I Tested Out This Pet-Sitting App To Save $4K While Travelling & Everyone Should Be Using It

The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

As Anthony Bourdain famously said, travel changes you; what he didn't explicitly mention in that particular quote is that it also has a hefty impact on the old bank account. After a recent trip to France that left me exhausted (both physically and financially), I realized that I needed to change the way I travel.

As an answer to my predicament, my friend told me she'd been using an app called Trusted Housesitters to get away to the English countryside and live out her every Jane Austen fantasy while looking after a kitten. Needless to say, my interest had been piqued.

Imagine if AirBnb and Rover had a baby and that baby only costs about $150 per year. That's Trusted Housesitters.

How it works

On one end, there are home/pet owners on the app in search of a sitter for when they are away. On the other, there are people like me who love animals, travelling and saving money.

You just pay approximately $150 for a year subscription to the service, and voila! You can stay around the world for no extra charge, as long as you're willing to take care of a furry or scaley friend.

I signed up immediately and filled out details about my partner and me, creating a profile that found the tonal middle point between a LinkedIn page and a Tinder bio. Then, I browsed postings around the world and filtered the search parameters by my preferences: I knew I'd like to look after a dog and that I wanted to travel for at least a full week, preferably more.

Scrolling through hundreds of global listings, I found people with terriers in Edinburgh, labs in Boston and retrievers in Halifax.

I got to babysit a border collie in Portland in exchange for a free place to stay

Eventually, I applied to look after Mira, a deaf 14-year-old border collie in Portland for three weeks.

After chatting with the owner through the website, they asked if we could meet for a Zoom call to get to know each other better. My partner and I told them about our experience both as sitters and as owners, and the Portland locals answered a few of our questions as well.

They offered us the three-week gig and I booked my tickets!

Amtrak Cascades train to Portland.Courtesy of Sierra Riley

Trusted Housesitters then asked the pet owners to provide me with a welcome pack with all the information I could possibly need — everything from details about the dog's walking schedule to the home WiFi password.

My partner and I arrived a day before the owner jetted off on a vacation of their own. This way, they could show us around a bit. The home itself was gorgeous, a four-square house in a quaint neighbourhood of Rose City, the owners were generous folks and the dog was a total sweetheart.

Courtesy of Sierra Riley

It gives you way more time to explore

Coming from a humble 600-square-foot Vancouver apartment, this accommodation beat anything I would have paid for myself. To rent out a similar home for three weeks on Airbnb would have cost at least a few thousand dollars. Trust me, I checked.

Staying in Portland for a long period of time also allowed me to travel in a way that makes sense for me; I got to take it easy, spending nights in without any FOMO. I could always check out that groovy haunted bar the next day.

I'm never going back

Though it may be a costly pastime, travelling is one of my favourite ways to indulge both my curiosity and my insatiable appetite for gimmicky donuts, so finding this tool — one that saved me thousands of dollars without having to kick my confectionary habit — was a game changer.

*Editor's Note: Visa requirements vary depending on your destination and duration of stay. In some countries, housesitting in exchange for free accommodation is considered an exchange of services, and a work visa may be required. All travellers are advised to research the visa requirements for their planned country of destination prior to travel. You can learn more about travelling and working abroad as a Canadian here.