first impression of Venice Beach, please feel free to drop us a comment at the bottom of this blog.

Having given our first impression, we have to say that our impression did change the longer we stayed in Venice, so please read on!

Second impression was a little different once we had googled a little more about Venice Beach. We found words like, “interesting”, “eclectic” and “crazy” and started build an idea of exactly what Venice Beach was all about. In summary it really is an unusual place and a really great place to people watch!

Venice does actually pay homage to its Italian name sake, as it has a section of canals at one end of the town, colourful buildings, lots of rather unique art and certainly a lot of unusual characters who you’ll regularly see on the boardwalk.

The beach is pretty amazing, stretching as far as the eye can see, its attached to Santa Monica at one end and encompasses Marina del Rey at the other. If you walk toward Marina del Rey along the boardwalk you’ll eventually hit one of the best parts of the beach in my opinion, just last the pier and away from the hustle and bustle of Venice you’ll find a beautiful stretch of sand fringed by some rather unique houses and apartment buildings. Head the other way towards Santa Monica, past Muscle Beach and the rather should we say unique part of Venice boardwalk, you’ll reach the first part of Santa Monica where you can almost feel the different vibe!

So what about some brunch while in Venice? Well, like many travellers we headed to Egg Slut, which is located just by the Venice Sign. We grabbed a couple of Bacon, Egg and Cheese to go. For some reason they didn’t serve coffee after 11.30am, so we headed down the boardwalk to Starbucks!

One more thing before you go. Be sure to head down to the beach at dusk, as Venice is known for having some pretty amazing sunsets!

You might also like to read these:

Our 2019 House/Pet sits

Almost the end of 2019 and we are on our final house sit of the year. We love to keep a memory of all the pets we got to house sit for and loved as our own. We will always remember 2019 for the year we began our International house sitting which had always been the plan for our house sitting journey, beginning in California.

We have been house/pet sitting full time with the odd hotel night in between sits. Also, as this was our first time visiting California, of course there were more than a few ‘tourist’ destinations to see, when we were pet free. Visiting Yosemite Park, Grand Canyon, Vegas, Lake Tahoe and San Francisco were just a dream before our house/pet sitting travelling lifestyle.

January 2019 began with Blue in Wales

Lulu in Leiston

Tilly in Leiston

Bella and Bertie in Wymondham

Tan in Aldeburgh

Dotty, Alan and Archie in Rollesby

The happy 7 hens in Rollesby

Buster and Indy in Lincoln

Tara in Lincoln

Gully and Icy in Attleborough

The 3 sweet Bantams in Attleborough

Hector in Berkhampsted

Little One in Norwich

Netty in Norwich

Harry in Syderstone

Doris and Frank in Old Buckenham

Mitzi in Old Buckenham

Rupert in Trimmingham

Kip in Redgrave

Tinker, Hi Five and the 4 Hens in Lincoln

Mookie in San Francisco

Julian in San Rafael

Suni in Placerville

Raven, Ruthie and Chewbacca in Placerville

Cashmere and Smudge in Venice Beach

You might also like to take a look at these:

Exploring Hangman Town Now Known As Placerville

Our California house sitting journey has take us to Hangman Town known today as Placerville. An old gold mining town with a very interesting past, particularly for a number of criminals hanged from a tree for their crimes way back in the 1840’s and 50’s hence it used to be called Hangman Town.

Tip: To give yourself the best chance of getting some amazing sits like this one in Placerville take a look at our post on Joining Trusted House Sitters, full of tips on how to stand out above the crowds!

Our accommodation for the week was house sitting for a couple who had a property up in the hills with lots of land looking over the town and we had the pleasure of caring for their cat called Suni and three very characterful chickens.

Placerville retains its old gold mining town charm and feels a bit like going back in time when you head down into the main street. With its bell tower in the square and reminder of its Hangtown past with the local ice cream parlour still having a noose hanging from its top floor. Couple this with main the street full of shops with old fashioned signs and four wheel drives signifying that you really are up in the hills, makes this a real experience of imagining how it was back in the gold rush era.

Our favourite coffee stop was Placerville Coffee Depot located at the end of Main Street and Hog Wild BBQ provided us with a great meal, check them out if you like ribs, chicken or pulled pork.

We were visiting in December and amazed at the number of shops specialising in Christmas ornaments and decorations. It looked as if they sold them all year round, really pretty to look round but amazing to think that people are buying Christmas decorations all year round!

For food shopping you’ll need to head to the other end of town which felt like you were going to another town all together, its a good couple of miles along Placerville Drive to Raley’s Supermarket or take the main highway to Perks Corner and you’ll find a Safeway Store.

For the cheapest petrol in town head for Fuel 4 Less at the end of Main Street.

Parking in Placerville is pretty good too, roadside parking and a few car parks, all offer 2 hours free parking before they start charging. Plenty long enough to explore the town and grab a coffee.

One of the main reasons for us taking the house sit out in Placerville was the opportunity to take a day trip to Lake Tahoe. Its a must go place for fabulous scenery, good skiing and water sports, really good hiking spots and great places to eat and drink.

We took the stunning scenic route 50 through Eldorado Forest to South Lake Tahoe. Talk about a stroke of luck as we had heard about a winter storm a few days before we arrived in Placerville and half expected the road to be closed or snow chains needed. But we had blue sky, clear roads and snow on the trees. It was just like one of those scenic drives you only ever dream of doing. Simply beautiful!

After about an hours drive we reached South Lake Tahoe, a really popular town boasting ski resorts and a fabulous lakeside location, providing what can only be described as paradise for water sports and winter sports lovers!

Our plan was to drive the 72 miles around the lake, and we decided to go anti clockwise due to the position of the sun for photos. We set of on the 89 towards Tahoe City.

First stop was the Emerald Bay View Point for what has to be one of the best views of Lake Tahoe. There are a few view points where you can capture panoramas of the mountains and lake. We hiked out through the snow to a cliff top overlooking the lake which took some doing, but we had it to ourselves and captured what we thought was the perfect selfie. After a long hike back to the car, we set off heading further north, shortly arriving at the official Emerald Bay View point with a really easy walk to get the perfect selfie! We drove past it muttering!

Second stop was Tahoe City, a waterfront location and plenty of shops, but not a decent coffee shop in sight, so we headed further north!

Third stop was incline village where we hunted down a Starbucks to takeaway. Incline village is pretty big actually and has some fabulous houses and a great place to pay a visit to Lake Tahoe State Park and San Harbour, which were our next stop, the perfect spot to sit on the rocks and drink takeaway coffee! There is a really nice footpath walk by the side of the lake at Secret Harbor and some great photo opportunities at Secret Cove and Chimney Beach.

