Carol & Hal
About Carol & Hal
We are recently retired, non-smoking Americans who have spent more than a decade living, studying, and/or working abroad: France, Germany, Japan, and now Portugal. Hal speaks French and German, and has studied Japanese. Carol speaks intermediate French and basic German. We are Portuguese beginners. We have travelled extensively in North America,...
We are recently retired, non-smoking Americans who have spent more than a decade living, studying, and/or working abroad: France, Germany, Japan, and now Portugal. Hal speaks French and German, and has studied Japanese. Carol speaks intermediate French and basic German. We are Portuguese beginners. We have travelled extensively in North America, Europe, South and East Asia. Hal taught History at the university level in Boston and Kobe, Japan. Carol worked long periods for a foreign consulate in Boston, international organizations in Paris, and large research universities in Cambridge, MA. In addition to learning and travel, we are interested in food and wine. In Lisbon, we swim for exercise almost every morning and do a lot of walking. We are both avid readers and love cats and dogs.
Why we want to house sit
While we are enjoying our lives in Lisbon, we have friends throughout Europe (and other parts of the world) with whom we like to reconnect. Further, although we have travelled fairly widely within Europe, naturally there are many places left to discover for ourselves. Because we have become the sort of travelers who prefer to settle into a place and explore it and its surroundings at leisure and length, house-sitting offers an attractive means of exploring and reconnecting in a way that we enjoy.
Our experience
Hal was raised on a dairy farm in California and had lots of experience with both farm animals and pets. We especially like cats and dogs. We’ve spent hundreds of hours holding cats – a couple of them in particular -- while reading, working on a computer, and watching TV. We especially like affectionate animals and they generally like us. However, we can certainly care for pets that prefer to have their space and definitely understand their preference.
As for house-sitting, we’ve done a number of 2-3 month rentals, Airbnb, house-sitting without pets, and taking care of pets. We have also been tenants in many contexts, the US, Europe, and Asia. We are responsible, clean, neat, and considerate. We can easily provide references from the US, UK, France, Germany, Portugal, and Japan However, we are new at TrustedHousesitters, so don’t yet have a reference base here.
External references (3)
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Ana - Landlord Reference
04 September 2018
Carol and Hal are a wonderful and friendly couple. They rented my apartment in Oeiras from 15 February untill 1st June 2018 and they took care of it as if it was their home, including cleaning, plant care and basic maintenance, especially if the right tools are at hand, Hal can be very handy wit...
Carol and Hal are a wonderful and friendly couple. They rented my apartment in Oeiras from 15 February untill 1st June 2018 and they took care of it as if it was their home, including cleaning, plant care and basic maintenance, especially if the right tools are at hand, Hal can be very handy with things. They also took care of a tv-internet failure that took a long time to solve and they were so very patient and cooperative with the several visits from the technicians. They are great people to talk with, since they have had such an interesting and travelled life. I recommend this couple to all people who appreciate welcoming and spending some time exchanging life experiences and local customs, because Carol and Hal will have a lot to share.
- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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Claudia - Landlord Reference
03 September 2018
We had the pleasure having Carol and her husband staying at our place during several months. They treated our place with a lot of respect, we felt very comfortable leaving our home in their hands. They are very sociable people and appreciate having their time on their own discovering the places t...
We had the pleasure having Carol and her husband staying at our place during several months. They treated our place with a lot of respect, we felt very comfortable leaving our home in their hands. They are very sociable people and appreciate having their time on their own discovering the places to visit through the eye of a local. They are welcome anytime, Germany is on their travel list again and we need trustworthy people to look after our place.
- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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Rogers - House / Pet sitting Reference
03 September 2018
Carol and Hal Hansen lived in our home for more than 4 months in 2017-2018 and we could not have found better house-sitters. Our home was architecturally designed and has valuable art and books. Our home was in better condition when we returned than when we left. They purchased several useful it...
Carol and Hal Hansen lived in our home for more than 4 months in 2017-2018 and we could not have found better house-sitters. Our home was architecturally designed and has valuable art and books. Our home was in better condition when we returned than when we left. They purchased several useful items and left them for us. I have been a professor for many years at a major US research university and over the years, I and many of my colleagues have had house-sitters. I can say unequivocally that our experience with the Hansens has been equal or superior to any I know. Our neighbors found them highly educated, cosmopolitan, and very friendly. We have no pets.
- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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- Pet care
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About Carol & Hal
We are recently retired, non-smoking Americans who have spent more than a decade living, studying, and/or working abroad: France, Germany, Japan, and now Portugal. Hal speaks French and German, and has studied Japanese. Carol speaks intermediate French and basic German. We are Portuguese beginners. We have travelled extensively in North America, Europe, South and East Asia. Hal taught History at the university level in Boston and Kobe, Japan. Carol worked long periods for a foreign consulate in Boston, international organizations in Paris, and large research universities in Cambridge, MA. In addition to learning and travel, we are interested in food and wine. In Lisbon, we swim for exercise almost every morning and do a lot of walking. We are both avid readers and love cats and dogs.
We are recently retired, non-smoking Americans who have spent more than a decade living, studying, and/or working abroad: France, Germany, Japan, and now Portugal. Hal speaks French and German, and has studied Japanese. Carol speaks intermediate French and basic German. We are Portuguese beginners. We have travelled extensively in North America, Europe, South and East Asia. Hal taught History at the university level in Boston and Kobe, Japan. Carol worked long periods for a foreign consulate in Boston, international organizations in Paris, and large research universities in Cambridge, MA. In addition to learning and travel, we are interested in food and wine. In Lisbon, we swim for exercise almost every morning and do a lot of walking. We are both avid readers and love cats and dogs.
Why we want to house sit
While we are enjoying our lives in Lisbon, we have friends throughout Europe (and other parts of the world) with whom we like to reconnect. Further, although we have travelled fairly widely within Europe, naturally there are many places left to discover for ourselves. Because we have become the sort of travelers who prefer to settle into a place and explore it and its surroundings at leisure and length, house-sitting offers an attractive means of exploring and reconnecting in a way that we enjoy.
Our experience
Hal was raised on a dairy farm in California and had lots of experience with both farm animals and pets. We especially like cats and dogs. We’ve spent hundreds of hours holding cats – a couple of them in particular -- while reading, working on a computer, and watching TV. We especially like affectionate animals and they generally like us. However, we can certainly care for pets that prefer to have their space and definitely understand their preference.
As for house-sitting, we’ve done a number of 2-3 month rentals, Airbnb, house-sitting without pets, and taking care of pets. We have also been tenants in many contexts, the US, Europe, and Asia. We are responsible, clean, neat, and considerate. We can easily provide references from the US, UK, France, Germany, Portugal, and Japan However, we are new at TrustedHousesitters, so don’t yet have a reference base here.
Verifications
Verification level
Basic level
Email Address, Phone Number, External references (3)
Animal Care Experience
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Dogs
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Cats
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Fish
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Farm animals
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Bird
Availability
Preferred Countries
Profile Details
Age
Occupation
Travelling as a
Previous house sitting experience
Member benefits
Member since
House & pet sitting timeline
Carol and Hal have done 1 house sit since 2018
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FumelFranceDec 2018 - Jan 2019
