Adventures of a Pet Sitter

I belong to a group called International Living. If you’re planning on living abroad, it’s a great way to begin learning the ins and outs before the time comes. They have blogs from various expats who share their experiences. One such blog was on house/pet sitting abroad as a way to live rent free while seeing a region and immersing yourself in the culture. The author suggested using the website Trusted House Sitters. It’s similar to the format of Airbnb where there are profiles of the owners and sitters, where there are reviews for both sides and filters to narrow down searches depending on preferences.

I thought this might be a great way to travel in some of the more expensive places in the world and signed up. You must pay for a subscription to join. It includes a background check, insurance, access to a veterinarian, liability insurance and other perks.

Before utilizing this service abroad, we tried it close to our current home to see if it’s something viable for us. After nine sits over an eight-month period, here’s what we’ve learned:

Apply for sits that don’t have many applicants. Getting the first person to accept you is the hardest. We had personal references but not any from the Trusted House Sitters community. Our first sit had only two applicants, greatly improving our chances of being chosen. Once you have sits under your belt, you…