Starting a New Career?

It seems like I’m always starting a new career. How many have there been: organist-choirmaster, perpetual student, book dealer, medical data manager, author, writer, blogger. What now?  

If you’re reading this on the day I upload it, I may already be starting a new career. At the moment, I am either high in the air or killing time in an airport somewhere. My attempt at starting a new career has the potential of being fulltime. We shall see.  

House Sitting

What is this possible new career? House sitting. This is best defined as taking care of an owner’s home while the owner is away. The primary reason to arrange for a house sitter is to provide some safety for the home. Often this includes caring for a pet or pets. Other responsibilities may include watering plants, gardening or lawn work, bringing in the mail, making sure everything is functioning properly, and preserving the home as it was when the owner left.  

Advertising is the most common way to find a house sitter or housesitting opportunity. There are numerous websites that exist to bring house sitters and homeowners together, usually for a fee. Social media sites are another way to offer or look for these situations. Word of mouth is probably the best source for taking advantage of these situations.  

Free Rent

Housesitting arrangements generally are rent free. A sitter provides a service in exchange for free housing. Some sitters charge for their services, however. Any arrangement can happen when it is mutually agreed upon by two people.  

Why does someone choose to be a house sitter? Often to garner free rent. Other reasons may be to experience new locales, cultures, get acquainted with a possible new home location, bide time while a new home is being built or remodeled. The reasons are numerous and particular to the individual.  

So, what am I up to? I’m still interested in traveling and not interested in settling down. I have the travel bug I warned about at the start of this blog almost two years ago. I have been doing slow travel since then, defined as longer stays in a community. I shall likely continue doing that, but I am also going to be adding some shorter travel experiences. Which brings us to today.  

I am leaving Ecuador and flying to Germany. There I will be house sitting for three months while a couple will be doing their own traveling. I am heading for Gütersloh in Northwest Germany. This is a town of about 100,000 population. One of the attractions I want to learn more about is Bertelsmann, the world’s largest media company headquartered there. I will write more about them as I learn more. I will also be writing about Gütersloh and the area.  

Flying High

If you’ve ever crossed the pond, you know it is a bit arduous. It will take me two days and five airports: two in Ecuador, one in Colombia, one in France (Paris) and finally in Hannover, Germany at midnight on the second day. I will lose six hours. On the third day, I will take two trains to get to my final destination. I will then remain there for three months before heading to England and some more house sits.  

I hope you’ll join me on these adventures.  

Fact: Your tastebuds are reduced by around 30% during flights
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A note to my Panamá friends: I tried to schedule a continuing flight (taking a break before traveling on) through Panamá City so that I could come out to Boquete, but I could not find one. I also needed to take advantage of the half-price ticket Ecuador offers to we old timers. I still could become a Panamá resident one day. Hang in there with me.