We travel to CANADA from the UK for a 6-Week HOUSESIT | Trusted Housesitters Discount Code

Hey hey hey how you doing? Welcome back to the channel as they say. So we're in Canada on a six-week house sit aren't we? Oh it's great isn't it? It's brilliant. Now we use Trusted House Sitters and we'll talk to you a little bit on this vlog about how you go about house sitting, especially if you fancy taking something overseas like what we've taken. Yeah. Now we've been Trusted House Sitters for just over a year isn't it Gary? Yeah just over a year we've been to five different countries and on many more than five houses it's been fantastic. Yeah we have and the reason we started getting into houses was literally because we needed somewhere to stay when we were shipping the motorhome back from the States didn't we? That's right yeah so not only did it give us that sort of space to fill that void but subsequently it gave us enough time to get the van serviced and all the rest of the stuff and that was really important. So although I won't be able to show you inside of the house we will show you a little bit of the outside and the view. Okay it's a bit of a rainy day here in Canada but this is the view from the house. So we've got a lovely deck here and it really is stunning when it's not raining. It's still stunning now isn't it? We won't show you inside of the house obviously because that wouldn't be right but it gives you an idea of the kind of beautiful locations and just incredible views that you might get. So before we go any further we are not being paid by Trusted House Sitters this is just our experience. We do have a 25% discount code you can use it's actually supposed to be for friends and families but we consider you our friends. If you do use our 25% discount code we will get two months free membership that's all. So you know you won't have to pay anything extra you'll get 25% off we'll get two months extra. What I'll do is I will leave that in the comments below the very first comment you do want to use that feel free. So what is Trusted House Sitters? Well it's just basically a search engine and a kind of agency for homeowners and for house sitters potential house sitters to find each other. It's like a dating agency for house sitting people isn't it really? And I mean this this sort of house sits all over the place. I'll show you the website now. So you can go on to TrustedHouseSitters.com and it's a very simple search engine. You'd literally type in where you want to go up here and you can sort it by sort of the dates duration pets and there's also more filters. So the other filters would be things like if you want to have a car but just have a look here you can see how many house sits there are currently at the moment in location. If you're a bit undecided you could search anywhere really so if you wanted to have a look at say Asia continent you just pop that in and then all different ones that are available will come up here. But you can search by country as well so for instance if I was searching for Ireland 66 house sits are currently available right now and 453 house sits are available in Australia and you can see the map as you're searching which sort of region they're in. You can do a wider search on North America for instance so you can do a continental search and here we've got 4514 different house sits and you can see they're throughout the United States, Canada and even sort of down as far as Guatemala area. There's all sorts on here. Okay so there's three types or levels of membership if you will aren't there? Yeah there is. So there's the basic and what's those prices? I wrote these prices down so I wouldn't forget them. So the basic membership is £99 a year or the equivalent in dollars or whatever isn't it? £129 a year is what we pay which is the sort of medium. The sitter rate. Yeah and then £199 is the premium and that kind of gives you like free video calls with vets and it also has some like lounge passes and things like that doesn't it? And a higher level of insurance should something go wrong. Yeah. Flight cancellations and things like that. That sort of thing. We haven't bothered with that level. I think if we were to sort of be doing a lot of international travel we'd probably go with that level and then the thing I like about Trusted House Sitters is the people that do it you know the homeowners they are also members and they have to pay as well so they're vetted as well as you are and we'll give you an idea of some of our house sits as well just to show you how fabulous this system can be. So our very first house sit was Scotland wasn't it? It was yes. It was great and we looked after one Labrador and one cat and the cat literally like it had a mind of its own it just did whatever it kept running away we didn't know where it was. Gary was sent out of the house like literally every 20 minutes I was starting to panic like go and find the cat go and find the cat. We had been warned the cat did like to go everywhere and he was always out in his like pyjamas calling the cat but the cat was fine but you do worry if you're in someone else's house you don't want anything to happen to the pet that's the most important thing that the pet is safe and happy and well fed so we looked after them and that was great and this is where we met our grandson as well when we were on that very first visit that was the very first time we met our lovely grandson Blake so our second house it was fantastic it was a real menagerie. That was the one in Norfolk wasn't it? Yeah it was in Norfolk so this one was in the UK as well and we looked after like some chickens a lizard some rabbits rabbits a gorgeous cockapoo what else did we have we had something else fish as well and Gary looked after the lizard more than me because I'll be honest with you I'm not really a reptile kind of gal but he was all right with it. The lizard used to sit on my shoulder at night and watch tv it's weird oh I didn't go near him at that point I'm scared he might jump on me. Yeah the lizard not me that was a given. While we were in that house sit we saw a house sit for one in Cyprus and yeah that was a great house sit so we went to Cyprus for a month and we looked after a cat didn't we? Paco. Paco the cat now Paco's favorite place was you would have thought Gary was like um like a hot pad he was like lactating or something I was gonna say I don't know whether so Paco the cat sort of like uh cozied in on Gary that was a great house sit as well and it was a house with a swimming pool we couldn't really use it because it was freezing but it did have a swimming pool really close to the beach so we were walking by the beach every day it was great one fabulous our next house sit was back in the UK wasn't it it was in Suffolk in