Heading back down to the southern part of the lake taking the 28 and then on to the 50 we passed through Nevada State Park, East Shore Forest and Zephyr Cove Park as we return to our start point at South Lake Tahoe just as the sunset. From the lakeside we could watch the last few skiers taking their last run down the mountain at the Heavenly Ski Resort while watching the sun set over the lake and mountains in the other direction. A great finish to a fantastic day!

We had a great week staying at Placerville, drinking coffee on the porch while feeding the chickens and caring for their sweet kitty. We even had a couple of visits from the local wild black turkeys that roam the area.

In summary we found Placerville a beautiful place to spend a week. The highlight was definitely the day trip to Lake Tahoe, and we really recommend taking the time to try and get up to the lake if you are visiting California, its well worth the drive, so much so that we would love to return and stay down by the lake if ever a house sit came up down there, we are keeping our eye out for one!

You might also like to read these:

Start House Sitting

Want to know about a fantastic way to see the world on a budget?? House and Pet Sitting is the latest trend of low cost travelling – whether you want a long term adventure or an affordable vacation staying ACCOMMODATION FREE! read on! Do you enjoy the company of animals, meeting new people and want to extend your travel budgets …. if this sounds good – then continue reading because we want to tell you more about this fur-bulous way to travel and how it all works. So many people say it must cost a fortune to fund all of our travels, it doesn’t, we have a very low travel budget, here’s how it works!

House sitting allows you to ‘live like locals’ instead of staying in bland hotels. You will meet the most wonderful and gracious people along the way. We hope this blog will help you start your own adventure travelling around the world!

Fancy travelling the world ACCOMMODATION FREE ?
Join now and start your journey with Trustedhousesitters – Meeting new people, seeing new places all with the ‘furbulous’ company of owners’ pets. Receive 20% discount off the 1st years membership by clicking here

This concept of travelling to different destinations caring for owners homes and pets can work for any adult age group. You just have to love animals and be aware of your responsibilities to the owner for their pets and their home and understand that house and pet sitting is a commitment and not a free holiday; keeping all the time to the owners’ wishes and instructions. Younger adults are embracing this way of travelling, often full-time. But this way of travel isn’t just for younger long-term nomads, pet sitting is a great way to spend your retirement, it may only be for short breaks now and then, enabling you to enjoy a different location and a new environment. House and pet sitting can make life so interesting and varied and the house sits range from weekends to months in length.

Pet sitting is a win/win for both pet sitters and pet/home owners. The owners get to travel with peace of mind because their home and pet(s) are being exceptionally well cared for in their own home and with no costly boarding expenses. And travelling Pet sitters like us, get to enjoy time staying in beautiful cities around the world giving lots of love to pets and homes. Another great aspect to this adventure is that no money changes hands; it is all about trust, obligation, diligence, kindness and care.

SO THE FIRST THING TO DO IS JOIN AN ONLINE HOUSE SITTING AGENCY –

There are now quite a few that bring together house/pet Owners and house/pet Sitters. The Owners advertise their ‘sitter’ requests and on the same website house/pet Sitters are able to promote themselves and their strengths and their availability to sit. Our favourite by far, is this House/Pet Sitting platform Trustedhousesitters – it is the one that we use, it has the largest international house sitting community – covering over 70 countries – and we can fully recommend it because we are paying members ourselves. It has been around since 2010. They have the greatest number of world wide listings and the highest quality listings. What would you say to this??? – Three months living in a beach house on a Caribbean island? A month in a villa Southern France…..yes, for real!

You can read here about ‘how to’ along with ‘tips on’ joining the online House sitting Community and further below we have outlined further points think about.

There is an annual fee to pay to sign up to the TrustedHousesitting online Agency – both for Owners and Sitters. The fee starts at £99.00 GBP for the basic membership up to £199 GBP for the premium membership.

Once you have signed up as a Sitter, you will be able to read the twice daily postings of the latest house sits that are emailed to you direct as placed on their website by home owners. Then, when you see a sit that gets your attention ie. the pets, dates, location etc are of interest to you, then you can apply to do the sit via the secure website.

Pet sitters of course fund their travel costs to arrive at the sit. And in exchange for the caring and loving of the pet(s) and the owners home, and garden if needed, swimming pool etc., the accommodation is free, therefore, keeping living costs extremely low for the sitter. The majority of our last two years have been spent house-sitting, saving us well over £10,000 in accommodation costs, allowing us to spend that savings on an incredible set of travel experiences we might never have enjoyed otherwise. For instance the saving helped us fund a 16 day road trip around California before the start of our international pet sitting adventure in the USA.

Once you have joined an international pet/house sitting agency you need to think about the following:

1. CREATE A GREAT PROFILE FOR YOURSELF………….You need to stand out from the competition! Your Profile has to really impress the owners. Head on over to our blog post ‘tips on creating your great Profile‘ for help on creating your great profile.

2. RESPOND TO SITS QUICKLY…………………… When you see a sit that ‘grabs’ you apply as quickly as possible, you will be amazed at the amount of sitters that will also apply. If you are lucky enough to be selected by owners on to their shortlist – offer the opportunity to Skype/Facetime. We have Skyped prior to confirming all our sits, it’s a great way to ‘meet’ the homeowners and get to know them, both parties need to feel happy and relaxed that they’ve made a good choice. In our opinion you can gauge very quickly in this type of ‘meet up’ if you’ve found a good match.

3. READ THE HOUSE OWNER’S REQUIREMENTS ………………. Observe these fully and make sure you are comfortable and able to carry out the requested tasks. It may be that the dog will need two hour-long daily walks, or the pet may be in need of daily injections, there may be specific house/pool maintenance tasks. Don’t commit unless you are happy to carry out all of the responsibilities. Of course do your own due diligence about the location of the sit, research the neighbourhood, you want to be sure you feel happy in that locality especially if the sit is for an extended period of time.

4. TRAVEL VISA REQUIREMENTS………………. They differ sometimes from one country to another and you want to be sure that you comply with the Visa requirements fully. Before taking on a sit in another country make sure that you are able to stay in that country long enough or you are able to apply for any necessary visa in time for the sit.

5. ARRIVE FULLY PREPARED ……………. Make sure you have received the Owner’s Welcome Pack at least a week before you arrive for the sit. It will contain all the relevant information about the house and the pet(s), more detailed information on the owners requirements, emergency contact information, location of the nearest clinic/hospital, watering of indoor and outdoor plants, dishes they prefer not to be used, how to operate the home alarm system if there is one, the vets details etc. Always make a note of the main specifics to take with you on arrival and a note of any questions to ask the homeowners. It’s your job to make sure you ask all the questions you need answers to.

6. KEEP IN TOUCH……………. Not going overboard, but certainly letting the owners know how everything is going and how their pet(s) are doing. Of course some owners want frequent updates and some not so much. You can always ask the owner’s preference about this. We always send a photo or two showing the pet(s) happy and relaxed, to put the owners minds at rest while they are away from their home.

