Step into the shoes of Christine and Mark, as they discover the most authentic way to travel in London.
Let us introduce you to Christine and Mark. These two sitters from Vermont, US, kindly offered to help showcase the magic of house and pet sitting while looking after the adorable Terrier Miso.
Watch Christine and Mark's Trusted Tale to find out what ‘living like a local’ really means when travelling in London, UK.
Get to know Christine and Mark
Where are you from?
We’re from Vermont in the US.
Why do you like to travel?
It started when we were younger, we both travelled for school or work and have explored so many parts of the world because of that.
My [Christine] grandparents were British, so I often came to the UK which allowed me to explore London. Mark’s travels started when he joined the Marine Corps at 19 years old. He went to a lot of places, mainly South East Asia. However, in more recent years we did our first house exchange. It was from our 2,700ft modern house on three acres in Vermont to a one-bed apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City for five weeks — this did get us used to staying inside someone else’s house, which probably helped us with house sitting!
When we retired, we decided we’d go see some of the places we hadn’t seen yet, so we took off to Argentina for two months, did a lot of hiking in Patagonia, and then we came over here and did house sitting.
How long have you been house sitting?
We have been house sitting off and on for three years, we came over from the United States, and it’s been great because we’ve seen a variety of places, especially in the UK. We’ve got a great sense of where those places are what it’s actually like to be there.
What do you enjoy most about house and pet sitting?
Living like a local in new places gives you a great sense of adventure — you know you’re about to have an experience. Particularly with the pet — you know you’re going to have a great relationship with them. Our very beloved dog had died, so the idea of taking care of other peoples pets really attracted us to pet sitting.
What makes house and pet sitting different from traditional travel?
The thing about being in someone else’s home is getting a sense of the sort of person they are by the things they have and the way their house feels. Also, they like to make their homes a very warm place to be, so you walk into their home and you feel comfortable.
We are senior citizens, that means we’re not going to be galavanting around at clubs all night, so if you’re staying in a hotel, what are you going to do? Hang out in a hotel room all day in a little box? You feel like you should be out and doing all these things. With pet sitting, we can just hang out here and relax with a pet, and help replicate the love that their owner would normally provide them with day-to-day.
What are you enjoying about your house sit in London?
So we’re currently sitting in Chiswick. We are thrilled to be here because it’s just an easy train ride into London, and there is also a tonne here in Chiswick. Our daughter also lives in London, so it gives us a great opportunity to see her more often during our time travelling around the UK.
The traditional pubs have also been a highlight! Those that still sell bitter instead of lager — and nearly all the pubs welcome dogs, which has been great for Miso too — she has her favorites which we’ve discovered on her local walk along the Thames.
How would you sum up TrustedHousesitters?
TrustedHousesitters has really worked for us — we wanted to explore the idea of pet sitting and we honestly fell in love with it. And the name TrustedHousesitters is very fitting because it is based on trust and once you’ve got trust with people and pets, you’ve really got it solved.
I [Christine] think it’s a great way to travel. If you want to hop from city to city to see sights, you could even do that with TrustedHousesitters. But if you wanna hang out and really dig deep you can do that too.