West Sussex West Sussex and it was a mansion like proper mansion and one beautiful dog uh Red Fox yeah Red Fox Labrador she was just such a gorgeous dog a really big house it was fabulous and we became quite friendly with the people that that owned these houses as well so we absolutely loved those guys we had such a great time with them um in fact we went back and saw them um when we were traveling didn't we yeah they looked after their motor home I think yeah they kept the motor home there when we were traveling and we parked it there because they were quite near to Gatwick airport weren't they our next set was actually in Spain um and we looked after a couple of cats didn't we yeah we did again they were mad for the Gary belly I don't know what's going on with Gary and cats um but they they were lovely and that was a really nice house it had a swimming pool in fact we could use that pool yeah it was quite warm it was fairly warm so we could use the pool really nice walking lovely little house just really nice people as well and then our next sit was back in Scotland it was yes yeah we spent Christmas in Scotland and we we had three fabulous dogs I mean they were crazy dogs in an old farmhouse and what a beautiful sort of farmhouse it was really rustic and it was perfect they let the kids stay with us and everything we could see everybody could come around for Christmas dinner at a big massive farmhouse the guy was a chef so I was able to use a really well sort of service kitchen so that was good and then of course we ended up in Canada so this is a great house that we've got one dog um a lovely place on a on an island we're on Salt Spring Island um it's in British Columbia in Canada and it's and for those of you who don't know is you have to take a ferry from the mainland of Vancouver and it's very close to Vancouver Island so during our Canadian adventure we're going to show you around Salt Spring Island we're also going to go across to Vancouver Island while we're in this house sit there's a couple of things we want to show you there um but I won't let I won't let the cat out of the bag is it where right yeah okay so if you're thinking right I'm going to take a leap of faith I'm going to join let's talk a little bit about some of the tips that that really we've learned along the way I suppose yeah so first of all for your very first house sit try and take a really short sit or something that there aren't a lot of people applying for because then you've got a higher chance of getting picked haven't you yeah but not only that a short set means if it's not for you you've only got to sit for a short period you're not sort of staying in one place for six weeks yeah that's a really good point so that brings us nicely onto your profile which is effectively your shop window yeah now your profile needs to be quite strong especially if you are new to the game so what you want to do is have a picture preferably with some sort of pets yeah I mean we didn't have any animals did we so we'd sat on a giant well we did Gary had sat on a giant bunny when we did route 66 so I put that in not very furry though you don't necessarily want fur between your legs anyway anyways moving swiftly on what you want to do is you want to come across however your personality is so if your personality is outgoing lively fun caring you want to show that in your pictures and that's people you know some people are looking for more studious quiet people some people want couples some people want like single individuals as well so you know it's all horses for courses depending on the homeowner yeah I know and if you've looked after a pet even your sister's pet or your brother's pet or something like that or your own pet mention that because that's what these people are looking for they want somebody who who knows the way around pets and if you can you can sort of highlight your experiences and that gives them something more well exactly I mean Gary was much more experienced with animals than I was to be honest I'd only ever had one hamster so I wasn't really well up there on the pet experience but what I didn't know I was quite willing to learn and Gary knew everything that we could have known as a couple so that really helped us out yeah plus we weren't we weren't particularly fussy about like what we were sitting for we were predominantly looking for area when we went for our very first sit and so you're it's going to be dependent on what you're looking for but go for something short to start off with without many people that have gone for it and you stand a better chance of being selected now when you are searching for your sit make sure that you read the reviews sometimes you can sense something between the lines that might not be for you or read the profile well and you might think I don't really like that so some people have very strict criterias about what they want with their pets so some people might say you know if you don't like my bunny sleeping in your bed don't bother replying and you think okay well I'm gonna apply there well you know something you know it's all horses for courses do you mind the pet sleeping in your room or don't you mind the pet sleeping in your room there's a difference between having the pet in your room and having the pet in your bed now I'm boiling hot so I don't want a pet in my bed and it's not because I don't like the pet it's because I'm boiling hot it's like Gary's got no space in the bed never mind a pet and if there's a bed and Gary and my menopause it's going to be an extremely hot bed they're the only paws we want in that bed right the next tip's really important make sure you only apply for a sit you can genuinely do now by that I mean if you're going to go and sit for someone overseas you've got to remember that these people are relying on you to get from where you are to their house that means you fork out for the travel nobody pays for your travel you pay for it that's part of the quid pro quo of it yeah it is so don't apply for it if you if you know that a you can't get the time off work or you can't afford the travel it just wastes everybody's time so when you put an application into Trusted House Sitters the home owners see five different applications in one go and they can reject all of them or none of them or they you know it's up to them to kind of sit through and decide who they want to see very often a homeowner will contact you maybe they'll contact you second after they've spoken to somebody else and then you're the second choice or maybe you are just outright the first choice we know certainly as we've become five star raters and a lot more like really great reviews thanks to those guys who took the time to review us that was really kind what that's done is elevate us when we