Life of adventure, Musings

Change the End Digit – it's 2018

Suzanne

We two, an ordinary couple, are about to launch into another extraordinary year.

This means we are more than a wee bit excited to again have the opportunity to housesit for another year, caring for animals and meeting new people and ones we now call friends.  Most of all, exploring a new corner in a new and revisited neighbourhood.

We are near to completing our 26th house with the commencement of our third year of house sitting and travelling around this amazing world we live in.  It’s not perfect, and to state an old cliche, “Life is what you make it”.

So what’s happening this year?

In less than a week, we changed homes from one, which is in a relatively mild climate zone in Spain, to head over the border to our next housesit in France.  We are excited to return again to a country we have spent quite a few months housesitting and exploring.  This time, we are in the Dordogne area, an area we have not ventured into as of yet.  I won’t mention too much about where it is as it will be a pleasant surprise when I write about it.

Then it’s back to Spain until we leave around the middle of February. 

A flight over to Turkey, then to the United Kingdom in April, May and August.  Yet another trip sees us flying over to Germany in June.  This, of course, is not the end of our travels.  We will be exploring some new and returning to a few more cities and countries.  Just to keep you on the edge of your seat, I will intentionally hold some information back until we get closer to the time.   As you can see, we will be moving about a bit more than we did in 2017, as we don’t have any long-term [2-3 months] housesits to do at this stage.

Around about this time, a couple, who we have known for a fair while, who is also from down south, the ass end of the world, are heading over to this side of the world to do a few housesits and to explore.  It will be a treat to see our friends once again.  We do have a tendency to catch up with family and friends in countries that they don’t reside in, which adds more fun to the get-together, don’t you think?

This year will include a few resits, as in housesits we have previously completed.  I have a feeling that this year will be like returning home of sorts, as don’t they say when entering a house and if you automatically connect to the internet, you are at home!

Talking about ‘home’, our current one is not far from the beach, so we thought what a splendid way to spend our evening watching the sun go down for the last time in 2017.

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

74 thoughts on “Change the End Digit – it's 2018”

    1. Unfortunately it won’t happen as we are housesitting. We will just have to try and meet up with you and some other bloggers along our travels. I am hoping to try and not schedule housesitters until they put out the dates for the Bash. It was fine until they changed the dates due to venue problems.

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  3. This is all SO exciting. I love the fact that you self-effacingly call yourselves ‘ordinary’ …. most of the extraordinary people I know or have known think they are ordinary. I will wait to see each chapter unfold and wish you the happiest year doing what you love 💕

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      1. There’s plenty more to come on that saga …. part nine will be next Monday having taken a Board level decision that Christmas Day and New Year’s Day were better left to good cheer and good wishes than our distressed house! Xx

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        1. Yes and if we had family and friends present it would have been the same. Though it was lovely to have some quiet time to just “be”.

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  4. Looks like we have both got an exciting year ahead. We are really looking to meeting up with you guys & working out how that will happen & where. We are excited that we are coming over this year!

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    1. I PRESUME this is Wyn? Why aren’t you using your name, with computer issues this morning my brain is tired!

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        1. Thank goodness it was you. I had this thought I might get into a no ending conversation about if it was Wyn or who is Wyn? 🙂 lol All good with the computer. At least I didn’t come to the point of throwing it out of the window, as someone I know nearly did with his the other month 🙂 Yes, I can imagine you will be feeling tired. I am at the moment. Too many things to book and organise. Will be done soon 🙂 Then it’s all on!

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  5. You will absolutely love the Dordogne. It is stunningly beautiful, both scenically and geologically. Fabulous chateau’s and delicious food. Beware the local home made “l’eau de vie”.
    My NY resolution is to spend far less time on FB! I am hoping to become invisible! We’ll see!
    A very Happy New Year’s travels to you both. x

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    1. Thanks Jane, and I loving your comments on the blog. Plus thanks for the information regarding Dordogne. I can’t imagine you being invisible Jane, you are too lovely to be invisible!! A very Happy New Year to you both xx

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    1. That is just some of the animals, I should do a count of how many animals we have sat for, mind blogging 🙂 Look forward to sharing with you Em x

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  12. I can see that your lifestyle wouldn’t be without challenges, but wow, what opportunities too! Good luck in 2018, hope all the sits are straightforward, and keep up the beautiful photography.

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    1. Thanks and look forward to reading all about yours, and maybe we might be in the same country one day 🙂

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  14. Stunning shots as always…looking forward to your travels Suz…I am amazed at your organisational skills I have to say. Its an area I am not very good at. Did it take you long to sort out the main visits of the year?

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    1. Yes, at the moment we have months of where we need to find accommodation of a few days here and there. We are organising driving from here to France and back, 1400kms over 4-5 days isn’t too bad 🙂 With lots to see hopefully! Then there are the flights, car hire to name a few. Of course there is the correspondence with the people we housesit for etc. Oh then blogging and exploring 🙂 Yes Clare it does take a bit of time.

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  16. I can’t wait to read more of our housesits in January. These pictures are gorgeous and I’m sure your next “sit” will give us all kinds of goodness to think about. The truth is, every post I feel just a little bit jealous of your amazing life!

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    1. Thanks Angela, I had a minute of panic when you said about our January housesits, as I haven’t written up much about Fudge and home yet. Trying to get a whole lot of travel arrangements out of the way.

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    1. Funnily enough we seem to get by with a basic knowledge of say Spanish, French etc. body language comes into and very patient people 🙂 Also most people we housesit for speak English as well as other languages. It is amazing how much we understand without having a verbal knowledge of the language.
      Hope that answers your question Angela? I certainly don’t mind been asked questions.

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    1. Happy New Year to you Janis and your husband. Look forward to sharing more with you and of course reading all about your adventures!

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  27. What a fulfilling 2017 you have had. And 2018 will be nothing short of that as well, by the sounds of it. You have the year pretty much booked out already! 🙂 In comparison, when we finish our house sit in San Diego on February 1st, we have no other plans yet. Exciting times ahead for you and the Squire, so enjoy!!!

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    1. Thanks, Liesbet. The difference between you two and us is that you have a home on wheels. Many of the resits were organised a while ago. Plus if you want us as housesitters you have to book a long time in advance 🙂

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  28. I love your beach photos! They are extremely beautiful! It makes me wish that I was there to experience that beautiful moment with you! Enjoy your housesits and everywhere you will be travelling to. Stay safe, too! Happy New Year!

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    1. Crikey Josy, I think you are doing a wonderful job creating a very interesting new life in Canada with all your hikes around the place 😃

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  30. Suzanne your travels sound amazing. However, I have to tell you another blog I’m following is currently taking me around NZ, which is the country of my birth up until age 20, and I believe it’s your home country too. I can’t believe how amazing NZ is….. it’s been a looong time since I last visited. T

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    1. I wonder who that blogger is 😁 Yes it is my homeland. She is an amazing country as is the rest of the world!

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  31. Suzanne, I love every one of your photos on this post, AND I love that so many of them contain animals. I think I will strive to be a house sitter after my children are grown. Traveling and taking care of homes and animals sounds like the perfect early retirement goal. 🙂

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    1. Completely different ballgame doing it for people you don’t know. If you are thinking of doing it, best to get signed up with a website as soon as possible. It is even more competitive now than when we first started nearly 3 years ago!!! I thought you couldn’t leave Italy for a while?

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      1. Very true and understand completely. No, that’s right but there’s been spanner in the works eventuate last November and I’m still trying to sort it out with officials. As it stands, I lost the 17 months of living here as I wasn’t registered with the Commune (council). This requires another blog but not just yet. 😉

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