Stonehenge and Salisbury

The Stonehenge you can see today is about 4,000 years old. I think for that reason alone 'visiting Stonehenge' should be top of your British bucket list, but you know you better than I do, so don't let me force you. As Salisbury is it's closest city, with such a gorgeous cathedral, my recommendation is that you visit Salisbury too.

Stonehenge

So Stonehenge; older than The Parthenon, the Easter Island Statues and the Great Wall of China it's definitely worth a look. They've revamped the site in the last few years - the ticket area and parking is now a couple of miles away from it. It costs £14 to get in, which I think is quite a lot, however the money is used to maintain not just Stonehenge's area, but also other English heritage sites across Britain. As Stonehenge makes the most money, it has to support the others - like a husband in the 50s. (We actually got in for FREE because my dad has a heritage card) 

You can walk the two miles to stonehenge, or take one of the jurassic park type 4 by 4s:

they go really slowly, but also really regularly.

Anyway, here it is:

Stonehenge!

There are always quite a few people here, but as the area is quite vast it doesn't feel crowded or touristy. We didn't have to wait to get a section that was free from people to get an iconic photo:

There is a rope around Stonehenge which is well thought out, the rope is more oval than circle, so at certain points you're really far away:

and at other points you're really close up: 

which makes for a more interesting walk around the edge. The rope is inoffensive too, it's not a nasty 'we don't trust you barbed wire and concrete' barrier, it's just a rope. You could easily jump over it, which lots of people do to try and hug the stones - then they get chucked out by security. If you really really want to get in, and don't want to be chucked out, you can get a group of people together and book a private Stonehenge tour in the morning, or in the evening during summertime - there is a waiting list though. 

You can get the 4 by 4s back, or you can walk. If you walk you get to see the round barrows where they used to bury their dead:

There are also two big ditches called the cursus, and they don't know what they were used for, but they are super super old (nearly 6,000 years old):

it's just that flattened bit of grass 

At Stonehenge's visitor centre there are also toilets (clean), a gift shop (stuffed toy crows), a restaurant (£4 sandwich) and a really informative exhibition centre.

The exhibition centre is really well thought out, you enter a room and surrounding you on the walls is a projection of the stones, so you can watch them change throughout time.

Our favourite part was when they explained the history of Stonehenge:

At the beginning there was just a circle of blue stones, which looks really creepy, but amazingly the stones came all the way from Wales - a hundred miles away, without a lorry! Later on they added the big stones that you see today, and over time a few of these fell over/were nicked. They also incorporated the earlier blue stones into today's layout - though to us they looked grey.

The other thing that the wall projection shows you is how the stones are perfectly positioned for the shortest (and longest) days of the year. On the shortest day (Dec 21st, also known as winter solstice) the sun sets between the biggest stones.

This midwinter sun sets exactly opposite to where the midsummer sun rises, so on the longest day of the year (June 21st, summer solstice) the sun rises above the heel stone and into the centre.

This is the heel stone:

For years modern day people have flocked to Stonehenge on the summer solstice, to stay up all night and watch the sun rise. However, archeologists now believe that back in the day, the winter solstice was a lot more important, olden day people would honour their ancestors and pray for the sun to return.

In the exhibition centre there is also a timeline that puts everything in perspective. There are also things that have been collected on site including bones, daggers, pottery and jewellery.

All in all, we enjoyed the stones and hope you do too!

How do you get to Stonehenge?

There are a lot of tours that go to Stonehenge from London/ Bath/ Bristol/ Salisbury. We personally hate tours, they're normally too constricting and annoying - and the British ones are the worst in the world for making up rules that aren't necessary. Plus they are expensive! So alternately there is a train station in Salisbury and from there you can get the bus to stonehenge. This bus costs £14 for just the bus and £26 for bus and entry to Stonehenge. As normal Stonehenge entry costs £14 and you understand that 14+14=28 you should definitely opt for the £26 option. That's still so expensive though, especially if you include however much your train fare was.. So you could just hitch hike for free. I would recommend the hitch hiking, even though we are normally too cowardly to do it.. How did we travel to Stonehenge then? My dad drove us :)

Salisbury

About half an hours drive from Stonehenge is the city Salisbury (pronounced Soulz bury). It's a sweet little place with lots of cute old buildings:

On the way to the cathedral is a nice arch, which is the gateway to the cathedral close:

I really like this photo, it's very British (apart from the German in it):

