The Last Sit

Carlisle
Our final Sit brought us to Carlisle, England and in some ways it was the perfect conclusion to the first part of our adventure. We arrived by train and our host, Peter, picked us up and drove us 10 minutes to their home providing an informative narrative. Peter and Lindsey had an immaculate and comfortable home tastefully decorated and they had a friendly cat name Fliss.

Fliss

The bus stop was minutes from their door making visits to Carlisle convenient. Carlisle has a population of about 70,000 with comfortable shops and restaurants and ample energy. Lindsey prepared a delicious dinner. Afterward we talked while drinking wine. Their home was as comfortable as any place we stayed during our six months and Fliss perfectly behaved. Upon their return from holiday, we shared some coffee and tea and they told us about their holiday of dancing and we conveyed our pleasure of living in their home, experiencing Carlisle and caring for Fliss. We all hugged while they thanked us for taking care of their home and Fliss, while we encouraged them to visit us if they ever come to the States.






Some thoughts on the Sits.
 What a wonderful way to see the world! As the Sit part of our journey has ended, it's nice to reflect back on those Sits.

John: 

Our Adventure began as an idea to live outside of the US and evolved into taking care of homes and pets in Western Europe for six months, travel back to the States for a wedding and rent an apartment in Eastern Europe and travel Eastern and Central Europe until our tenants’ lease expired on May 1^st. We were excited to see places in Europe, place ourselves in situations we had never been and meet some wonderful people.

The Pet Sitting process involves buying a subscription to websites where pet owners post opportunities to stay in their home to take care of their pets while they are on holiday or away for business. The Sits can be for a few days to a few months. Some are posted days in advance of their departure while others are months in the future. Barb was able to reserve about 45 days of the 180 available before our flight to London. Our intention was to have Sits for as many of the days as possible to minimize hotel costs but learned quickly to allow adequate time between Sits for travel. Getting from our second Sit in Ward End England to meet with our Edinburgh host taught us a lesson. The time constraints were too tight traveling from Ward End, England with a departure time of 3:30AM flying to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet our host by noon, the same day.

France

While we were well prepared for the eight hours on a sleepless flight from Orlando, FL to London we had some difficulties moving from city to city using multiple forms of mass transit on average every four to five days over the course of six months. But we made commitments to our hosts and knew the end date was November 29^th, the date of our flight back for the wedding, so we persevered and the experiences in the cities and towns and the meeting of our hosts will be remembered for a very long time, especially our hosts. By the time we reached our final Sit in Carlyisle, Barb had secured Sits for 147 days of the 180, on average we traveled every 4 to 5 days, we had been to a dozen cities with populations from 4,300 to 8.8 million, we were entrusted to mostly cats but almost a dozen dogs and two chickens. Two of our Sits were in homes over 400 years old and one was a new, modern condo. 

We learned we preferred traveling by train over flying. The train stations were busy places during the day ranging from futuristic type malls to waiting rooms with small shops and vending machines. But each had display boards of the schedule of trains for the next several hours. The infrequent travelers all seemed to gather around the displays gazing or giving periodic glances to find their connection location and details. We almost always had time before boarding our next connection and enjoyed buying sandwiches and snacks for the next section of the trip and share a meal or a coffee with my lovely partner. Only once was there a security check to board a train. This greatly reduced the hassles of traveling by train compared to flying.

Bus travel is usually the least expensive and as comfortable as trains and with none of the flying hassles. The downside of bus travel is because of traffic, travel time is at risk of being extended. The other negative is some of the destinations are bus stops as opposed to stations. Think about the sometimes random places you see a bus stop sign and imagine not speaking the language, hungry and needing to get to a hotel or make another connection. One of our bus stops in Biarritz, France was in a housing development with only a pizza place and houses. We asked a pizza worker for a taxi company number, preferably English speaking. We didn’t have to travel far but there was a minimum $15 charge to get in the vehicle, so it cost about $30 to travel a few miles. But if you don’t encounter traffic delays and you end at a bus station, as opposed to a stop, the seats are comfortable and the views from the bus are the best.

Bakewell UK

While still in the states, after securing our first Sit, during the interview with our host, we agreed to come the day before their departure. We would have dinner together and stay overnight in their spare bedroom. After the interview, while discussing what we each understood, we both expressed hesitation and some angst about accepting the kindness of strangers before ever doing anything to earn it. We both agreed we would approach it as a learning experience. While it was mildly uncomfortable, our lovely hosts, Michaela and David, were warm, friendly and so genuine we were both at ease instantly and glad to be spending time with them. For the next 12 or so Sits, that approach was, by far, the preferred process and, as it turns out, allowed us to meet some wonderful people with delightful interactions that will be some of our fondest memories. While I usually felt slight angst planning to meet our next hosts, I was able to reassure myself recollecting prior meetings and the moment I started talking to our new host I was enjoying myself. I noticed how I felt just prior to our first Sits compared to the disappointment when our London Sit arrangements did not allow us to meet our host. 

