As the days quickly approach our first international house sit, a sense of “trepidation and excitement” fill my being. What, do we expect, will be different from house sits in Australia? Will we be capable of handle a situation that may arise, being that we are in another country? Are we kidding ourselves, should we just pack up and head home? All valid questions that any international house sitter may hold. However, as we quickly find out international house sitting, is not that different, than what it is in Australia. Animals still need to be fed, walked, loved and cared for. Houses need to be kept safe and clean. House sitters need to enjoy themselves in their new surroundings. Sure, minor issues may occur that may throw one in a loop for a while, but overall no major differences.

Loveland, Colorado USA will be our first foray into International House Sitting. Where is Loveland we asked ourselves? Google maps has the answer!!! Loveland sits about 74 kms (46 miles) north of Denver the capital of Colorado. Fort Collins is north about 22kms (14 miles) and is home to Colorado State University. To the west lies the beautiful Rocky Mountains National Park with spectacular scenery everywhere you look. It was officially founded in 1877, next to the Big Thompson River and the newly constructed Colorado Central Railroad. It has a semi-arid climate and an average annual snowfall of around 137 cms (54 inches). Our house sit is located north of downtown Loveland. Overall, it looks like the perfect place to commence our International House Sitting adventures.

Introductions

Arriving at Denver International Airport we navigate our way via an underground rail network to reach the main terminal. Upon our exiting we are greeted by our home owners Wil and Els who have graciously come to pick us up. Over the next hours car ride to our new home, for the next 30 days we get to know each other. Swapping banter and stories of how we got to where we are and what we are looking forward too. The landscape on the drive was different to what I was expecting. I thought it would be green and luscious, but instead in was a lot like Australia dry and brown. It is amazing how you build an image of a place only to find you are so far off the reality of it. That was definitely how I was feeling right now.

Pulling up in the driveway we were about to meet the reason why we were here. A small black dog (as Wil calls her) or as we knew her “Gigi”. Wil had warned us that she would be very stand offish and would bark and he was right. It took about 3 days for her to feel comfortable with us and she grew more confident as the days passed. Over the 30 days that we were there, Gigi had accepted us as surrogate mum and dad. Consequently, that made it very hard to leave once Wil and Els returned home. We had a wonderful time with Gigi, walks around the neighbourhood, rough housing with her and long hours patting her as she sat on our laps. Gigi was a cross between a dog and a cat I believe 😊 with good traits from both.

Conclusion

We enjoyed immensely the time we shared with Gigi such a wonderful small black dog. Now that our first installment in International House Sitting is complete we look ahead with excitement and anticipation to our coming sits. In general, our first International House Sitting, was a resounding success. Though we had some minor issues with plumbing we really did enjoy this sit.

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Take care

Andrew & Carolyn

Travel is Sweet (Dream It, Experience It, Treasure It)

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