We have house sat in
15 countries!
Looked after 40 homes!
Cared for over 45 animals!
We have looked after homes in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, France, Greece, Montenegro, Malaysia, Thailand, Ireland, The UK, and a cat on a catamaran in the Caribbean!
Want to know how we traveled the world the FREE for 5 YEARS?
Read our story about becoming a house sitter below!
Hiya, we are Britt & Jay! We met in the Australian Alps during the winter of 2014. Brittnay is an Aussie girl from Melbourne & Jayden is a Kiwi kid from New Zealand. Before meeting, we both had a strong passion for travel.
Brittnay had traveled extensively through Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, and Jayden had traveled through Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the United States.
Who Are The Travelling House Sitters?
Having both had a small taste of what the world has to offer, we were hungry to explore more together. We quickly learned that we both love food, wine, markets, animals, and immersing ourselves in different cultures.
In 2015, after one year of living in the Australian Snowy Mountains, we found one-way tickets to London. We then spent the next two years living, working, and pet-sitting in London.
In those two years, we traveled to 25 countries throughout Europe and Africa. There was so much to see and do, and most importantly, to eat and drink. We developed a real love for food and wine while living in London.
With our working holiday visas expiring, we were not ready to go home yet! So we put our thinking caps on…We love travelling and enjoy being on the move. However, we both found something was missing while we were travelling. We both started to miss the companionship of animals!
How Did We Start Our House-Sitting Adventure?
We both grew up with dogs, cats, fish, and birds, and we felt that our lives were missing the joy of snuggling with a cat or going for a run with a pooch!
It is a little tricky to juggle traveling and owning pets, so this was when we discovered it was possible to combine our love for travel and animals. After hearing about house-sitting from a friend, we decided to give it a go while still living in London. We didn’t mind that it was just down the road from our flat or that it was only for one week; we just wanted to test the waters and gain some experience before diving deep into it.
It was a success; we loved it! We had a few months before our visas expired in the UK. We decided to head over to Ireland while we decided what to do next. We discovered that the rental situation was really crazy in Dublin. So, we managed to house-sit our way around Dublin while working full-time successfully.
It was in Ireland that we decided to upskill ourselves to work online. This would allow us the freedom to house-sit anywhere in the world with no strings attached.
After house-sitting in Ireland for seven months, we needed to return to the Southern Hemisphere for several weddings and family events. But first, it was time to treat ourselves, so we headed to the beautiful city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
We spent three months living and diving deep into setting up our online business in Chiang Mai. This was the perfect place for us because of our love of street food and fresh, local, organic produce.
After Thailand, we spent a few months in Jay’s hometown of New Plymouth, New Zealand, doing a house sit for free rent. Here, we looked after several homes and animals while catching up with Jay’s family and attending a few weddings.
For the remainder of 2018, we house sat our way around Melbourne. It was an awesome time! We looked after six beautiful homes and some amazing pets!
House Sitting in 2019
2019 was an exciting year for us. We had locked in sitting assignments in Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey for the year’s first three months.
After house-sitting in Malaysia for just over one month, we decided to go to India for one month—no house-sitting, just traveling. This was amazing. We spent some time in the Himalayas, saw the Taj Mahal, and ate more street food than was good for us. It was a blast!
We then booked a ticket to Turkey. Britt has wanted to go to Turkey for years now, so we had to make that happen! We found a last-minute house sit in Istanbul and were off!
Although we were only there for one week, we ate everything in sight and saw some unique places.
From Turkey, we flew back to the UK to buy an ‘office on wheels’ that would drive us throughout Europe for the summer.
We bought a cute little Citroën (and called her Merry Berry) and made haste to the South of France (in just 3 days).
We were booked in for a sit about half an hour inland from Bordeaux! It was a beautiful lifestyle block surrounded by vines (a perfect spot for us!).
We then went south and looked after a home not far from Bordeaux. This home had seven cats and is what we could only describe as being a cat mansion!
From there, we drove to Barcelona for one week, where we stayed in a small apartment on the beach.
Then we had to head back to France to celebrate Britt’s 30th birthday in true style—by cruising the Canals of southern France. We spent a week cruising, eating, drinking, and cycling along the canals.
The boat trip was so relaxing, and we needed it for the next leg of our journey in Italy for our next sit. This was right up North on the Swiss border, looking after eight cats.
In July / September, we drove down to Rome to look after a cute black puppy. Exploring Rome is something we have wanted to do for a long time. Every day was an adventure out exploring with Ugo!
Following Rome, we jumped on a ferry to Croatia. We spent one week camping along the Croatian coast and then drove down to Montenegro, where we looked after two cats in Herceg Novi.
We spent one month in Montenegro and had a blast! We really did not know much about Montenegro, but we ended up absolutely loving it!
The house sit in Montenegro ended, and we started the long drive to Porto Rafti, Greece, for our next sit.
However, things did not go as planned on the way to Greece.
Halfway through Albania, our car decided to break down. Long story short, after a couple of days of frantically trying to fix it with some local Albanian mechanics, we had no luck. Running out of time, we scrapped the van and jumped on a 13-hour bus to Athens to get to the house on time!
We arrived on time at our first house sit in Greece and were very happy to have finally made it. We looked after a home on the coast just south of Athens in the port town of Porto Rafti. We then headed off to Karpathos Island for a much-needed break from house-sitting and a little early Christmas gift to ourselves.
After Karpathos, we went back to Greece, this time based in Athens. We looked after 2 ginger cats and a dog at the base of the Acropolis, a stunning place to spend our last few weeks in Europe!
What Are Our Plans For House Sitting in 2024?
In November 2019, we parted ways for a few months.
Brittnay went back to Melbourne to have Christmas back home with the family. She will be house sitting in Melbourne and the Eastern Coast from November till April 2024 – so get in touch if you are looking a house sitter!
Jay flew to the Caribbean to complete our first-ever boat sit! He lived on a boat in the Caribbean from November until April 2020, on Carriacou Island, Granada.
As mentioned above, our plans for 2020 have changed a lot. We were meant to be house-sitting in Mexico for the remainder of the year; however, at this stage, we will be located in New Zealand and Australia for the remainder of 2020. Jay will be heading over to Australia when we can to be with Brittnay. We will be looking for house-sitting opportunities in the Melbourne / Victoria area when Australia gets back to normal.
WOW, so this post got long didn’t it, oops.
In fewer than a thousand words, I guess that is a pretty quick overview of who we are, what we have done, and what we plan to do.
Check Us Out On 7 News Australia!
In 2018, 7 News in Australia approached us to do a little piece about House sitting! It was an interesting experience, and we were stoked to share our way of life with the world!