7. RESPONSILIBITY…………….. Whether you are staying in a villa in Italy or somewhere amazing you have never visited before, never lose sight of the responsibility of pet care. Of course the owners will want you to enjoy their home area and explore a little, if we are sitting for say dogs and they are happy to explore with us we are always happy to take them with us, if not, we never leave the home/pets for long periods of time, never for more than 4-5 hours in a day, go by what the owners say too. If the homeowner walks their dog an hour in the morning and an hour each evening; you need to commit to that schedule 100%. While you’re not getting paid, taking care of the pet is still ‘your job’ and that responsibility should be taken very seriously.

8. RESPECT THE OWNER’S HOME…………….You will need to treat the owners home as you would your own, keeping it clean throughout, dusting and vacuuming, washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and before the owner returns making sure all that you have used – fridge, microwave, oven, toaster etc are all thoroughly cleaned.

9. ON THE OWNER’S RETURN……………… As well as having the owners house clean and ready for them along with having their pets relaxed and exercised, it’s a really nice idea to have a meal prepared for the owners on their homecoming, you can chat about their travels, tell them how the pet/house sit has gone all over a home cooked meal and a glass of wine. This obviously depends on the owners return time along with having an idea of what the owners like to eat!

10. ASK FOR A REFERENCE …………….. If you have done a great job they will give you a great reference and that will go a long way towards your future sits. Informing prospective owners on your sitting performance. On TrustedHousesitters the pet/homeowners post their reference directly to the website. No one can revise or edit the reference in anyway before it’s posted, so all references are genuine.

With home and pet sitting you get to live like a local. You get to know the locals and their lifestyle. As a tourist you often only see the tourist sights where you’re staying, but as a house Sitter you get to see the daily life of locals, visit the local market and chat to neighbours. The house Owners will give you great local knowledge on best sights to go to as well as best coffee shops and lunch spots.

House sitting, especially those for longer periods, allows the opportunity to travel at a much more relaxed pace. Where possible we always take the pet(s) with us on journeys out, mixing visiting local sites and places of interest with their exercise requirements. If they cannot or do not like to walk too far or journey in the car, we make sure they are well cared for/exercised etc before we pop out to the shops or for a visit and make sure we return within the acceptable time that the Owners have instructed us about.

Making worldwide friendships – you get to know the owners, initially through the correspondence you have together about the sit and then further when you have been accepted. You get to meet the owners at the beginning of the sit and then when they return from their vacation and the communication whilst they are away. We have made long-lasting friends around the globe. When you do a great job for the owners, they are so grateful to you for caring for their treasured pets and as sitters you are thankful to them for welcoming you into their home – they open up their homes to you, often introducing you to their families and neighbours and very often a strong and immediate bond is formed. Having the opportunity to meet new people all around the world is something we cherish and feel very grateful for.

Pet sitting can be truly life changing as it has been for us who have taken to pet sitting almost full time. Pet sitting can also open up opportunities to travel to countries you never thought you’d get to travel too – in our case California and Cape Town so far – where will our pet sitting journey take us to next?

You might also like to take a look at these:

7 Days House Sitting in San Rafael, California

Having read quite a bit about how lovely San Rafael was, we were pretty excited to be spending a week in town caring for 6 year old Julian the poodle. So we headed straight up from our house sit in San Francisco by taxi arriving at the owners home the night before they flew out for their holiday. Julian was a great pup and joined us for coffee downtown, took us on his favourite walks in the hills looking over San Rafael and had the most amazing trip to the beach were he just couldn’t contain his excitement.

Tip: To give yourself the best chance of getting some amazing sits like this one in San Rafael take a look at our post on Joining Trusted House Sitters, full of tips on how to stand out above the crowds!

We had the use of the owners lovely home in the hills overlooking San Rafael, just a 20 minute walk from the centre of town, supermarkets and cafes. The owners were kind enough to leave us their car so we could explore the area further and take Julian to the beach.

San Rafael is a bustling town and has a relaxing feel in the town centre with a great selection of boutique shops, coffee houses, restaurants, as well as Wholefoods, Safeway and Trader Joe’s Supermarkets. A popular commute to San Francisco and Oakland its roads can be really busy at rush hour times, but the town itself never felt crowded.

Our regular coffee house for the week was Aroma Cafe, where we could sit outside with Julian, people watching in the main street. Good food and coffee, it was always really busy which was a good sign that we picked one of the best day time eateries in town.

If you’re looking to dine out in the evening, check out Sol Food serving some really good Puerto Rican dishes and highly recommended by the home owners.

We found a great place for dog walking was up in the hills at Mountain Park which had beautiful views over the town and out towards Richmond Bridge the gateway to Oakland. Boyd Memorial Park is also a nice place for a walk or just to relax if the sun is shining.

We had the opportunity to take Julian on a day trip to the beach. We headed up into the hills past Fairfax, Nicasio and through to Point Reyes Station, a lovely drive in itself with mountain, lake and forest views on route. From Point Reyes we took Highway 1 down to beautiful Stinson Beach where we took Julian for a long walk and he absolutely loved it. We then took a sunset drive further down Highway 1 past Muir Beach and back to 101 just above Marin City and headed back north to San Raphael.

If you have the opportunity to travel further afield than just San Raphael town, then we highly recommend a trip out to Sausalito. Head just 15 minutes south on Highway 101 to this beautiful coastal town, which has some lovely restaurants, good coffee and deli shops and a range of unique shops. A great place for a stroll along the waterfront. You can also catch a ferry to San Francisco from here too.

In summary we found San Raphael a nice place to spend a week. We recommend you have the opportunity to explore the surrounding area to really benefit from a stay in this location. The downside for us was the traffic, the 101 does get very congested and was a bit of a pain when we came back from the beach and when we visited Sausalito.

You might also like to read these:

7 Days in San Diego

San Diego is a major city in southern California and we were really excited to visit it as so many travellers had told us it was a great place to be in and we weren’t disappointed with our 7 days stay. With its all year round mild climate, smart harbour, waterfront promenade, beach, great restaurants, green park areas, zoo and much more – what’s not to love – and we found the San Diegans to be ultra friendly! Our visit was mid November and we had super weather in the 70’s.

We stayed in the lively Gaslamp Quarter. Mostly this area is known as a popular hub for great nightlife, restaurants and cocktail bars. Walking among the colourful evening lights there is a real vibrant buzz of entertainment and at the same time a definite feel of a friendly community.

One of our favourite walks was strolling down to Embarcadero (Spanish for wharf) to the super smart Marina area and Seaport Village. Looking back behind us is the San Diego skyline. Below is the San Diego Bay, a natural Harbour and deep water Port.

Walking further along the waterfront we pass through Seaport Village with its chic stores, cafes, book stores, pretty eateries and at the weekend there is free good live entertainment. It’s lit up very prettily at night and an evening waterfront walk here really is a delight. A great place to dine or sip a cocktail while watching the sun going down. The sunsets here are quite spectacular reflecting onto the waters.