The spire in the above background is from Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest church spire in Britain, the oldest clock in the world, and at the moment the best copy of the Magna Carta. It's also without a doubt the most beautiful British cathedral that I've ever seen (sorry Gloucester). Here it is:

and here's it's spire:

The best out of the four copies of the Magna Carta lives in this cathedral, it dates back to 1215! The Magna Carta is the first bill of rights in the world. I just think it's incredible that we are able to see something from eight hundred years ago. You're not allowed to take photos of it, but I took a photo of a photo of it: 

The Cathedral itself dates from around the same time (1220 onwards) and that's impressive too. This is my favourite part, the cloisters: 

I think it looks a lot like the cloisters in Harry Potter, but according to the internet it's not. Lots of cloisters in the UK look like each other okay!? 

Inside the cathedral, it's gorgeous:  

and there's lots of nice little details everywhere: 

Near the entrance is an infinity pool (also the baptism font) which cleverly reflects the ceiling, so you don't have to crane your neck:

This is the oldest clock in the world, it doesn't have a face but it dates about 1386 and still works - by ringing a bell on the hour every hour!

Just as we were leaving, a tour guide started talking to us and insisted on showing us this water gauge: 

Salisbury Cathedral was built on a high water table, but as the foundations are made of flint that's a good thing - without the flint the cathedral would sink, and without the water the flint would shift. It's like magic! She lifted this metal square, stuck a wooden pole in and showed us that the water was only 3 ft below us. 

Edward Heath, one of Britain's Prime-ministers is buried in the cathedral: 

The tall spire on the top was added on after the main building was built and as a consequence the pillars lean: 

It was really nice of the lady to teach us so much, she was very knowledgeable. 

We really enjoyed Stonehenge and Salisbury, and hope you do too! Whilst you're in the area we highly recommend that you check out Dorset and stay with Dream Cottages Dorset. 

What is House Sitting and How to Do It World-Wide

What is House Sitting?

I'm so glad you asked - House Sitting has completely changed our lives (for the better) and we love it so much. So we're always happy to introduce people to it - that's what this blog is all about: 

House Sitting is where one or more people (the House Sitters) live in and look after a house whilst its owner (the Home Owner) is away (usually on holiday). 

To put it simply, think of it as baby sitting, but houses instead of babies. 

Why would someone want a House Sitter?

Baby sitting makes sense, but why would a house need looking after? It's not like it can get itself into any trouble, and it doesn't even need feeding or changing. 

WELL, when a Home Owner is away, especially for a long time, things can and do go wrong: 

• The fuses blow and the owner will return to a defrosted freezer and a puddle of water. 
• Plants need watering and grass needs cutting
• Houses start to grow mould or mildew
• Letterboxes overflow 

But perhaps the biggest risk or the worst thing that can go wrong is burglars. Have you ever seen Home Alone? Automatic switches that turn the lights on and off won't cut it anymore, Home Owners' houses need to be properly lived in. 

However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend every empty house is automatically going to be burgled. More often than not House Sitters have an extra (very important) job:

They are also Pet Sitters

What are Pet Sitters?

You're probably sensing a theme here, but for continuities sake let me be thorough:

Pet Sitting is where one or more people (the Pet Sitters) live with and look after a pet whilst its owner (the Pet Owner) is away (usually on holiday). 

I.e. it's basically House Sitting, but with pets too. 

Why would anyone want a Pet Sitter?

That's what friends and relatives are for, right? Best friend Emily will come in and feed the cat twice a day whilst you're away, or Grandma will take the dog for a week. 

Well, there are a whole range of reasons why Home Owners don't pick their friends or relatives to care for their pets, here are a few: 

• They don't want to burden friends/relatives
• Friends/relatives are coming on holiday too 
• Friends/relatives aren't responsible enough (we're looking at you, raving Grandma). 
• Friends/relatives don't live close enough (namely true for expats). 
• Pets may be too much for friends/relatives (applies particularly to naughty and/or exotic pets). 

Whatever the reason, friends/relatives often aren't an option. 

Okay, so friends/relatives aren't an option, isn't that what kennels are for? You go away and your pets go on holiday too?

Again, there is a whole range of reasons why Home Owners don't want to put their pets in kennels, here are a few examples:

• Kennels can be expensive, let this advert back me up: 
• 
• Kennels can be uncomfortable for the pets
• Kennels may not accept the pets (again true for naughty and/or exotic pets - ever tried putting a grumpy turtle in kennels?)

