In this article, I am going to be reviewing 5 of our amazing house sitting experiences. We’ve had so many great house sits that I already have a second review blog in the works. So to our former hosts who don’t appear on this list, fear not!
We have racked up over 25 five-star reviews since signing up for Trusted Housesitters in 2019. We love the enhanced experiences we get with every sit. The free accommodation is a big plus too and has allowed us to travel far and wide.
We have been fortunate enough to have been selected to care for some fabulous homes in unbelievable parts of the world. I’ve been looking forward to writing this article and reliving some of my favorite moments from the last few years. Let’s get into it!
Best House Sitting Experiences
Ranked in no particular order, here are my favorite 5 house sitting experiences to date.
Durham, North Carolina, USA (2.5 months, May – July 2023)
Quite a few weird things aligned that led to us getting this house sit in Durham, North Carolina.
Firstly, 5 months prior we were sat with Hannah’s mum and her partner Kelvin, in a bar in Nashville, watching a college basketball game featuring a team called Duke. None of us had any idea where Duke was so we Googled it and discovered it was in Durham, NC.
Later that day a Trusted Housesitters set alert pinged my phone with a house sit that was perfect for our plans. It was in Durham, one block from the Duke Campus.
During a call with the hosts, they told us they had a cousin who played in a band in Nashville. Texts were exchanged and it turned out he was playing that afternoon at the exact bar we were planning to go to, just a 10-minute walk away! Within an hour we were sending photos to our potential hosts of us with their cousin from his gig at The Browns Diner.
We later also found out that Durham is known as Bull City. Well, Bull is our actual surname, so everywhere we went it was Bull City this and Bull City that. I purchased a ton of merch with our last name on it. It’s very cool but slightly weird seeing your name on everything!
The House Sit
The hosts, Peter and Janine, invited us a week early and loaned us their car to go and explore for a few days. We had a great trip to Carolina Beach, near Wilmington, getting over the jet lag and enjoying the beach life.
The sit involved taking care of one beautiful Airedale called Ladybug and two house cats – Rango and Tonks. One of our main jobs was to ensure the cats and dogs never met. I’m happy to say we achieved this despite LB’s best efforts to sneak through the stairgate and get to them.
The house was great, in a true American suburbia style that was like something straight out of an American novel. A huge front porch, neighbors saying ‘hi’ as they walked past, and lots of community spirit. Walking around the Duke Campus with Ladybug every day was an enjoyable task, though it did reach 95 degrees some days!
Volunteering In Durham, NC
When we have extended stays anywhere Hannah and I always like to try and get involved in some community projects. In Durham, we contacted a local charity and we were able to sign up with a food pantry. It was a greatly rewarding experience and we met some wonderful people.
On top of this, I reached out to a few local Workaway listings to see if anyone needed a hand. A lady called Holly-Ann got in touch simply saying ‘Yes, please I need your help!’.
She was a recent widower and retiree who had been left a plot of land on which she intended to build her forever home. I helped her clear the plot in exchange for a hearty lunch and a few take-away beers.
Final Thoughts of House Sitting in Durham, NC
I look back on our time in Durham as such a wonderful time in our lives. We truly got to live our version of the American dream, at least for a few months.
We walked to bars for happy hours and went to baseball games and ate hot dogs. I jammed with fellow musicians on their front porches and grew vegetables in the host’s garden. Durham rightly deserves its spot in my top 5.
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica (3.5-weeks, October 2022)
We visited around 12 different places during our 3-month stay in Costa Rica. It was a lifelong dream of Hannah’s to visit there so we made the most of it.
During this time, and using Workaway.info, we completed a couple of language exchanges with Spanish-speaking families wanting to learn English. We also helped an American ex-pat edit his self-help novel.
But one of the best times we had was taking care of two beach-loving dogs in Santa Teresa. We lived in a complex of 6 apartments (which the hosts also owned) about 200 feet from the beautiful beach.
Santa Theresa is renowned for being one of the most spectacular beaches in the world and it honestly doesn’t disappoint. Getting to take the two dogs – Sami and Pepe – there for a walk every day was as good as pet sitting gets!
Taking Care of the Property
Although the property didn’t need any extra appeal, the fact that looking after their Airbnb properties was also part of the listing was attractive to us. We perhaps see ourselves doing a similar thing in some exotic part of the world one day. It felt like a great trial run.
We had to check in and check out a few guests, organize some schedules with the cleaners, and take care of the pool and sun deck area every day. This may sound like a pain to some, but we got a kick out of it.
Working Hard
Around this time Hannah started to get busy with some remote work. Thankfully we were in a great location for her to get to grips with a new workload and find a happy balance with enjoying beach life.
We also managed to join a gym at the bottom of our street that did daily HIIT classes. I completed 21 classes in 23 days and felt incredible when we left. I have always kept fit, even whilst traveling, but going to the gym in Santa Teresa opened my eyes to new ways of training. To this day I continue to use a lot of what I learnt in Santa Teresa.