Also at the Seaport district is ‘The Headquarters’ – a spacious, open air designed space- it is the former headquarters to the San Diego Police Department and now an exciting new dining and retail destination. You can find speciality shops and world class restaurants. The buildings are a rich mix of designs – Spanish Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Pueblo Revival and Classical Revival .

In Downtown we came across Little Italy (it seemed to us more laid back than the Gaslamp area). Little Italy is a trendy, friendly neighbourhood, packed with restaurants – some high end gourmet, cocktail bars, gastropubs, and coffee shops and a great juice bar we found. Every Saturday there is an excellent Farmers Market.

On our last full day we walked to Bilbao Park. This huge green park space is totally free to roam and explore, no entry fee. The Park has lots to offer and was much bigger than we imagined. It is filled with museums – 15 in total we think, including the Museum of Man and The San Diego Museum of Art and the Fleece Science Centre. You can walk around the beautiful gardens, there are walking trails and 3 dog parks. The Botanical Garden building is beautiful and unusual, it’s located in the heart of the Park – it has a large lily pond in front of it. Apparently over 2,000 plants are housed here in the Botanical building.

You have to admire the gorgeous architecture in the Park (unfortunately for us, visiting in the quieter season, many of the buildings at this time were having work carried out so scaffolding was up). There are cafes and restaurants – we could see the Prado restaurant was popular. Below is The Japanese Friendship Garden, it is beautiful to walk through and visit the Tea Pavilion.

Summary

Dates of stay: 15th to 23rd November

Stayed at San Diego Downtown Lodge – priced at $632 USD for the week

Review: Comfortable accommodation, recently refurbished, coffee and ice in reception, good WIFI reception, daily housekeeping, microwave and fridge in room. Good location about 15 to 20 minute walk from Gaslamp District. A bit of road noise! We’d recommend it based on price and location.

Thank you for visiting our Blog, we would really appreciate your comments, your thoughts on it, or your experiences to share and if you have any questions. There is a comment box at the end of this blog page and we will be so happy to get back to you, to answer and to give any help/advice we can.

Like This Post? Pin It!

You might also like to read these:

A Great Idea For A 10 Day Itinerary in New York

Don’t miss a thing when you visit New York. We hope our guide to making the most of a trip to the “Big Apple” helps you see the best sites, landmarks and attractions of this amazing city. We stayed in Lower Manhattan (China Town) as the hotel prices in the this part of the city are so much less than around Central Manhattan.

We stayed at Hotel 91 in China Town, a well priced hotel, clean, with comfortable bed, good wifi and ice machine on each floor. Some of the reviews mentioned noise from Brooklyn Bridge. We had a room with a window looking out towards the bridge and had no problems sleeping, you could just hear the trains but in no way did they disturb our sleep. We would recommend the hotel.

We found the location was perfect as we were a short walk from famous Brooklyn Bridge, China Town, Little Italy and walking distance to Battery Park and some of the best views of The Statue of Liberty. Great transport links also meant we could be in the hustle and bustle of Time Square, Rockafella Centre and the Empire State Building in just a few minutes.

With so much to see in New York, we would recommend a minimum of 7 days in the city, if you can manage it. Our itinerary took us 10 days of leisurely seeing all parts of the city and we hope you can pick out a few tips to help you with your planned visit weather it be a long weekend or an extended stay.

Day 1 and 2 – The Open Top Tour Bus

We booked the hop on hop off city bus from Citysightseeing which constantly drives a route covering all of the sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. We highly recommended this whether you are in the city for a long weekend or a longer stay, as it gives you a real snapshot of the whole city with stops at some of the most iconic spots including Battery Park, China Town, Empire State Building, Central Park, Yankee Stadium and Brooklyn. We also took the night time tour which was excellent with all the lights through Time Square and the drive across Brooklyn Bridge giving you a brilliant night view of the Manhattan skyline.

Day 3 – China Town, Little Italy and Brooklyn

Starting early gives you a real feel of local life in China Town, as the shop owners deliveries of exotic fruits and veg arrive along with the aroma of roast duck and sweet and sour greet you as you turn every corner. You can’t miss Little Italy, which is right next to China town which consists mainly of one street lined with Pasta and Pizza restaurants, but its worth a look while you are that way. The walk across Brooklyn Bridge was next on our list, close to China Town its an impressive walk with fabulous views down the Hudson. When you reach the other side be sure to walk through Brooklyn Heights and down by the river at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where you’ll get brilliant views of the New York Skyline.

Day 4 – Battery Park and Wall Street

We started our day down at Battery Park with a return trip on the Staten Island Ferry. This little 25 minute trip each way gives you some good views of the Statue of Liberty and part of the River Hudson. Best of all the ferry is free of charge!

Our final stop of the day was a very moving visit to Ground Zero Memorial and St Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church to pay our respects to all those that lost their lives in the 9/11 attack.

Day 5 – Central Park and Time Square

We started our day taking the train (subway) to the stop close to south entrance of Central Park. A long walk through the park taking in the beautiful autumn colours and sound of music from the Chinese man playing his Erhu (a kind of violin). The Bethesda Fountain is a lovely spot to stop and relax and Bow Bridge is a pretty nice place to have a photo. We didn’t really have time but we saw quite a few people who had hired rowing boats and were spending an hour or two on the lake. Boat hire is available from The Loeb Boathouse

You can easily spend half a day in Central Park, which we did, spending a bit of time at Strawberry Fields, grabbing a fresh Pretzel from the street vendor on Central Park West and heading back through the park for a walk back down 5th Avenue towards Manhattan.

We spent the rest of the day around the Time Square area, partly because we wanted to see if we could get some cheap seats for a show that evening. We managed to get tickets for some really good seats at Phantom of The Opera (Majestic Theatre) at about 30% discount.

Tip: For great value last minute show tickets, queue up at the TKTS Time Square Booth for that evenings shows!

We found a lively sports bar to grab a bite to eat eat before the show “The Keg Room“, great atmosphere and well priced pub food. Phantom of the Opera was an excellent show.

Day 6 – Rockafella and Empire State

We planned to take two high views in today. One daytime trip up to the top of the Empire State Building and a trip up the Top of The Rock at night.

We purchased tickets for both from Newyorksightseeing as they offered a deal for two at a 30% discount.

As we were visiting out of season we didn’t have much of a queue when waiting for the lifts, but if you are visiting at peak times expect delays and plan this into your day.

We highly recommend doing a day and a night trip as you get a totally different experience each time and great photo opportunities. Wrap up warm if you are going out of season as it can get pretty windy up top and pretty cold too.

Headed back to China Town for some fabulous Chinese food.

