My partner Vanessa and I often refer to ourselves as “Global Nomads”. We pick a country and location that we are drawn to and then we go to live there for anywhere between three months and a year. We take the opportunity as long term travelers to really live like locals so that we can experience the local culture for as long as possible. We get our inspiration sometimes from travel magazines and blogs and sometimes by word of mouth.
Over the past couple of years we have lived, or spent significant time, in several different countries. After a year together on a small island in the Caribbean just off the coast of Panama, we spent six months in the southern states of the USA. We stopped over for a month in England and are now living and working for a year in China. Our next house sit is in the Alpine Mountains of Victoria, Australia, for a couple of glorious summer months.
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Really good article with loads of useful information. My wife and I discovered house sitting and pet sitting back in March this year and have been exploring the UK ever since. At present, we have an online business but need to be UK based, so can’t yet do the more exciting overseas options.
Nevertheless, since March we have stayed in some wonderful homes and looked after some adorable pets in Cornwall, Somerset, Hampshire, Surrey, Lancashire, Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire with 9 more bookings between now and next July. All we need is decent broadband internet and we can go anywhere.
If you want to be successful, I think the key is take great care writing your profile and ensure it is written to meet the needs of the homeowner, rather than focussing on what you, as the house sitter, may want.
Hi Brian & Lynn,
Many thanks for the reply and feedback on the article. It’s great to hear that you are having such a wonderful experience house sitting your way around the UK. It sounds like you are having a great adventure.
As you say, if you work online all you need is a decent internet connection and you can work practically anywhere.
I think you are absolutely right – having a well written profile is vital if you want to secure great house sitting assignments.
Which house sitting site do you use to find your house sits? When we were in the UK we found HouseSittersUK to be a great resource. Vanessa wrote about our UK experiences in a blog on our new house sitting resources website:
http://longtermhousesitters.com/house-sitting-an-introduction/
Best wishes,
Ian and Vanessa
Hi Ian & Vanessa,
Thanks for your reply and I’ll definitely take a look at Vanessa’s blog on UK housesitting. We are registered with HouseSittersUK.co.uk and have picked up some bookings via them. However, most of our bookings have come via TrustedHouseSitters.com which has a lot more choice and I do like their facility for homeowners to leave references for the house sitters. Looking forward to reading about your UK experiences 🙂
Kind regards.
Brian & Lynn
PS About to head off to walk the Fareham Creek foreshore walk with Maddie, a lovely Collie dog we are looking after, and then a swift pint at the Cams Mill pub overlooking the water. It’s a hard life……..!
A swift pint at the Cams Mill pub overlooking the water sounds lovely. As you say, it’s a tough life. I do miss English pubs and beer sometimes. Enjoy.
Ian,
Great piece to read. Very well written, it explains every angle of house-sitting lifestyle. My husband and I have been house/pet sitting for years; we are loving this lifestyle. It is a very rich and fulfilling way of being.
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed the article.
As you say, it certainly is a rich and fulfilling way to live your life.
We have many more articles and resources at our new house sitting website here:
http://LongTermHouseSitters.com
Happy House Sitting. Best wishes,
Ian