Final Thoughts of House Sitting in Costa Rica
We were sad to leave Sami and Pepe behind, they were great dogs to take care of. The beautiful property in the ideal location steps from the beach was the dream house sit. It’s the kind we always hoped to one day attain when first signing up for house sitting.
Bath, UK (1 month, August 2023)
House sitting in Bath, was much closer to home for us. We actually went home for a few days in July 2023, our first trip back in almost 2 years. After a week of catching up with friends and family, we left Peterborough once again and headed to Bath.
We had visited Bath for one day on Christmas Eve in 2017. We enjoyed it so much that we said one day we’d go back.
Well, it took 6 years but we eventually returned. Bath is a great city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site full of history, beautiful scenery, and one of the best social scenes in the UK.
House Sitting in Bath
We were tasked with taking care of a beautiful Victorian townhouse that overlooked the entire city. The view from the balcony took in the stunning Bath Abbey and the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside.
We also had a delightful (and huge!) Maine Coon cat called Leia to take care of. Well, when I say take care of, I mean fill up her bowl in the morning and let her outside. She was happy spending all day and night exploring the cat paradise that was the garden.
We could walk to central Bath in just a few minutes and had the village of Widcombe on our doorstep. It had a couple of excellent pubs, a handy shop, and far fewer tourists than Bath!
Lots of Visitors
One of the hardest things about traveling full-time is the people you miss. Especially if you have family members who don’t like to or aren’t able to travel to far-away destinations.
Having a month back in the UK was great because we got to share an extended period with lots of visitors. It was so nice to catch up with people we hadn’t properly seen in years.
5 groups, totaling 15 people in all, made the 3-hour drive from Peterborough to Bath to come and see us. Some stayed for lunch, others made entire weekends of it, but for however long they stayed, we loved seeing them all whilst on our travels.
Final Thought of House Sitting in Bath
Maybe being back home for the first time in years added a little extra enjoyment to our time in Bath. We were at home, but not at home if that makes sense?
We have visited some amazing places around the world, but I will always look fondly at our time in Bath.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (3 weeks, December 2023 – January 2024)
I’ve got to admit I was a little freaked out about traveling to Vietnam and Asia for the first time. We had spent our lives exploring Europe, and North and Central America but had never ventured east. I struggled to sleep, had weird dreams about it, and generally had an uneasy feeling about going there.
This all disappeared within minutes of landing in Ho Chi Minh City. Although the city was as crazy as I had expected, it was so stunning, friendly, and welcoming that I felt a bit silly for ever having felt unsure about going.
House Sitting in Ho Chi Minh City
After a couple of days by ourselves on the edge of the city, we began our first house sit which was just a short 5-minute taxi ride away. Staying in a modern apartment complex with a great communal pool, we looked after two adorable dogs called Kiwi and Kumquat.
We could easily walk to a huge mall that was ideal for shopping and dining options plus we had a couple of excellent coffee shops right outside the apartment complex. It was during our time here that we learned just how cheap Vietnam is compared to the US and the UK!
We enjoyed getting a Grab to Xuan Thuy, the ex-pat street lined with fantastic bars, cafes, and restaurants. We also went regularly to all of Ho Chi Minh City’s famous spots like the Ben Thanh Market and the War Remnants Museum.
Christmas
Being away from all of your family and friends is another tough aspect of living as a full-time digital nomad. This was our second Christmas away from home.
It was a very different festive period for sure. Despite all the shops and restaurants decking their halls with traditional Christmas decorations, and even Grab drivers blasting ‘All I Want for Christmas’ on every ride, the blistering heat, and gorgeous sunshine never quite got us in the festive spirit.
Everything stays open in Vietnam on Christmas day, so in keeping with that tradition we got up and headed to the gym then picked up a coffee and big breakfast sandwich on the way home. We cracked a beer at lunchtime (as you do at Christmas!) and chilled in the sun by the pool.
Barbecue is a big deal in Vietnam so we went to a great place we already knew was awesome and pigged out on well….pig! We then bar-hopped until we’d had our fill before eventually retiring home to the pups with a whiskey nightcap, a couple of Christmas hats, and a gangster film, as per our usual Christmas Day tradition.
New Years Eve
We did much the same on New Year’s Eve, again it’s just a normal day in Vietnam. It doesn’t come close to the celebrations of Chinese New Year which comes a month or so later.
Nevertheless, the city’s fireworks display, which we could watch from our balcony, brought the city to a standstill. Thousands of people lined the streets and watched the magnificent display that seemed to last hours.
The booms shook the apartment and drew ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ with every explosion. It was a great way to see in 2024 and one I know we’ll never forget.
Final Thoughts of House Sitting in Ho Chi Minh City
Our first trip to Vietnam, and Asia for that matter, was greatly enhanced by the house sit we started a few days after arriving. Having such a wonderful and comfortable base made us feel right at home in a city that was as far from our home as we had ever been.
Asia is an emerging market for house sitting opportunities although the number of listings certainly can’t compete with the US or the UK. But having completed 3 house sits around Asia so far and another 3 planned for this year, we are living proof that securing amazing house sits in Vietnam and beyond can be achieved.