Day 7 – Williamsburg Bridge, Williamsburg Neighbourhood and Soho

We spent the day exploring the Neighbourhood of Williamsburg starting with a walk across Williamsburg Bridge giving us great views down river towards Manhattan Bridge. Williamsburg has plenty of cool cafes and restaurants and a pretty relaxed feel.

We headed back over the bridge and made our way to trendy Soho for a bit of window shopping and a warm pretzel from one of the street vendors.

Day 8 – River Trip Up The Hudson

We researched good Hudson River Cruises and ended up settling on Circleline Sightseeing Cruises setting off from Pier 83. The cruise passed under 20 bridges and over 130 of the city’s most iconic landmarks including the full Manhattan skyline, One World Trade Centre, Brooklyn waterfront, Yankee Stadium, Gracie Mansion, George Washington Bridge, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Review: A great river cruise with really informative guide, comfortable boat with snack bar on board. Recommended.

Headed back to China Town for a really good supper at one of the local restaurants.

Day 9 – Hell’s Kitchen, Macy’s and Central Park

We had a fairly leisure day planned today with a walk up Hell’s Kitchen which has some really good restaurants, bars and pubs along 8th and 9th avenues. We ended up at Hudson River Park which has some lovely landscaped walkways offering lovely waterfront views.

We then headed to Macy’s for a bit of retail therapy. Managed to get a bargain on a lovely North Face Jacket!

Walked through Time Square again and a final evening walk in Central Park.

Day 10 – Day At Leisure!

The beauty of a 10 day trip to New York is that it leaves you with a free day to catch anything than you didn’t get time to do or in our case a chance to spend a bit more time around Brooklyn. Followed by a Hunt for a really good New York Cheesecake Shop, research took us to Eileen’s who have been baking cheesecakes at the shop for over 40 years! We were not disappointing, it was the best cheescake we’ve ever tasted!

Summary of our trip to New York:

If you are lucky enough to have 10 days to explore New York, you’ll have plenty to occupy your time and we hope our itinerary gives you a good idea of things to see and places to go. If you have a shorter period of time in the city we hope you can pick out some of the most iconic sights that we have listed and build them into your own itinerary.

You might also like to read these:

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this blog post may be affiliate links meaning that, with no extra cost to you, we earn a small commission if you make a purchase. We recommend only products and companies we use.

How The Global Pet Sitters Started

In 2017 when we started thinking about travelling full time, we heard about a relatively new concept of worldwide house and pet sitting. Little did we know that this would become such a huge part of our travelling future. We love animals and missed having our own pets but because we wanted to travel more it meant we couldn’t have our own. After researching a number of sites, back then, offering house and pet sitting we joined the largest International Pet/House sitting community – and began applying for our very first house sitting stay.

This was to be the start of our plan to embark on a life of house and pet sitting our way around the World.

Now, if like us you love animals and you love travel, then house/pet sitting could be a great way to help your travel funds stretch further, as it can save you loads on accommodation costs. Not only that, but it allows you the opportunity to ‘live like a local’ in the owners home. You get to meet new people and make friends along the way and best of all you get to have the company of different pets.

When we first started out we figured that starting our house sitting locally would allowed us to visit the home owners so that they could meet us, especially as initially we had no reviews and nothing but our Profile for the owners to go on. We hoped that, in time, our Ratings and Reviews posted by owners, would help to support our international pet and house sit applications, where it would not be possible to meet the owners, with the only way of introduction being our profile and a video call.

Building great reviews has certainly been key to us getting some of the best sits, after building a bank of reviews in the UK we set off to the USA and spent 3 months pet sitting our way around California.

Pet sitting is a win/win for both pet sitters and owners. The owners get to travel with peace of mind because their home and pets are being exceptionally well cared for in their own home and with no costly boarding expenses. Travelling house and pet sitters like us, get to enjoy time staying in beautiful cities, coast’s and countryside’s around the world giving lots of love to pets and caring for homes – you could be staying in a Caribbean waterfront villa with a cat and a dog for two months or 2 weeks in a Manhattan flat …. what’s not to like!

There are a few online websites for home and pet owners to advertise their ‘sitter’ requests.

Our top choice and favourite by far, is Trustedhousesitters, it is the one that we use most regularly. It has the largest international house sitting community – over 70 countries – and we can fully recommend it because we are premium paying members ourselves and have completed more than 50 sits through them. Once you’ve signed up you can set up phone alerts that send you the latest sits in any locations of your choice. A great little addition that gives you the opportunity to apply as soon as sits are listed.

In our opinion they have the greatest number of listings and the highest quality of listings too. What would you say to “Three months on the Caribbean island of Barbados”, “A month in a Chateau in France” or 2 weeks in a house with pool in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Just a sample of the many truly fabulous travel opportunities!

You might also like to take a look at these:

A Review Of Pet Sitting Websites

There has been a surge in online platforms connecting pet owners with sitters and having used many of them ourselves and spoken with sitters and owners who have used the platforms we hope you will benefit from our recommendations and reviews of the collection of pet and home sitting websites available at the moment.

Having a Pet sitter is becoming a popular alternative to the traditional kennel boarding of pets. This is where owners choose a sitter to stay in their home to care for their pets while the owners are away. This allows the pets to stay in the comfort of their own home and provides security for the home owner having their home occupied for the duration of the owners absence. A brilliant idea!

Trusted House Sitters

Very Highly Recommended! In our view the best in the market for pet sitting opportunities all over the world. It has a really easy to use website dashboard for members. If you download the App you can save search data and you will receive a message when a new sit is posted that fits your date criteria. A really handy tool for sitters on the go. By far the largest collection of sits available in various countries on one platform. We particularly like the reviews aspect where both owners and sitter can leave reviews for each other. In summary very impressive!

Visit Trustedhousesitters Website

Membership from £99 per year

House Carers

Recommended! This site has a fairly good selection of sits available, pretty easy to navigate around the website and search for sits. It has a bit of an old fashioned feel to the site, perhaps due to the photos being a little blurred on the search results page. I think it could be worth the money however if you’re travelling to an area where they have a few sits, they also add new listings regularly.

Visit House Carers Website

Membership $50 USD per year

Nomadors

The website has a bit of an old fashioned feel to it and is a little confusing to navigate, I searched for listings in the UK and didn’t get a very big selection of current sits. Narrowing it down to the area of Norfolk and no sits are available. Compare that to Trustedhousesitters who presently have 31 sits available in the same county. At €65 a year for Nomadors I would have wanted a little more than this personally. I’m sorry but I’m not a big fan of this one!

Visit Nomadors Website

Membership €74 euros per year

Mind My House

This site has a fairly good selection of listings, but it just doesn’t fill me with confidence. I viewed a few listings and none had any testimonials which makes me wonder if they have ever been successful in getting a sitter. The other thing I notice is that homeowners don’t have to pay an annual subscription, which to me feels as if owners can just advertise a sit but as they have not paid may not really be committed to having a sitter, I do wonder if there are many sitters that have been let down. I would like to see a subscription charged for homeowners to list. Its cheap for sitters however so might be worth a punt alongside one of the websites in the list.

