How Do You Do It?
We have had so many people ask us about pet sitting. The question that comes up quite a bit is, “Do you plan your trips around a pet sit(s) or do you have a destination and then look for pet sits?”. The answer is both.
At first, it was always around a destination and for the most part that is still how we plan trips. For domestic trips, we like to visit the South and Southwest States during the winter months. We’ll decide on the dates and then I’ll start looking for pet sits in that area of the country. We have now been pet sitting for 7 years and we often are asked back to do repeat sits. If that happens then we may plan around that pet sit.
But Europe…
In our blog post, “Let’s Go!” we mentioned how we picked 2 areas of the world we wanted to visit, Europe and Central/South America. We had a date range that would be acceptable. We found pet sits in both areas through TrustedHousesitters and began applying. When we got accepted for our first pet sit in Edinburgh, Scotland, we focused our sights on Europe.Then the real work began.
It’s All About The Logistics.
We now had confirmed dates for Edinburgh, Scotland. Because we had rented our home, we would be leaving the States almost a month ahead of that pet sit. And, we knew we would be flying into London, England. So our first priority was to fill in that month prior to our Edinburgh pet sit. We looked for pet sits within the UK so as to limit travel that first month. There were 3 priorities we had to take into consideration: location of pet sits, dates of pet sits and transportation to and from the pet sits.
First was location, we wanted them all in the UK. In TrustedHousesitters, you can filter pet sits by location. Next was dates which can also be filtered. This is where it could get a little tricky because we apply for several pet sits at a time and some could overlap. This is also where organization comes in. We had a spreadsheet with the pet sits listed along with the dates and locations. As we started to receive invitations to pet sits, We would look at transportation. We used public transportation in Europe, we did not rent a car. Trains, planes and bus schedules were essential in planning our pet sits. We needed to identify which mode of transportation we would take based on cost and travel time. We needed to build in time between sits for travel. We also had to coordinate with our pet owners/hosts for arrival and departure times. Organization skills came in handy!
We have continued to coordinate this way for all our trips, both domestic and foreign. Domestic trips are easier because we have our own vehicle and train, plane and bus schedules are not needed. Still, we must figure in travel time. We like to leave plenty of time in between pet sits so we are not rushed and to account for any issues that could arise while traveling. The one big advantage we have traveling as a couple is if any issue arises (car trouble) we could always find a way to get one of us to the pet sit on time.
We have learned so much since our first pet sitting trip in Europe. We plan more time between pet sits, we look for “filler” sits if we have a long distance between pet sits. These may be shorter pet sits to break up the distance and time between other pet sits.We also strictly adhere to the arrival date of the pet sit. If a host would like us to arrive the day before they leave, this must be agreed upon by both us and the host prior to the sit and overnight arrangements made to accommodate us.
So For Now…
We have so much more to talk about! Please follow us to learn more about our adventures, how we do what we do and many money saving tips. Is there a subject you would like to cover? Leave us a comment!
Is traveling the world while pet sitting something you’re interested in? Join TrustedHousesitters and get 25% off your first year membership!
Comments