Who, me?

Whatever the reason, the main one is almost always this:

Pets are almost always more comfortable in their own homes. 

And generally, no matter how much the pets love their owners (which they do), or how happy they are when their owners are back (which they are), quite frankly they don't usually notice that their owners are gone.. As long as they are being fed and walked at the same time and can sleep in their own bed (or yours).

Okay, so you get why Home Owners want House Sitters, why do House Sitters want to be House Sitters?

Lots of reasons.

For us, our first reason was to be able to live rent and bill free. We planned to carry on living as we'd done before (i.e. with a 9-5 job), but with a pet and with no monthly rental fees and electricity bills. And internet bills, and water bills, and council tax - House Sitters don't generally pay for bills. 

Fancy views like this instead of bills and rent? 

But it soon became clear to us that this wasn't where the advantages stopped. Soon we realised we'd be able to live anywhere in the world, still rent and bill free. 

We took 'anywhere in the world' seriously, and headed out to Australia for nine months

House Sitting adds a new dimension to travelling you can travel cheaply and comfortably, I mean, your accommodation bills are A LOT cheaper than hostels, but you don't have to share with 6 other people, and you have your own kitchen, bathroom, washing machine etc.

In fact, you often have more than one bathroom to yourself. The houses are often quite luxurious - we've stayed in places with pools and saunas for example, so allow me to change 'travel cheaply and comfortably' to travel cheaply and luxuriously. 

How often do those two things go in hand? 

Now, I could go on for hours about the other advantages of House Sitting (and I have in this post here: Reasons you should House Sit) but let's stop and answer this:

The opportunity to live world-wide, rent-free? There has to be some kind of catch, right? You're not allowed to leave the house? Or you have to do elaborate things for the animals? Or you have to work 4 hours a day (like with wwoofing or workaway). 

What exactly does a House Sitter do?

To put it simply, there are three main jobs:

1. Care for the animals - feed, water, walk if applicable

2. Care for the house - lock it up at night/when you're not in it, clean the dishes that you use (or use the dishwasher). Air/heat as applicable

3. Care for the garden - water, pick and eat the oranges when applicable.

We looked after an orange grove in Portugal, it watered itself (on a timer) and all we had to do was enjoy the fruit :)

That's pretty much it really. Though, of course it varies from sit to sit, some dogs don't need walking, some need a couple of hours. Some houses don't have gardens, some come with gardeners... 

Whatever your 'duties' you do a lot less work than you would be workaway/wwoofing and your rewards are a lot higher. 

What kind of pets do you look after?

Whatever you're comfortable with really. We started off with just cats or dogs (having grown up with both). Then moved on to both cats and dogs at the same time. Next came fish (really easy). Then chickens (easy too, and they lay eggs). After that we branched out to sheep and horses. 

If pushed I'd say they are easier to look after than dogs, but I wouldn't recommend it for your first sit.

We've also looked after guinea pigs, turtles, ducks and rabbits. Lots of fun! 

So hopefully that's answered your question 'What is House Sitting'. Maybe you have more questions,  we actually have a whole post of FAQs about House Sitting which can be found here: Should I Become a House Sitter? Your FAQs.

Now House Sitting doesn't have to be done World-Wide, we have a few friends who are using it to explore their own country further, and can still keep their jobs.

But for most travellers, the appeal of House Sitting is that you can do it World-Wide. So how do you do House Sitting World-Wide? We actually have a whole other post dedicated to how to get started: How To Start House Sitting - and Live Rent Free WORLD WIDE.

We also have a whole ebook House Sitting in Australia - a Guide For First Time House Sitters which tells you step by step how we got our first House Sits - and how you can do the same. It also reveals all the silly things we wished we'd known beforehand, which will help you get your first sit quickly. 

Finally, what we will leave you with is this: We have got all of our top House Sits from Trustedhousesitters and if you would like to sign up to them with an exclusive 10% discount all you have to do is sign up to our free mailing list! 

(Subscribe here.)

So there you have it, what do you think of House Sitting? Is it something you would like to try? 

If you have any questions contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or via email. Alternately leave a comment below or catch us on Snapchat! (Travelweasels) 

Top Things to do in Birmingham

Poor Birmingham, it has an undeserved poor reputation. Southerns think it's in the North and Northerns think it's in the South (I'm Southern, so I can tell you Birmingham is actually in the North). 