Barb: When I first read about pet sitting, I thought "Yeah, sure. It's one of those things that you read about but very few people actually get do it. It sounds too good to be true." A little research told me it was doable. Do your homework, prepare and go after it. There are legit websites and real people that would love for you to come and pet sit for them.

Bear in Munich

13 Sits. So many wonderful memories. Sure there were issues from time to time but the majority of our time was wonderful. Amazing countries, amazing homes but the best part were our hosts. As we previously said in our blog post "New Friends" we have been lucky to meet some really fantastic people. They were welcoming, accommodating and respectful. They loved their pets and only wanted someone to care and love them while they were away. They were open minded enough to open their home to strangers and trust that we were everything we said we were.

The Sits got us to Europe. We have learned so much since landing in London back in May. If we decided to do it again, there are some things we would tweak but I think we did really well our first time out. 83% of our time for our first 6 months was spent doing Sits. When our journey ends in April, we want to look at pet sitting in the States. It's a wonderful way to see the world!


(If anyone would like more information on pet sitting, please message us privately and we would be glad to share what we know)

Cheers!
Barb and John

New Friends

John: The idea of this trip was very appealing to us but as Barb and I discussed the required tasks before we would be able to get on the plane to anywhere, there was some work and research to do. But, as usual, whenever I discuss things with Barb things seem manageable and I know they will get done. While trip logistics consumed its fair share of our effort and conversations, I enjoyed discussing the positive things we each hoped the adventure would provide us, positive attitude and behavior changes, new and exciting places to experience, hanging out in English pubs, drinking German beer, tasting different foods and meeting people with different perspectives. I especially enjoyed Barb’s hope, “I want to meet people and develop a bond of friendship so that they visit us in our home town.” While I liked the idea I had my doubts of its probability of happening.

I enjoyed thinking of the idea of visiting Europe, talking with people and seeing their city through their filters. We would meet their friends, learn some of their customs, create an international web of friendship. In turn, when appropriate, we would tell them about our home. After we learned about some of their preferences we could match those up with comparable activities or things our home town offers, enticing them to visit Weaverville. We would take them to music shows, breweries, have an international party and invite our neighbors and friends to show them how wonderful our town is and the people are.

Barb: I loved the idea of meeting new friends abroad but loving the idea of it and actually going out and meeting new people? Well, for introverts that is not always an easy thing to do.

John: But how and where would we meet our new foreign friends?

Back home in Asheville we met almost all of our friends, since moving there, as a direct result of our time spent at the Root Bar. So, why not meet new international friends at a local pub? Maybe, since we would be staying in someone’s house or apartment we could meet the neighbors, while I was mowing the yard. We could meet them in the produce section of the grocery store, we wouldn’t be dining out for every meal.

Maybe I would take a glass of lemonade out to my neighbor when I heard him mowing his lawn. After I said something clumsy in French he and I would laugh and I would work up the courage to invite him and “la monque”, the misses, for dinner sometime. We would either attempt escargot with chard, a local dish, or, if they preferred, an American staple, 22 ounces of prime cut USDA steak and a pounder-pound baked potato with all the toppings. After they thoroughly enjoyed their meal they would make us promise to let them give us a tour of their city to see the sites and visit their favorite pubs and meeting places. Then, after the tour and several fun outings together we would befriend each other on Facebook. When the time arrives and we have to move to our next Sit our new friends would have a mini-party where we all promised to stay in touch through social media. As time passed and we were following them, not to be misconstrued as creeping, we notice they are planning a trip to the States and it corresponds with our return! They accept our invitation and then you are all invited to meet Pierre and Amandine Macron from Banniers-Charente France at our house party. It could happen!

What about the village square? You know, the center of those European towns. The ones with the 500 year old functioning fountain, with granite steps on four sides where all the people of the area go every night to drink wine, eat local tapas and talk about current events. I would love doing that and the prospect of meeting a future transatlantic friend would be possible. The only problem is we haven’t seen such a place.

Barb: Yep, I had some of those ideas too. I wasn’t sure how we would make new friends, I just knew I wanted to. I wanted to introduce my new European friends to my Asheville friends. I wanted to stay in touch. I wanted to meet new people and then see them again down the road.