do apply so if we apply for something then people can see what people have written about us but likewise you look at those reviews because i've seen a couple of reviews and i've thought i'm not sure i would like that you know there was a few reviews i remember reading one about somebody said you know um the homeowner's brother came around and said that he could stay and he stayed there he stayed there while that person was there now that to me would be a no-no because especially if you were a single individual you don't want somebody you don't know staying in the house so uh it's things like that um just make sure you read them you're happy with making an application and then you know go for it you know that's what that's my advice would be i mean we you know we haven't had any negative experiences so we've been very lucky and had a car with this house and we'll show you the car now now somehow sitting jobs will come with a car as well as the pet this is mac this is who we're looking after this time and he is absolutely gorgeous say hi to everyone mac say hello hi honey now we're in a tesla so we're hoping for no drama you know i'm saying calm yourself people don't know what's going on all over the world uh anyway so this one does come with a car but it is relative isn't it this is a long house it is yeah obviously you're going to need to sort out the insurances and uh gary is the name driver on this one uh and it's an electric car we've not driven an electric car before yeah but uh yeah that's really handy if you're on a long sit so a top tip if you're searching for a house sit and you're not quite sure where you want to stay what i do is i look in the search criterias and i narrow it down by things that are really really important to us so if we go on a longer sit we really like having a car don't we yes it just works out so much better you save the money on the higher car also you're taking a pet with you in the car very often so you don't want to be putting that in a higher car you know the pet's used to its own car um so we do that we we sort of narrow it down by that we'll narrow it down by time if we're going to fly a long full flight we don't really want to do a house sit for less than a month do we no and if you're going to get somewhere that has a car involved then don't forget that what you'll probably end up doing beforehand is sending the the house owners copies of your driving license and so it's all relatively simple now sometimes the homeowner might offer you a car provided you're prepared to pay the excess on their insurance in other words yeah because it'll cost you another 10 or 15 quid but that's something that you'll discuss with the homeowners prior to it and it has worked out really well for us nearly every house sit we've had we've had a car yeah and it's been absolutely brilliant so one of the best things that you can do if you are doing a pet sit for anyone is to do regular pup dates or cat dates or whatever you want to call it whatever the whatever you want to look at it like that really goes down a long way doesn't it does yeah i mean we always take little pictures and probably about once a week or if it's a shorter sit we'll do it a couple of times a week just let them know how the pets do especially in the early days because they are worried yeah they are very worried when they're leaving their don't forget this is that this is like their children so they're worried about leaving them they want to know they're okay sending a picture sending an update goes a long way now when you are house sitting treat the house like it's your own and i don't mean um just in terms of like relaxing i mean would you want somebody going through your drawers would you want somebody like messing up your house you wouldn't want any of that so respect their property that's a really important thing we never go through any drawers and even if people say oh help yourself go through everything like no thanks all right um there's there's an inbuilt mechanism in us that doesn't feel comfortable to do that we're always really grateful if there's a really well stocked kitchen ie pops and pans when it comes to food food's your own responsibility don't forget you would buy food anyway wouldn't you that's right now most homeowners have something left in the fridge it might just be bread and milk or something and some leave a lot more it really rather depends all homeowners look after their pets needs though they provide the pet food and even if they're going away for five or six weeks there's usually a real stock of pet stuff isn't there yeah and if there isn't they would offer to pay for the pet food and but your food's your responsibility but keep the house really nice and clean don't let people come around unless you've asked for permission now we've asked for permission previously for um family members to stay especially at christmas and that and we've been given permission and in fact far from being given permission we've actively encouraged to let our family members stay so you know don't be afraid to ask especially if you're open and honest and say you know your adult son wants to come and they'd rather know and make sure when you leave that house it's spotlessly clean sometimes if you clean it even more than what you came into it it goes such a long way for people yeah they come back from a holiday and a break and the last thing they want to do is walk into a dirty house wouldn't that be like yeah i would hate that if i came away and i left my house with someone and then i walked in and then it was really grubby so make sure that you do a real nice clean because the end of the day you know it's a it's a win-win for everyone house sitting you can stay in a really lovely place and get to see some really fantastic things but they can leave their pet with someone they can trust not to ruin their house to make sure the house is safe and secure and if you get someone like gary he's going to fix himself after we've done this house set we are going to head up to abbotsford in near vancouver and we're going to pick up an rv so we're going to be driving around uh the states and canada for five weeks in an rv rental uh we're really looking forward to that aren't we and we're hiring the rv with a company called frazerway rv yes uh so when we pick up that rv on that first week we'll show you exactly what you're going to get for your money we're excited about that aren't we yeah we are uh if you've enjoyed this vlog or it's been very useful to you why not give us a like um consider subscribing if you're not already and maybe do the holy grail itself and ring that bell so you get a notification it's been great to see you thanks very much for watching everyone love you loads take care we'll see you on the next one