At first, this was what Seb thought too. He was not comfortable with the idea of having strangers staying in our house while we were away. But I had a colleague who had had his house looked after while he was away and things turned out fine. Putting Handsome in a pet hotel during winter was harsh and he would be miserable. Bao Bei too would not be happy away from home. While on Facebook, I saw an ad from TrustedHouseSitters. I clicked on it and read more about the service. Everything was listed clearly on the website and it had good comments from reliable references.
I took up a month's membership, put up a posting description our house, our pets and the dates we were away. Right away, I had almost ten requests. Mostly retired couples who wanted to see the world while helping out to take care of the house and animals. There were children books author, retired researcher, professor and teachers among these candidates. Most were from USA and Canada. As this TrustedHouseSitters is an UK website, most members are english speaking.
Since all of them have reports on police check and experience in taking care of animals, it was hard for us to decide who to accept. Based on first come first serve basis, Seb and I had a Skype conversation with Chris and Eve since they were among the first to write to us and were quick to reply which time I posed questions. They wanted to escape the cold snowy winter in Canada and France was an ideal place for them.
We decided on them and as planned, they arrived on a monday, stayed at a hotel for the night and came over to our place on tuesday afternoon. We brought them around the town to show them the essential stuff and the forest walk with Handsome. We had raclette for dinner and they enjoyed this chessy meal.
The next day, we flew to Singapore. During our stay in Singapore, our housesitters took great care of our animals. They were homely people and visited Paris only once. They visited Orleans, Chartres and Rambouillet and enjoyed my quiet village. I knew these because we communicated regularly by email.
When we returned, Chris and Eve continued their vacation visiting friends in Scotland before heading home. Pior to coming here, they had spent a week in England taking care of a pet lizard. All these for free. I provided free lodging for them and in return, they took care of my pets and my house. This is a win win situation.
We are blessed to have such ideal housesitters. I heard from my neighbours that the couple walked Handsome very often.
I do not mind using TrustedHouseSitters again in future if we have to be away for a long time. For the moment, pet hotel is ideal for that few days of getaway.
I took up a month's membership, put up a posting description our house, our pets and the dates we were away. Right away, I had almost ten requests. Mostly retired couples who wanted to see the world while helping out to take care of the house and animals. There were children books author, retired researcher, professor and teachers among these candidates. Most were from USA and Canada. As this TrustedHouseSitters is an UK website, most members are english speaking.
Since all of them have reports on police check and experience in taking care of animals, it was hard for us to decide who to accept. Based on first come first serve basis, Seb and I had a Skype conversation with Chris and Eve since they were among the first to write to us and were quick to reply which time I posed questions. They wanted to escape the cold snowy winter in Canada and France was an ideal place for them.
We decided on them and as planned, they arrived on a monday, stayed at a hotel for the night and came over to our place on tuesday afternoon. We brought them around the town to show them the essential stuff and the forest walk with Handsome. We had raclette for dinner and they enjoyed this chessy meal.
The next day, we flew to Singapore. During our stay in Singapore, our housesitters took great care of our animals. They were homely people and visited Paris only once. They visited Orleans, Chartres and Rambouillet and enjoyed my quiet village. I knew these because we communicated regularly by email.
When we returned, Chris and Eve continued their vacation visiting friends in Scotland before heading home. Pior to coming here, they had spent a week in England taking care of a pet lizard. All these for free. I provided free lodging for them and in return, they took care of my pets and my house. This is a win win situation.
We are blessed to have such ideal housesitters. I heard from my neighbours that the couple walked Handsome very often.
I do not mind using TrustedHouseSitters again in future if we have to be away for a long time. For the moment, pet hotel is ideal for that few days of getaway.
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