John: While almost every friend Barb and I have met since moving to Asheville could be directly linked to the Root Bar we also realize it didn’t happen in the first month from when we started going there. So, going to a local version of the Root Bar in Munich Germany meeting a couple with similar dispositions and attitudes was a low probability option. We did, however, meet a couple at a beer garden in Munich.

The beer garden was set up in a way that was conducive to meeting people. It was outside under a huge chestnut tree surrounded by outdoor vendors selling cheese, charcuterie, beer and prepared food. There were picnic tables lined up in 25 rows of 20 tables with the benches touching each other, to maximize the seating per square foot. We had been there mid-week and on the weekend and it was always busy with people and seats were at a premium. We walked around and saw a table that definitely wasn’t full and asked if we could squeeze in to sit. I would venture out to decide on the food and get a couple of pints of beer. The picnic tables were full of people eating from plastic containers, enjoying a pretzel or had trays of food from one of the vendors and most of the people had a pint or liter of beer. It had great energy and people were talking and laughing. The beer garden in Munich we frequented was in the Marienplatz and called Viktualienmarkt, One night we met a couple,a little older than us, sitting next to us. Barb struck up a conversation with them and before you know it the four of us were chatting away. After a couple of hours they invited us to visit a wine party across the Marienplatz. We made our way there but there wasn’t much energy so they suggested we all take a bus to another drinking place on a river. There was a local band playing mostly German songs. We opted for the first table with four seats and it was just in front of the stage next to group of young people thoroughly enjoying the music, food and beer. They were having a fun time singing raucously to all the tunes they knew. We stayed there until about 11p and the couple rode with us on the bus and walked us to our train to be sure we make it back safely. They were a nice couple and we enjoyed ourselves. But I don’t anticipate we will every hear from them again, mainly because we didn’t exchange digits and they did not give any indication they were social media types.

When I considered what our interaction with our hosts would involve, I didn’t think it presented much opportunity to bond into a friendship. Since we were strangers and would only be together for a few hours it didn’t seem like we could bond to the level of friendship that takes months or years to cultivate. Before our first Sit I assumed it would be a business type meeting. We would meet our hosts, discuss their expectations of us for the animals and the house and we would learn whatever we needed to know that was not included in the welcome kit provided during the hiring process. They would go off on their trip and we may or may not meet them when they returned. But the actual process was a little different for some of our hosts. They usually picked us up from a bus, train or airport terminal. After arriving at their home we and they did discuss responsibilities and ask questions and we got a quick tour of the house and property. The level of detail was different for each set of hosts. After that it was different for some of our Sits. Some hosts asked us to arrive the day before their departure and stay overnight. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of staying in a house with strangers and accepting their undeserved hospitality. But, I wanted to challenge some of my unnecessary hang-ups and it did save us a hotel expense, so we stayed.

Barb: That was an uneasy feeling for me too. So we go to a stranger’s house and we have to spend a whole evening with them. What do we talk about? What do we do? Should we go to bed early? Stay out of their way? What if it gets awkward because we just don’t hit it off with them? To say I was nervous about that part of the Sits is an understatement.

John: More than half our sits asked us to arrive the day before they departed. In each situation, our hosts either took us out to dinner or prepared a meal for us, each picked us up when we arrived in town. Each of the dinners included liberal drinking and the conversation flowed effortlessly, talking about the weather, American and English politics, and almost any other topic. Each of the dinner celebrations lasted for a couple of hours and carried on into late night drinks at their homes and in each case Barb and I felt a connection with them. We were intrigued by some of our conversations about our country and they told us they found Americans to be friendly, which we were pleasantly surprised to hear.

Barb: We made friends! All our hosts have been so welcoming and accommodating. Whether it was leaving us train cards, flowers, wine, coffee and jams, we always felt appreciated. But the hosts that we got to spend time with, whether it was staying overnight or meeting beforehand and seeing them after they got back from their trip, have kept in touch with us. With them we shared drinks and conversations, had dinners and breakfasts and walks together. Memories we will treasure. We have met new friends, friends of our hosts, that were so friendly and sweet to the American pet sitters who like sparkling wine or wanted to see an English garden. And of course there is Mou, the one who fed us and introduced us to the best Bangladesh cuisine.

Of all the experiences we have had here in Europe, meeting our new friends are the best.

John: While I wasn’t confident we would make transatlantic friends on this adventure and believed the limited time with our hosts precluded that possibility, I admit I was wrong. Considering the people we’ve met I would not be surprised if we maintain a distant relationship or, possibly, another face to face visit. Of course, we will invite all of you to meet them.


Cheers!
John and Barb