Birmingham used to stand for dirty, dangerous, rough, grimy and everything everyone hates about England, it was also Tolkien's inspiration for Mordor - apparently. But since Tolkien's time, Birmingham has had a lot of money pumped into it (i.e. the Bullring) and is now a hub of culture, a haven for foodies and a perfect mix of historical buildings and brand-spanking-new ones. 

Birmingham is actually Britain's second city (no it's not Manchester) and is a must for anyone who comes to Britain and  makes it out of London. 

But what should you do there?

Visit the University 

It's the only university in Britain with it's own train station, so it's very easy for you to hop off on your way into the city. The architecture is stunning and it's a red brick university. 

The clock tower is the tallest free standing clock tower in the world and yes, it's bigger than Big Ben. They actually sell shirts at the university which say 'My clock is much bigger than yours' or something like that. He's called Old Joe and he inspired J.R.R. Tolkien who went to school next door (don't you see the resemblance between Old Joe and the big eye thing in LOTR)? 

There are so many books in the library that if you pilled them all up the pile would reach the moon! Thus the library is sinking a bit..  

Can you tell that I used to be a tour guide for the university?

The Bullring/ Bull Ring

The easiest and most popular place to shop in Birmingham is in the Bullring. To confuse you, the Bullring is located in the Bull Ring - an important historical landmark. Like most things in Birmingham the Bull Ring started off as something illegal (in this case an illegal market).

The Bullring is easily identifiable by the sexiest bull that I've ever seen. They normally dress him up accordingly - during the olympics he patriotically wore a British flag as a jumper, at Christmas he wore a jolly santa costume, and here he is in Spring looking macho:

The Bullring has over 160 shops inside it. Personally we don't like any of them. They are cloney and boring. Okay, okay there is one shop that we like: Selfridges. There are only four Selfridges in the world and they sell very expensive fancy things. On the bottom floor though there is the food section where it's great to browse around - and if you're lucky they will have free samples/ reduced the nearly out of date stuff to normal human prices. There is also a great alcohol section which features every type of alcohol ever, including the alcohol with bits of gold in it. You can also create your own cocktails there. 

St Martin's Church

Make sure that you pass St Martin's Church.  It's located right in the centre of the Bull Ring (so in the middle of the Bullring). I always found that it was a great, tasteful and ancient oasis inside the modern Bullring: 

It was built in 1873. We never went inside, even though I used to pass it like four times a week on the way to kickboxing or fruit and veg shopping. Visitors are welcome though and we will definitely go there when we're back in Birmingham. 

Birmingham Bull Ring Markets

Bull Ring Open Market

Located near the old Bull Ring, the markets are incredibly fun, or at least I think so. Tanbay and my sister both hated them. It's like being transported into another, more vibrant country. You can most definitely barter with the prices and get the fruit and veg you want for the prices you actually want (i.e. a lot cheaper than Tesco). 

Be warned though, if you are a white female with (dyed) blonde hair, like myself, you may get a lot of unwanted attention, but if you're lucky it may work in your favour: One veg guy used to give me free strawberries, and although it was completely creepy, free food is free food. 

Also, don't buy any of the dairy products. That tip isn't really specific to the Bull Ring Open Market it's for outdoor markets in general - do you really want dairy products that have been sat out in the sun?

The Open Market is open 9-5 Tuesday to Saturday. The later you go the more likely they are to bring the prices down. They normally do a big bowl of fruit or veg for a quid, but nearer the end it's not worth them taking it home so they'll do two or three bowls for a quid. Bargain. 

Bull Ring Indoor Market

We never had much luck in the indoor market. There's lots of meat and fish but it often smells kind of funky and the sellers are even dodgier than the fruit and veg sellers. HOWEVER, they do sell roasted cashew nuts quite cheaply and are yummy. 

FOOD

There are loads of excellent places to eat in Birmingham and it's not all curry (though the curry is the best in Britain). 

The Bullring has a hundred restaurants to eat in - each more cloney than the last. We don't like the Bullring or it's cloney shops, but even we'll admit that we're partial to Wagamamas and Cafe Rouge. If you have never been to a city in the UK, Wagamamas is Japanesish food and Cafe Rouge is Frenchish. Wagamamas is pretty cheap and Cafe Rouge often have vouchers which makes it cheaper.

