One of my greatest life experiences EVER is December 2014. My best friend and I did a two week house sit together over Christmas in a beautifullll home in central London. It was a literal dream. I'll rewind back and tell you how it all happened and how I found the website "trustedhousesitters".

In mid 2014 I decided I wanted to do some traveling at the end of the year. I had lived in England the year prior and desperately wanted to go back. So I started planning my trip. At the same time my best friend Alyssa booked tickets for a Europe trip with our mutual best friend Jasmine. When Alyssa and I got together we both realized we had a gap over Christmas time where we weren't doing anything. Rather than going home early we thought it would be so special to stay on and spend Christmas in England as it would be so cozy and lovely (compared to our Australian hot humid one, ew).

It was just a little idea but we discussed it more and more. "How can we do it cheaply?" was on both of our minds. We didn't want to spend Christmas in a hotel because it wouldn't feel the same. An AirBnB would also be very expensive. Then an idea popped in our heads "...I wonder if there are people who go away at Christmas time but need someone to look after their house or pets?". We jumped straight onto google and found the website Trusted Housesitters. We browsed through the homes that were on offer and were gobsmacked at how lovely some of the places were. Housesitting was going to be a win-win. It's a win for us because we get free accommodation in a house, and it's a win for them because their house and pets are looked after.

So we signed up to Trusted House Sitters. It cost $129 for a membership so split between the two of us it was only $65. We made our profile all professional (we were only 19 at the time) and recorded a video of us introducing ourselves so people could see we were nice 19 year olds rather than the party type. From there we messaged LOTS of people. A few people got back to us but one in particular stood out. The sit was based in central London and we were to look after their two cats and two dogs. We responded right away and later that week skyped them. At first they were slightly hesitant of us because we were 19 and they were worried that we may not be home enough to look after their pets. We assured them that we were going to be massive homebody's for the most part as we would need a break from all the travel prior (traveling is exhausting!). So they got back to us and said yes!

The house was a McFreaking MANSION. A few days before our arrival the lady of the house sent us their address. Right away Alyssa and I were onto to google to see what it looked like. What it was? A FIVE STOREY HOUSE. FIVE STOREYS!! We almost died of excitement. When we arrived at the house we had to keep our chill and not give the game away to the lovely lady that we were over the moon with the whole situation. The lady was sooo so lovely and gave us a tour and run down of the house. After the family left for the airport Alyssa and I did a happy dance in the lounge room before excitedly running around the house.