Tucson, Arizona (6-weeks, June – July 2022)
When we first signed up for Trusted Housesitters we thought we’d hit the travelling jackpot. We believed we’d simply fire off an application and be accepted for idyllic house sits around the world. I’m afraid this simply doesn’t happen.
We regrouped and realized that without legitimate 5-star reviews, we were unlikely to ever secure house sits in far-off lands. So, we started local and built our profile close to home by racking up reviews from sits we could do on weekends or even whilst still going to work.
With 4 solid reviews under our belts, we applied for a big sit in the US – 6 weeks looking after 4 horses, 3 cats, and 2 dogs on a ranch in Tucson, Arizona. It had been years (because of the pandemic) since we had been to the USA and having already left the UK on our permanent travel adventure, we were dying to get back to America.
Getting the House Sit
We had started our extended traveling and were in Italy when we applied for Tucson. We still felt it was a bit of a reach having been rebuffed many times in the past by big American house sits. Sitting on a train from Lake Garda to Brescia the app pinged and the hosts wanted a call! We were ecstatic.
After a friendly transatlantic video call, we secured the sit and couldn’t wait to live out our cowboy dreams in Arizona. I grew up around horses and lived at an equestrian center for most of my life, and this swung the decision in our favor. Off to America, we go!
Arriving in Arizona
We flew to Phoenix to spend 10 days by ourselves back in the US. During this time, we flew to Las Vegas for two nights, drove to Sedona to have a meal with some friends from back home who were also visiting the area, and then road-tripped to Tucson.
The hosts couldn’t have been friendlier people. We were made to feel at home immediately and were taken out for a couple of nice meals during the first few handover days with them.
The house was huge but built on one level. Like much of Tucson, the amount of available space means properties can just expand outwards rather than upwards.
The Animals on the Ranch
The 9 pets under our care were good fun, they certainly kept us amused, especially 2 of the cats. An elderly black cat called Eclipse was 19 years old but still lived for his food despite his lack of teeth! He ruled the roost over the other indoor animals and demonstrated plenty of old-man routines.
Another of the cats, who we simply called Mad Ginge, would strike you from out of nowhere. Having grown up as a stray in the harsh Arizona desert, she didn’t know how to show or receive affection so could be tentatively edging close to you in a loving way and or planning a stealth attack – you never knew until the last second!
The horses were no problem at all, other than the mucking out twice a day and a once-a-week hose down, they enjoyed finding shade, keeping cool, and annoying me by knocking over the wheelbarrow full of horse manure when I was almost ready to empty it!
Country Music Dreams
Being big fans of country music, we got to live out a few of our cowboy dreams in Tucson. The hosts asked if we minded taking the huge pick-up truck they’d left us (along with 2 other cars) to collect some hay for the horses. It was no problem, so we stuck some tunes on in the Silverado and off we went.
After a pretty grueling hour unloading the hay, there was only one thing to do – hop back in the truck to the local country saloon for a cold beer. Sweaty and covered in hay, we felt right at home with a cold brew and a country song.
Volunteering and Unexpected Gifts
We were again able to sign up with a charity in Tucson, and again it was with a food pantry for 2 days a week of volunteering. Being the youngest volunteers by about 40 years, we became the talk of the town given that we were out-of-towners wanting to help out during our stay.
We helped pack and hand out parcels of groceries to needy families, sometimes as many as 100 families in a 4-hour shift. The bakery items, being perishable, were often plentiful and I loved it when we could tell families to take as much as they could carry. Sometimes whole cakes and trays of sweet treats were up for grabs.
As we finished up our time in Tucson the manager of the food pantry gave us a gift voucher for a zip-lining experience through the Arizona desert. The voucher included 5 ziplines, lunch, and even enough credit to buy souvenirs. We absolutely did not expect such a wonderful gift and it’s certainly not why we signed up, but we had an amazing experience ziplining on one of our last days in Tucson.
Final Thoughts of House Sitting in Tucson
This house sit ranks high with me because it felt like the culmination of a lot of work and planning. We knew that we had to build our profile, word our bio correctly, keep it updated, and apply for sits that were applicable to our circumstances.
Getting this international review really set us on the road to house sitting long-term and attaining placements around the world became much easier after Tucson.
We have been told we have an open invite back to the ranch anytime, and we hope to take them up on that in 2025.
Find Out More
If you want to learn more about Trusted Housesitters, sign up for free and browse all the amazing places house sitting could take you.
Interested in getting fully signed up? Use the code BEACHES25 to save 25% on any membership option, click here to get started. Find out which membership is right for you with my previous article – Everything You Need to Know About Trusted Housesitters
Conclusion
It’s been hard to narrow down my top 5 house sitting experiences but also great fun to relive just a fraction of some of the fun we have had house sitting over the last few years.
Although house sitting comes with a serious degree of responsibility, every sit we have taken on has given us an enhanced travel experience. Plus, the free accommodation has allowed us to travel further and for longer as well as opening doors for future return visits.
If you have any questions about house sitting or would like to know more about how to get started send us a message. Also, be sure to check out our other articles – The Top Countries Looking for House Sitters Right Now, and 5 Important Things We Wish We’d Known About House Sitting.
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