House Sitting
When Free Accommodation Dreams Meet Nomadic Bureaucracy
📍Hanoi, Vietnam
After listening to an interview with two digital nomads, at the 50-minute mark of a 51-minute video (yes, I listen to every word), the guy mentioned he's a member of Trusted House Sitting and saves on rent that way. I finished the video and immediately opened the website.
I realized this is just one platform of many, and when I need advice, I turn to the expert. ChatGPT told me this platform is the largest, with the most offerings and demand, but not everyone is always available or looking for the same locations and filters I'm searching for.
There are other platforms that cost $30 per year, which is honestly a ridiculous price when you think about the value, but I followed ChatGPT's recommendation and understood that $150 per year would pay for itself even if I used the platform just once.
What particularly reassured me was their confidence. The site stated that if you don't find a house to sit within two weeks, you get all your money back. That shows a serious company that knows their product works.
I signed up for the site, of course after bureaucratic hurdles like "verify your phone number," and here I am dealing with my first nomadic challenges. I change SIM cards in every country I visit because it's cheap and makes sense, but keeping the Australian number I used to register for all websites and subscriptions is more challenging.
Before leaving Australia, I researched this because I'm a responsible person, and I actually found a company that provides a global eSIM for $65 a year. This way I could keep my Australian number and get internet connection in every new country, but my phone doesn't support eSIM, and it's an investment I decided to pass on for now, understanding there would be difficulties that I'd deal with.
So here I am at the bridge, crossing carefully.
Registering on the platform took me a few hours because, unfamiliar with it, I built my profile with the help of AI, of course. I asked ChatGPT what should be included in my profile, what's important for people to know about me, and how the dynamics work in general.
He explained that it's important for people to understand that I'm responsible, clean, and organized (which I actually am). He advised me to talk about my relationship with animals, so I shared about the two cats I had back home, and I needed to build a profile for each of them. I dug around in my Google Photos (thankfully it already has a "cats" category) and collected all my pictures with the cats. Turns out I don't have many, because I never really liked being photographed, but anyway, it was pretty cute.
When I presented the "difficulty" that I've never had a dog and don't feel comfortable looking after dogs, he said that's actually an advantage because I can present myself as a cat expert, and not many people like cats or get along with them.
He also advised me to include good reviews from Airbnbs where I've stayed, since I don't have reviews on the platform yet, and to ask people to recommend me as "references." I reached out to a few close people who were happy to recommend me. It always surprises me how nice people can be, especially when I try not to bother anyone and think I'm "stealing their time."
Profile ready! The next step was to find the sits - where in the world do I want to be, and when? This is where it gets tricky, because when I opened the map view, filtering by my dates and which animals I'm willing to look after (namely, cats and fish haha), I found that most sits are in English-speaking countries like the US, Australia, and England. None of these are exactly on my route right now.
I found that there are quite a few sits in Europe, and very few in Asia. I asked ChatGPT to help me draft a personalized message for each sit. It was important to me to use specific details and not send a "copy-paste" message to everyone, so I used the cats' names, the unique characteristics described in the listing, and as always, I did it from the heart.
I started applying for what seemed relevant to me, like a month and a half in Bangkok, or 2 split sits in Dubai, and one long sit in Malaysia. For a moment I imagined myself being accepted and actually doing it. Wow. It felt like roulette. I really don't know where I'll land in the world in two months; it's funny to open this app like I would open Airbnb, except here it's simply free.
I had several interviews with Thailand and Malaysia, but discovered that the tourist visa in Thailand changes to just one month, so I can't stay there longer than that, and I'm not allowed to enter Malaysia at all. So those were off the table, but it was good to practice the interviews.
I scheduled video calls with the homeowners, or as the app calls them, "Pet Parents," because I understood this is customary and how they decide if the match is right. After all, it means letting a stranger live in your home and care for your pets, so of course you can't do it blindly.
And because of pressure I created for myself, I started looking at Europe. I thought if there's a wide variety of sits there, maybe it's worth getting to the area and simply moving from one sit to another. I remembered hearing about people who do this as a way of life and just live for free.
I found 3 sits in Germany and simply applied. After short video calls where I really connected with the girls, I got 2 out of 3 sits, and I started to get excited. I'm going to Germany!
The first sit is for two weeks, and after a gap of three weeks, the second sit is for a month and a half. "That's a lot of time not paying rent!" I thought triumphantly, and played with the idea that during the three weeks between sits, I could visit home as my mom so wants me to. It's been a long time since I've been there.
I booked a flight and a hotel for three nights in Nuremberg, where the first sit is located, and now I'm ready for my new adventure. Is this the right decision? Is Germany the right place to start? More on that in the next post...
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