Every year seems to come with big changes and 2017 was no exception.
Casey and I started the year by renovating the kitchen in our condo. As soon as we finished, we found pet sitters for our two cats and left for Europe.
We didn’t exactly retrace the route of my trip CouchSurfing across Europe in 2008, but we did get to visit a few of my old CouchSurfing hosts.
- London, England – Heidi, Antony & Sandeep
- Brussels, Holland – Melissa
- Antwerp, Holland
- Rotterdam, Holland – Mara
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Trier, Germany
- Cologne, Germany – Finn & Lateef
- Zagreb, Croatia – Sonja
- Berlin, Germany
We flew back to NYC, making a detour to visit our parents in NJ and friends in Brooklyn before making our way back to Toronto.
After a few weeks at home, we lined up several home exchanges and went on a road trip from Toronto to Halifax. We drove back through the US via Cape Cod to see Casey’s mom and friends in Boston.
- Montreal, QC
- Quebec City, QC
- Fredricton, NB
- Charlottetown, PEI
- Cape Breton, NS
- Halifax, NS – Bruce & Debbie
- Saint John, NB
- Portland, ME
- Kennebunkport, ME
- Boston, MA – Itai
- Cape Cod, MA
- Lockport, NY
- Love Canal, Niagara Falls, NY
Casey and I decided to separate in the beginning of the summer. It took a few months to sort out what we’d do with the old site (15 Miles), the book, and all the other projects we had in the works.
She spent most of July traveling and I took some local trips.
- Hamilton, ON – Katherine & John
- Muskoka, ON
- St Catherines & Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
I put in an offer on a new apartment and it was accepted. When the sellers asked to push the closing date back by six weeks, that seemed like the perfect opportunity to make my way back to New York to visit friends and family. I decided to take the train down, stopping in upstate New York along the way. When I made it to New York we had a CSNY reunion.
- Rochester, NY – Gary
- Syracuse, NY – Carina & Isaac
- Brooklyn, NY – Ryan
- Ocean Grove, NJ
I was just getting settled into my new apartment when a friend asked if I’d like to house sit for her in Montreal. Of course I said yes. I’d already promised to cat sit for friends in New York over New Years, so I ended the year in New York.
- Montreal, QC – Daniel
- New York, NY
All in all, I spent five months traveling in 2017. I’m really behind on posts about my travels from last year, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up soon!
Near the end of the year a CouchSurfing friend of mine mentioned how she was using Trusted House Sitters to travel as a pet sitter. I’d known about the site, and others like it, for a long time but was skeptical about it actually working. She talked me into giving it a shot and I landed my first sit almost immediately.
I have pet sits lined up from January to mid-May. After that, I’ll be spending the summer in Toronto. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2018 brings.
You did have a lot of changes to face this year – but change is good, not always easy but in the end it is better than staying the same and being unhappy! I keep meaning to try house sitting too, I really should sign up, it is a great way to live in a new place for a while, and feel like a local!
So great that you were able to spend almost half of the year traveling! That’s so wonderful! I love that you were able to reconnect with your old Couchsurfing Hosts. I’m such a huge fan of CS and the opportunities that it has allowed me to have.
Wow, you spent almost half the year traveling. That’s awesome! I recently heard of Trusted House Sitters and what a cool idea to travel as a pet sitter. Not sure if I could do it since I’m deathly allergic to cats, but that would be such an awesome way to travel.
It’s mostly cats and dogs, but some of them involve other animals like fish or reptiles and some don’t have any animals at all. But yeah, allergies would be a big drawback to pet sitting!
It sounds like you had a really busy year – with some ups and downs. I hope you enjoyed all the travel, though. I love the idea of house-swaps and housesitting. It makes so much sense when you already have a property yourself.
Pretty impressive 2017! I totally feel you when you say you’re behind on posts cause I have the same feeling. Things happen so fast sometimes! Thanks for introducing me to Trusted House Sitters! I’ve never heard of it and I’ll probably give it a try on my next travels.