We’re housesitting our way around Europe and the United Kingdom this year. It’s been an amazing journey so far, being able to travel so much and housesitting makes that possible. I mean, think about it, staying in great houses, oftentimes having access to a car or living in places with easy public transport, meeting amazing people, living like locals.
Housesitting has turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made.
Did you ever think about traveling to France, and staying a short train ride from Paris, but you thought going to France was too expensive? Well, it’s not! With housesitting and searching for cheap airline tickets (I like using the app by Kiwi.com), you can really travel the world with your family and not break the bank.
We just did it ourselves (using Nomador housesitting website for this particular housesit in France).
Housesitting has made our travel dreams come true and we’ve done it both in the United States and abroad. It really is a phenomenal way to travel.
Check out our book on housesitting so you can learn how to do this, too. 
For one of the four times we housesat in Paris, we completed a great little housesit in Ermont, France.
This city is about a 20-minute train ride west of Paris. I had to pinch myself on occasion to realize how close we were to Paris and that we stayed in such a great apartment. Even though we weren’t paying in the financial sense, we did have a job to do: care for the apartment and cats. That’s actually fun though!
Traveling the world (or anywhere in the USA) is great with housesitting when you have kids because the animals make great playmates.
Ermont, France was one of our favorite housesits. The homeowners were so amazing (and now they’re our friends who we can visit anytime!). The animals we cared for were easy going, cool cats.
The apartment was perfect, and there was a bakery right downstairs! I always got a kick out of seeing people routinely walking on the sidewalks carrying their daily baguette. That’s a bit of the cultural immersion I’m seeking while traveling the world.
We also had a most amazing butcher just down the street. Again, all walkable. This butcher sold locally sourced meat and it was the most delicious beef I’d ever had. I splurged a few times because my body was screaming for beef.
Housesitting our way around the world has made such a difference for our travels.
We’re meeting so many great people, and traveling is taken to another level when housesitting. We can now say that in the past 6 months we’ve become friends with 10 new families. We keep in touch via email and it’s so neat to have expanded our network like this.
If you’re curious about housesitting or traveling the world, reach out to me via twitter or email. I’d love to help if you have any questions.