Our favourites restaurants in Birmingham were not in the Bullring though. They were Wok Your Way Noodle Bar and San Carlo. Wok Your Way is located next to the train station and serves cheap and tasty noodles. You can watch them prepare them right in front of you. It's quick and delicious. San Carlo is a lot more expensive but serves the most beautiful Italian food. Yum. 

Cafe Deli is pretty good too!

The Custard Factory 

A 20 minute walk out of town gives you some impressive ever changing, free to view, modern art work and some great vintage clothes shops. The clothes shops are really great. Also there's a bead shop. Tanbay bought me a 3p bead once (true love). Here's some of that great art: 

I am also pretty sure (though I've never been) that there are clubbing type things at night. 

Birmingham Art Gallery 

Whilst small, it has a lot of variety and some great pieces here.  Compared to the National Gallery in London it's complete rubbish, but if you haven't been to that, I think you may be impressed by this. They have good temporary exhibits too - they had some of the ancient egyptian stuff and they had the Saxon gold too at one point. 

Chinese Quarter in Birmingham

We LOVE the Chinese Quarter/ China Town in Birmingham. There are authentic restaurants and shops there. They have a supermarket type store where we used to buy our noodles. They are much cheaper and nicer than tescos. We only ever went to one of the restaurants there, it was all you can eat. 

Jewellery Quarter

Over 40% of British jewellery is made in the jewellery quarter. We had a fun day walking around, we had an amazing Italian lunch and then went and pretended that we were engaged (this was before we actually were). They let me try on the rings and taught us a little about the cuts, clarities and other things.

Catch Some Classical Music

Okay the granny in me is showing her face again, but I don't know what you're into, and if you do like classical music and first class musicians, Birmingham has a lot to offer you. Go to the Birmingham Conservatoire where I saw Benjamin Grosvenor or the Birmingham Symphony Hall where we saw the CBSO, they do the best Christmas concert: 

Birmingham's Broad Street 

I'll be the first to admit that clubbing isn't really my thing. I literally went clubbing twice whilst I was at uni. However, I do know that Broad Street is the place to go if you want clubs and clubbing and a disgusting night out. The two clubs that I've been to were Gatecrasher (biggest club in Birmingham) and Oceania? Is that still around? Let me know.  

I have actually heard good things about snobs.. I've never been but I trust the people who've told me. Lol.

Essentially though we're probably the wrong people to ask. But with at least three universities in Birmingham, there are a lot of people to ask. 

Parades along New Street

We used to have a beautiful and amazing apartment in the centre of Birmingham, but whilst it was beautiful and the best place ever to live, it was also very expensive so we used to spend a lot of time doing free things. One of the best free things to do in Birmingham is to watch a parade. We saw the Christmas parade, the neo nazi parade, the pro muslim parade (those two actually clashed there was police everywhere), the Easter parade and an anti David Cameron parade. But by far the best parade was the Gay Pride Parade!

There were lots of Adam and Steves, Annas and Eves, drag queens, people on stilts, people dressed as rainbows and lots and lots of fit gay guys without shirts (yum). There were also people not dressed up at all and some who'd clearly walked off the street to show their support :) 

I'll tell you another thing, which you can choose to interpret anyway you like. Throughout all of the parades that we watched not one person looked up and saw us on the balcony - until the Gay Pride Parade and loads of them looked up at us and waved!! 

The Mailbox

The Mailbox is the less crowded much more expensive version of the Bullring (thus better ;) ). Saying that though there are some nice cheap eateries especially at lunchtime. Plus the BBC lives there and you can get your photo taken with the Tardis. 

The Mailbox is also the start of one of Birmingham's greatest bits which I've almost forgotten about.. 

The Canals 

There are loads of canals in Birmingham - 160 miles of canals. The train that runs from Birmingham centre to University runs directly next to the canal and on a good day it looks quite pretty. (If you're taking the train into Birmingham from the south you will no doubt be on that line). 

I have a funny story about the canals which, if you've seen them / do see them you might find funny too: A guy at the university took magic mushrooms and then went for a walk along the canals and thought he saw the Northern Lights. Ha ha. I didn't know this person and now can't even remember who it was who knew this person and told me about it, but whatever. 

The canals look particularly impressive in winter when they freeze. Please don't go skating on them and die. 

Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market

This market is actually really good and pretty German. The mullled wine is extremely good and perfect for when it's cold (which it always is in Decemeber). It runs along New Street up into Victoria Square. It gets bigger every year and is now the largest outdoor Christmas market in Britain. You can get authentic German beer and sausages here too, plus you can talk to the extremely defensive guy who sells reindeer pelts.

