House-sitting for fun and “profit”

Fara and I completed our latest house-sitting assignment a couple of weeks ago, located in one of the small villages surrounding beautiful Lake Balaton in the western part of Hungary. The menagerie of pets we were charged with the care of consisted of three dogs, three cats, three chickens and a rooster, by far the largest number of animals we’ve taken care of to date. Our daily dog walks took us through rolling hills, forests, and vineyards with some spectacular views of the lake. We enjoyed daily eggs provided by the hens and are now considering a flock of our own whenever our travels take us to a more permanent location. Our next house-sit, in the Transylvania region of western Romania, starts in mid-May. Since starting our adventure in August 2017, we have completed four house-sits in four different countries. By the end of 2018, we will have added at least three more to that total and we’re constantly on the lookout for more. It had always been our intention to incorporate house-sitting into our travel plans, we just had no idea how integral it would become. Continue reading “House-sitting for fun and “profit””

(One of) France’s best kept secrets

Fara and I arrived in Paris a few days ago. Just as an arctic front came in from Siberia that dropped the temperatures to negative numbers (in Celsius) and has covered Europe with a blanket of snow. The friends we spent Christmas with in Dublin ended up with several feet of the white stuff. Thankfully Paris avoided the worst of the weather and after a couple of days keeping warm in our apartment we have been able to get out and enjoy the city. Makes it hard to believe we’re a few days into March already. After about a week in Paris, we will be taking the train to Zagreb, Croatia to start the Eastern Europe leg of our journey. Continue reading “(One of) France’s best kept secrets”