HOW DO WE CHOOSE THE RIGHT PLACE?
Hi Folks
I have had quite a few people ask me "How do you go about choosing the right sit for you?" That is a good question and one that is really a little difficult to answer.
I guess that there are some basic requirements that we look for. One is a hopefully non-smoking household. Neither Marily or I smoke and it would make for a long sit to endure that.
Next we look at the number of animals that we will need to care for. We have seen sits that ask you to come in and sit for their 18 cats! Others have a couple of pit bulls in the pics that look as if they might need feeding (as us for dinner).
Of course the location is something that we consider. With the cost of gas or the hassles of an airline flight and rental car at the other end a far away sit might be too expensive to consider. But for the right sit in the right location that might not be a consideration. As an example I would love to find a few week sit in Panama. We would consider that our yearly vacation.
Most of the sit requests will show a series of pics of the house and the surrounding area that can give you a good idea of what to expect. They almost always show pics of their pets. When I am looking for a house sit this is probably the main clue that I use to get a "vibe" about the sit.
Probably 90% of our house sits are within the Washington State area. We love the coast and have done quite a few there. But the wonderful thing about sitting is the fact that many of the sites, including Trusted House Sitters, offer sits around the world. If a person wanted to tour Europe there are thousands of sits listed on line throughout Europe. You could go from sit to sit (with some planning, of course) and stay for some time. Australia is another area showing many sits. If yoiu are really adventurous there is Tahiti, New Zeland, Japan, EVEN as far away as Canada! The problem with Canada is that neither Marily or I speak Canadian, Eh.
So depending on how adventurous you are and the time available to you a life of house sitting can be quite an adventure. Of course being retired allows us a flexibility of time that opens up many more choices.
We love it!
God Bless