Visit MindMyHouse Website

Membership $20 USD per year

House Sit Match

This site has an easy to navigate search area. Unfortunately the number of listings don’t live up to the modern look website, a bit disappointing. It does look as if you can get some discounts on memberships though, so could be worth joining if its cheap enough! Visit Housesitmatch Website Membership £49 per year standard and £79 per year premium

Website Specialising in Just One Country

There are a number of pet and home sitting websites that have set up concentrating on just one country. They have targeted pet sits in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia. We give our summary and opinion of the best websites that have established themselves in these niche areas.

Mindahome (United Kingdom)

Good selection of sits available across the UK and a cheap joining fee for sitters. Free to advertise for pet owners maximising the potential for sit available. Easy to navigate and clearly laid out site. The only thing I would like to see is a little more in the way of support for the pet sitters. I note in the FAQ’s section the following question.
Who pays for the utility costs (electricity, gas, etc)?
Answer: Usually the House sitter pays for what they use although sometimes special circumstances may apply where these expenses are met by the householder. Everything is negotiable. My personal view is that the the homeowner should pay the bills, as they are making a saving from not putting pets in kennels, while also having security for their home. Coupled with this that pet sitters pay a membership for the site and the homeowners pay nothing, seems to me a bit one sided towards the owners. This is my personal view as when I house and pet sit my number one priority is to provide 100% care for the owners home and pets, and I think the trade off should be that we do not charge but at the same time we shouldn’t fund the owners home costs.

Visit Mindahome (UK) Website

Membership £15 per year

House Sitters UK

One of a very few websites specialising in sits in the UK has an easy to navigate website and a good collection of listings available. I like the fact they have ID verification’s, reviews and membership badges for sitters. I’d certainly consider using it if I were looking for sits in UK. Visit HouseSittersUK Website Membership £29 per year

House Sitters America

I’m surprised to find this is the only website specialising in pet sits in America. But they do it pretty well. Again the price is pretty low to join and free for owners, but they do have a good selection of listings and its pretty easy to navigate around the site. I would certainly consider using them if I was travelling in the USA. Visit HouseSittersAmerica Website Membership $30 US Dollars per year

House Sitters Canada

One of a very few websites specialising in sits in Canada and an easy to navigate website. Quite a few listings available. I like the fact they have introduced ID verification’s, reviews and membership badges for sitters. I’d certainly consider using it if I were looking for sits in Canada. Visit HouseSittersCanada Website Membership $59 per year

Kiwi House Sitters

Specialising in sits in New Zealand, it has a well thought out layout and is an easy to navigate website. Averaging eight hundred plus pet sits across NZ available each month, its got plenty to offer sitters. They use ID verification’s, reviews and membership badges for sitters allowing them to build up trust and experience to add to the profile. I’d certainly consider using it if I were looking for sits in New Zealand. Visit KiwiHouseSitters Website Membership $84 per year

Aussie House Sitters

This multi award winning site specialising in sits in Australia and is one of the best in my opinion, with an average of over two and a half thousand pet sit listings across Australia each month, its got plenty to offer sitters travelling to the country. Along with ID verification’s, reviews and membership badges for sitters allowing them to build up trust and experience to add to the profile. This would be my go to website if I were looking for sits in Australia. Visit AussieHouseSitters Website Membership $84 per year (reduced fees for renewals)

Like This Post? Pin It!

Wanting to start as a pet sitter, we hope you might like reading these:

Joining TrustedHouseSitters And Begin House Sitting

Joining the THS House/Pet sitting community is an easy process, but completing your profile on the site and applying for sits takes a bit more time and thought to give yourself the best chance of being selected by owners. We hope to help you with all that on this blog post. The first thing you need to do to get started is to head on over to Trustedhousesitters and complete the easy to do quick sign up information. Just click on the “JOIN NOW” button in the top right hand corner of their Page. Once you’ve joined read on for tips. Be sure to click on this link here to receive a 20% discount on your first years membership.

Top Tips To Being Chosen For Sits

IT’S IMPORTANT TO CREATE A GREAT PROFILE FOR YOURSELF make it detailed and show your strengths – you need to stand out from the competition! Your Profile has to Wow the owners!

1. HIGHLIGHT YOUR STRONG POINTS about your personality and what you would bring to the house/pet sit.

2. INCLUDE ANY PAST EXPERIENCE of house and pet sitting, however small, maybe you looked after your friends tortoise one day, just make sure its all included.

3. REFERENCES – See if you can get some really good references, perhaps a character reference from someone you know well, a reliability reference from a past employer or maybe you’ve looked after that friends tortoise and they’d give you a reference!

4. PHOTOS SAY IT ALL – One of the best ways to show who you are and how you are around pets is with photos. With all pet sitters profiles you will get the opportunity to add photos. Great idea if you can get a shot of you cuddling a dog, or working with animals. Think hard about what you would like to see if you were a pet owner looking for a sitter.

5. SKILLS – Have you got any skills that might be handy during the sit? Think about anything you may have done in the past, maybe you have some experience with larger animals perhaps horses, or have training in swimming pool maintenance, maybe you’re good at gardening or DIY, have cleaning or property management skills. Dig deep and build a list to add to your profile!

RESPOND QUICKLY WHEN YOU SEE A SIT THAT ‘GRABS’ YOU – you’ll be amazed at the amount of sitters that will also apply, it can get pretty competitive for those luxury sits!

COMMITMENT – Within the owner’s sit information will be the specific house/pet needs, so be aware of these and make sure you are comfortable and able to carry out those tasks. It may be that the dog will need two hour-long daily walks, or the pet may be in need of daily injections, there may be specific house/pool maintenance tasks. Don’t commit unless you are happy to carry out all of the responsibilities. Do your own due diligence about the location of the sit, research the neighbourhood, you want to be sure you feel safe and happy especially if the sit is for an extended period of time.

VISAS – Check and re-check that you have all the correct Visa requirements. They differ from one country to another and you want to be sure that you comply with the Visa requirements.

IF YOU ARE SELECTED BY OWNERS ON TO THEIR SHORTLIST – offer the opportunity to Skype/Facetime. We have Skyped prior to confirming all our sits, it’s a great way to “meet” the homeowners and get to know them. Both parties need to feel happy and relaxed that they’ve made a good choice. You can very quickly gauge that you’ve found a good match with a face to face conversation!