Anything else?

I don't normally recommend other people, because I am the best person, but if you need more convincing that Birmingham is beautiful check out Verity Milligan, she's a genius! If you love Birmingham and feel like we've missed anything out (or have anything to add) just let us know! 

7 Reasons Why YOU Should House Sit

One: By House Sitting your Accommodation is FREE!

No more renting, no more forking out for hotels. Even at their cheapest, hostel fees really do add up making sure that for most travellers accommodation is their biggest cost. 

Why wouldn't you want free accommodation?

Free accommodation was all it took to convince us, but once we started we found that there are lots more reasons to LOVE House Sitting. 

Two: The Houses you Sit aren't just Any Free Accommodation

Now we all know Couchsurfing is free, and fun! But with Couchsurfing chances are your accommodation isn't going to be all that fancy. Maybe you'll be sleeping in a tent, or a hammock:

House Sitting on the other hand, has tended to give us free accommodation that's a little more upmarket. Mansions with swimming pools for example: 

Photo published with permission from the owner, of course.

We've also House Sat homes with tennis courts, home gyms, nature reserves as gardens, deserted beaches round the corner and our all time favourite - an organic vineyard in Italy:

Okay, so not every House is straight out of a glossy magazine. We have sat some averages houses too, which takes me back to point one - free accommodation is free accommodation, and your average house is still better than a tent or a hammock. 

The Houses we sit in the city have all been a bit less fancy because of their prime location. 

Oh no wait I take that back, the Berlin House Sit was so fancy it had a sauna!

Three: The Perks

Most home owners treat you like a guest. They pick you up from the airport/train station/ bus stop. They cook you a meal or two and leave you some food in the cupboards. All gladly received when travelling on a budget - and even when you're not! They also show you the area and the secret spots only the locals know:

Some home owners go even further. We've had a few owners stock up for the apocalypse  and tell us they will be very disappointed if we don't eat everything. 

Our Italian favourites even cooked us a magnificent feast which including home cooked pizzas from their own pizza oven!: 

Other than transport and food, most home owners have  treated us to awesome day trips which have included a visit to the Gold Coast theme parks, taking us fishing and, the best, taking us to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary:

But it can be more than day trips. As our Italian House Sit was during Italian's winter, the lovely home owners have insisted that we come back in the summer as guests to see it in the summer -for a month!

Furthermore, one of our favourite home owners in Australia insisted that we visit Kangaroo Island and stay in her unit. An extraordinary trip we are so grateful for:

Four Meeting the locals

It's great to get a real insight of local knowledge, they knew the best places to eat/go etc. and we really had a good look into how real people live. We've also made some great friends though house sitting, some of which will surely remain our friends for life, and all of which will be most welcome to stay with us (when we have a house)! One couple is actually visiting Europe in November, and we plan to meet up with them then.

Five: Comforts of Being at Home

I can't stress this one enough, no matter how homely your hotel or hostel is, it will never be as homely as a real home. We had the laundry, a bed that hadn't been slept in by over a thousand people, we had all the kitchen utensils you could ever want, and silly little things like oil and salt and pepper. Everyone needs those but you don't want to be lugging them around from place to place.

Six: Going to Places You'd Never Have Gone to

Whilst we've done sits in places like the Gold Coast, Stroud, Malaga, Berlin and Finland we also went to many places that we'd never heard of:   Glen Osmond, Hopetoun, Newcastle, Ancona. These are all places we wouldn't have gone to, but are so glad that we did:

Australian Newcastle - a lot better than the English one

Seven: Having a Pet 

I love pets, especially dogs, as a traveller the luxury of pets is not something you can really have. But with house sitting you can! You get a few weeks of all the perks (the walks, their personalities), but you don't have to worry about their food or vet bills.. 

Saying that, now is probably a good time for me to point out that you are fully responsible for your pet. If the pet needs a vet you need to get them there (though some house owners arranged for the vet to come to you).  Also if you're sitting in a foreign land, you've got to make sure you know about all their foreign dangers. As we were in Australia we had to learn about snake bites, ticks and how a cat reacts when it's bitten by a spider. 

So do you want excellent, free accommodation and friends for life (both furry and human)? 

Then have a look at this website:  Trusted House Sitters

If you have any questions about house sitting, leave us a comment!

P.S. Would you like to learn how to be a great House Sitter in Australia? Click here