A prime example of a couple living this nomadic lifestyle is Paulette and Barry de Silva. They originally contacted us after reading our article on housesitting in the April 2014 issue of International Living. They have very similar backgrounds being an English/Canadian couple themselves. Paulette is a retired executive and Barry still runs his own software development company, which allows him to work from anywhere in the world as long as he has good internet access.
When we first connected in spring of 2014, they were living in Florida, which had been home for the last 5 years. Paulette told us “at the moment we are only beginning our travels that will include housesits. However, we hope to expand our time-lines in being able to do them more frequently. Barry and I love travelling and we have been fortunate to be able to explore many countries over the last four years. Now that we have decided to incorporate housesitting into our travels, we can realize the benefit of free accommodation as well as having temporary pets that we very much enjoy.
Paulette went on to say. “Reading your Blog as well as the IL article and the information on your website has inspired us to produce our own personal website. Thanks so much for providing such helpful and wise information- we are confident that it will improve our opportunity to land some wonderful house sitting engagements”.
Just one year later, they are on their seventh housesit and have two more booked, taking them into October of this year.
Paulette reports “we have had quite good success in obtaining assignments, and have had to actually turn some down, as we were already booked!
Our first housesit taking care of two elderly cats in Newmarket, ON Canada, turned into a three time repeat assignment, with the last one, just this past February. As a matter of fact, we were in need of a place to stay for about 5 weeks and we had established such a good rapport and friendship with the cats owners that they offered us their fully equipped basement apartment for that time period. So you never know what additional benefits may come out of pet/house sits!”
At the moment, they are taking care of a delightful Labradoodle dog in Kelowna BC in a lovely home with the benefit of an in ground pool. Their next assignment is July and August in Victoria, BC right across the road from the famous Fisherman’s Wharf. Then from September to October, they will be caring for two gorgeous cats in Ladysmith BC.
I was quite surprised to find that all of their sits with the exception of one in England have all been in Canada. The reason why made perfect sense after Paulette explained, “we have moved back to Canada from Florida and are currently in BC. We are considering settling at some point on Vancouver Island. Although at the moment, we are enjoying our nomadic existence and are in no rush to get back into the housing department again. We are enjoying these sits with the opportunity they give for researching the areas in B.C. that we may consider to eventually settle”.
Housesits abound in Canada, USA and England, making it a great way to reduce your expenses while exploring your own country in search of your perfect abode.
If housesitting is something that interests you get a copy of our featured download “Everything You Ought to Know About… Housesitting“
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