Top Tips During The Sit

Arrive prepared. Make sure you have received the Owner’s Welcome Pack at least a week before you arrive for the sit. It will contain all the relevant information about the house and the pet(s), more detailed information on the owners requirements, emergency contact information, location of the nearest clinic/hospital, watering of indoor and outdoor plants, dishes they prefer not to be used, how to operate the home alarm system if there is one, etc. and perhaps info about the surrounding area. We always make a note of the main specifics to take in with us on arrival and a note of any questions to ask the homeowners. It’s YOUR JOB to make sure you ask all the questions you need answers to before the owners leave.
Keeping in contact – We think it’s really important to keep in touch with the owners, not going overboard, but certainly to let the owners know how everything is going and how their pet(s) are doing. Of course some owners want frequent updates and some not so much. You can always ask the owner’s preference about this before they leave. We always send a photo or two showing the pet(s) happy and relaxed to put the owners minds at rest while they are away.
Never forget that taking care of the pet/s is your main priority. Whether you are staying in a villa in Italy or somewhere amazing you have never visited before, never lose sight of the responsibility of pet care. Of course the owners will want you to enjoy their home area and explore a little, if we are sitting for say dogs and they are happy to explore with you we are always happy to take them with us, if not, we never leave the home/pets for long periods of time, never for more than 4-5 hours in a day, go by what the owners say too. If the homeowner walks their dog an hour in the morning and an hour each evening; you need to commit to that routine 100%. While you’re not getting paid, taking care of the pet is still ‘your job’ and you should take that responsibility very seriously.
Caring for the owners home with respect – you will need to treat the owners home as you would your own, keeping it clean throughout, dusting and vacuuming, washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and before the owner returns making sure all that you have used – fridge, microwave, oven, toaster etc are all thoroughly cleaned.
The owners return – as well as having the owner’s house sparkling clean and ready for them and their pets relaxed, groomed and walked, it’s a really nice idea to think about having a meal prepared for the owners on their homecoming if time allows. You can chat about their travels, tell them how the pet/house sit has gone. This is also a pretty handy little tip if you fancy doing the same pet sit another time, a little kindness goes a long way!

Remember to ask the owners for a Review

If you have done a great job they will give you a great review and that will go a long way towards your future sits. Informing prospective owners on your sitting performance. On Trustedhousesitters the pet/home owners post their review directly on the website. No one can revise or edit the review in anyway before it’s posted, making sure the reviews are all true and unfiltered.

Keep Your Profile Up To Date

Its a really good idea to keep updating your profile especially as you get a few sits under your belt. Add a few photos of your recent pet sits to your gallery and let owners know what kind of pets you’ve been caring for on previous sits.

Like This Post? Pin It!

You might also like to read these:

House and Pet Sitting Tips

Once you’ve signed up to a Pet/House sitting website, the first thing to do is create a great Profile for yourself – you need to stand out from the competition! Here are our top 5 tips for creating a top quality profile.

Highlight your strong points about your personality and what you would bring to the house/pet sit.
Include any past experience of house and pet sitting, however small, maybe you looked after your friends tortoise one day, just make sure its all included.
See if you can get some really good references, perhaps a character reference from someone you know well, a reliability reference from a past employer or maybe you’ve looked after that friends tortoise and they’d give you a reference!
One of the best ways to show who you are and how you are around pets is with photos. With all pet sitters profiles you will get the opportunity to add photos. Great idea if you can get a shot of you cuddling a dog, or working with animals. Think hard about what you would like to see if you were a pet owner looking for a sitter.
Have you got any skills that might be handy during the sit? Think about anything you may have done in the past, maybe you have some experience with larger animals perhaps horses, or have training in swimming pool maintenance, maybe good at gardening or DIY, cleaning or property management skills. Dig deep and build a list to add to your profile!

Profile all set up, right that’s great, now for some tips on applying for those sits you’re interested in and what to think about when choosing a sit.

Make sure you research the sits that come up in the area you are interested in. Make sure you fully read the requirements of the pet sits you apply for and responsibilities that are being asked of you. Don’t apply unless you can 100% commit to the sit and what the sitter is requesting. You may be responsible for maintaining a salt water pool? Does the dog require daily injections? Does the dog need two hour-long walks a day? Are you happy to complete all these tasks Thinking about applying for a sit abroad, something some people forget to check is to make sure that they’ve properly checked any visa requirements for the country they’ll be visiting, all countries have different visa rules for visitors, so make sure you’ve checked these out
2. As soon as you see a sit that ‘grabs’ you – respond quickly, you’ll be amazed at the amount of sitters that will also apply. Being the first to apply has often enabled us to secure a sit. As you can imagine pet owners want to get booked up quickly and will quite often pick the first sitter that fits all the criteria they are looking for, rather than wait for numerous applicants and then have to sift through them all.
3. Your first chance to impress any potential home owners will be online when you contact them directly with your application to sit for them. This will be the first impression the owners get of you. We always make our application email personal too them, mentioning their pets by name and responding to any particular requirements the owners asked for. This shows you have read their advert thoroughly, after all they have probably spent quite a bit of time writing it! Let the owners know what makes you the sitter they should choose, mention your abilities and experience whilst also injecting your own personality into what you say. Sound as enthusiastic about the sit as possible and let them know what a great opportunity it would be for you as a sitter.
4. If you are lucky enough to be selected by owners on to their shortlist, make sure you reply quickly, tell them your pleased to be considered and most importantly offer the opportunity to Skype/Facetime. We have used Skype or Facetime prior to confirming all our sits, it’s a great way to “meet” the homeowners, get to know them and ask any questions about the pets, house and sit in general. Both parties need to feel happy and relaxed that they’ve made the right choice.

Applied and accepted for your first sit, here are some useful tips to make sure your first sit runs smoothly and is a great success for both you and the owners.

Read up on the sit well in advance, check that you have details of everything about the house, from the mains water tap and wifi codes to the security alarm code and bin collection days. The pets routines and feeding information, details and phone numbers of the vets and any emergency contact numbers.
Always arrive well prepared for the sit. Make a list of all the main points from the owners information pack or notes they have provided for you. Remember it’s really your job to ensure you ask all the questions you need answered before the owner leaves you in charge.
Caring for the pets must be your prime concern. Whether you’re staying in a house in France or villa on a tropical island never lose sight of the responsibility of pet care. Typically owners would not expect sitters to leave the pets for more than 4-5 hours in a day and if sitting dogs often they can tag along so be sure to take them. If the homeowner walks their dog an hour in the morning and an hour each evening, then that’s what you need to do for them, follow the pets routines to the letter. Although, its not a paid job to sit, still view the care of the pet as “your job” and take that responsibility very seriously. If your looking to have a little more freedom to explore then look for a cat, rabbit or tortoise sit, which can be left a little longer through the day.
Keep in touch with the owners while they are away. Its a great idea to ask how much communication they would like while they are away. Some owners love a daily picture and update of how their furry loved ones have been getting on to put their mind at rest. Some owners prefer contact only if an emergency arises. Ask what the homeowner prefers. We love to send photos of the pets showing they are happy and healthy, we think it puts the owners minds at rest while they are away from their home.
Keep the owner’s home clean and tidy. We probably go a little overboard when cleaning up before the owners return but it all goes towards a good overall impression of how you have gone about completing the sit and the respect you have for the owners home. Recommendations often come from going a little above and beyond what most would consider normal!
On the owners return, apart from ensuring their pets are happy and relaxed and coming home to a clean house, consider spending a little time with them when they return. We have cooked a meal for some of our owners and chatted about our time in their home with their pets and listened to stories about the owners time away. If you’re a little short of time, then even a baked cake and quick coffee goes down very well.
If you are using a website that gives owners the opportunity to review you, be sure to give them hints before you leave or in a little message a few days after the sit. Often the owners can post their review directly on the website, meaning they are not revised or edited by anyone, so a genuine review that can be read by future owners that may be considering you. A great review will be invaluable for your future sits!

Like This Post? Pin It!

You might also like to take a look at these:

How we caught the travel bug

We had both always wanted to visit Thailand, so in November 2017 we left Heathrow Airport heading for Bangkok for a 3 and a half month adventure travelling through Thailand and on to Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. As well as being an amazing experience, the trip would also be a test to see if we could manage a nomadic lifestyle and earn a living whilst on the road.

We planned the trip fully before we left …. costs broken down for each day, along with accommodation and transfers. We weren’t quite up for arriving and pitching up where ever we could. We weren’t really up for back packing hostels so opted for the cheapest accommodation with a private bathroom. The accommodation in Asia, Thailand especially, seemed to be mostly high end or hostels. However, by booking early we managed to find hotels and guest houses within the budget we had allotted that suited our needs.

Arrived in Bangkok, just waiting for the room to our room at the Maderla Guest House. Great little place with a restaurant on the ground floor serving some great Thai Food. Brilliant location, 10 minute walk to Lumphini park, close to the train line and bus stop. Clean comfortable room with ensuite bathroom. Great price too!

Food in Thailand is so cheap! We’d read that you could get a meal and drinks for under a fiver, but didn’t quite believe it. They were right, we ate really cheaply – fresh juices and smoothies are everywhere in Asia along with cheap fruit stalls which was our breakfast along with fresh hard boiled eggs and bread bought from the local 7/11 shops.

Lunch was cheap street food and dinner was eating with the locals at street side restaurants or at the night markets. Anything from Tom Yum to the most amazing Pad Thai.

Treating ourselves on Christmas day in Koh Samui. 6 course seafood platter with wine for £15 per head. What a bargain and fabulous food including Lobster, Snapper, Squid, Stuffed Muscles and the most amazing Soft Shell Crab Curry!

We pre-planned just a small selection of excursions that were high on our must do list. Researching the ones with the best reviews, we booked a brilliant Thai cooking class in Krabi, the best lady boy show in Phuket and the most amazing boat and snorkelling trip around the Phi Phi Islands.

With some pretty decent pre-planning, the trip was awesome, super successful and we had an absolute blast. As we got towards the end of our Thailand leg, enjoying a week on the amazing Phi Phi Islands – somewhere we had both only dreamed of visiting, we discussed the possibility of travelling indefinitely, going to all of the other places on our bucket list!

So on our return back to the UK, we put our heads together to try and work out a way that we could travel the world on a budget. After trawling numerous blogs we came across a website that offered a service where people could house and pet sit for people around the world. Because of our love of animals, the idea of pet sitting while travelling the globe sounded amazing. Before we knew it, the plan was hatched and thetravellingpetsitters was born.

You might also like to take a look at these:

Our Story

We are Julie and Jonathan, who gave up our secure fairly well paid 9-5 UK jobs and sold our home along with most of our belongings for a life in the sun. With our little Vauxhall Corsa packed to the rafters we headed off into the sunset!

After 11 amazing years of “Living the Dream” spending winters in Southern Spain and our summers in a little apartment on the Baltic coast and a bit of the UK in between, life couldn’t be better! Like many people, we would often chat about visiting other countries that were on our bucket list and wondered if one day we might win the lottery and our dream of travelling the world would become a reality. Sadly our 6 numbers and bonus ball have never come up!

In Spain, our regular haunt on a Friday evening was Rocky’s Arena – a not so Spanish bar but with a large sea view roof terrace, friendly staff and Happy Hour at €1.20 a pint, what’s not to like!

This particular Friday afternoon Jonathan had a real spring in his step – yes, he knew the beers were half price, but something felt different as we headed to the Tapas Bar. Now I’ve known Jonathan long enough to know when he’s up to something, this was one of those moments, but what exactly had he been up to?

A cold beer arrived and this was his moment to spill the beans! Out of the blue, he blurted out his latest idea …… he suggested we give up our dream life of a safe and secure roof over our heads and warm temperatures all year round! “To do what?” – I asked, thinking he was having a mid life crisis. ” To travel the world” he said. It took me by surprise to say the least and I really did wonder if he was going mad!

He’d obviously been putting a bit of thought into this as he had brought along a spreadsheet of how we might be able to afford this nomadic life style visiting those countries on our bucket list. Now, anyone who knows Jonathan is well aware that he is the king of spreadsheets, so I knew he was really serious about this proposal!

After another round of happy hour drink and an hour of discussions, with the philosophy of ‘you’re here for a good time not for a long time’ and ‘you only live once’ firmly planted in our minds, we agreed that now was as good a time as any to take the risk and try and make it happen! We hurried back to the apartment and immediately emailed our “leaving notice” to the landlord.

In the morning, as the reality of what we’d actually done the night before sunk in, we wondered if we’d been a little bit too keen!

But, the seed was sown and there was no going back, two months later we left Spain and headed back to England to organise the first part of Jonathan’s big plan.

The first place on our bucket list was Thailand and as we new this was a popular destination for backpackers, it seemed like a good place to start. So it was settled and our first backpacking adventure would begin with 2 months travelling around Thailand, 48 hours in Kuala Lumpur, 72 hours in Singapore and our final leg would be a month in Australia.

In November 2017 we left for our Asian adventure travelling through Thailand and on to Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. This trip would be a test to see if we could manage a nomadic lifestyle and earn a living whilst on the road!

With some pretty decent pre-planning, the trip was awesome, super successful and we had an absolute blast.

Towards the end of our Thailand leg while enjoying a few days on the amazing Phi Phi Islands, somewhere we had both only dreamed of visiting. We discussed again the idea of travelling indefinitely, embracing a peripatetic lifestyle, a life on the road, visiting all the other places on our bucket list!

So on our return to the UK we put our heads together to try and work out a way that we could travel the world on a budget.

After trawling numerous blogs we came across a website that offered a service where people could house and pet sit for people around the world. Because of our love of animals, the idea of pet sitting while travelling the globe sounded amazing.

So we signed up to TrustedHouseSitters and The Global Petsitters was born.

You might also like to take a look at these: