How we spent the last 8 weeks in Canada
....and only paid $250 in accommodation expenses.
Before we knew much about what this year looked like for us, I had this strong sense that I didn’t want to work full-time to get by when I was overseas. I didn’t want to have to pay rent, anchoring us to one location because we wanted to be mobile and travel. But I also didn’t want to be sucked into paying for Airbnb or hotel accommodation either. So, I started to look into alternate ways that we could live. One of my dear friends was always housesitting and living nomadically, and that's when I started to look into housesitting overseas (thank you, Jules, if you are reading this). I looked into it, and it seemed like it could be a viable solution. I just didn’t know if this thing would really work out for us, but I was willing to trust the process.
So, as I sit here writing this, I feel the biggest sense of relief for just how held and supported we have been since arriving in Canada. We spent an incredible six weeks on Vancouver Island and another two on the mainland of British Columbia. When we left for this trip, it was probably the first time in my life that I didn’t have a solid plan. I had no job lined up, no plan for how I would make money, and no idea how we would be living and travelling for the majority of this trip.
So fast forward to the end of our first two months in Canada, and I can say it’s been better than I could have ever imagined for so many reasons:
getting to live in small, friendly regional towns
great weather,
incredible scenery,
so much wildlife,
dog walks galore,
kitten cuddles,
so much nature and hiking,
fresh food and surprisingly good GF ops, and, of course,
the incredibly friendly people we got to meet through housesitting and travelling.
When we first arrived on Vancouver Island, we had just spent a month travelling through Central America. It was amazing, but after such a high-energy month of backpacking, we felt very ready for more stability and routine to return to our lives.
Before we left Australia and even before we got our Canadian visas, we had locked in a month-long house sit through a platform called Trusted Housesitters. At the time, we barely knew any of our plans, but I just sensed it would be a good thing for us and decided to go for it. So way back in November of 2023, we jumped on a Zoom call with a Canadian couple to chat and see if we could be a good fit for them to look after their home and dog while they were away travelling in Europe. We couldn’t believe it, but they chose us even though we had no plane ticket booked, no reviews on the platform (yet), and our visa wasn’t even finalised. Shortly after the call, we found out they wanted us! Dan and I were so stoked - we had just locked in our first month in Canada, and we worked the rest of our travel plans around that sit. The coolest part is that in exchange for taking really good care of their dog and home, we live in their home for free! I’m thinking about writing a separate post on this with all the details, as it has been an absolute game-changer for us when travelling. So, if you are reading this, let me know in the comment section below if you would like to hear more about our trusted housesitters’ experience.
We arrived a bit frazzled after backpacking Central America and nearly missed our connecting flight to Vancouver Island. I knew it would be a squeeze when we booked it, but our host, assured us we would probably make it as we were young and could run. We sure as hell were running, sprinting even at one point as our incoming flight was delayed #classic. The immigration officers at Vancouver International Airport were epic - they rushed us through and issued us a 2-year working holiday visa with zero questions asked. It weirdly seemed far too easy, and they even said to us if we missed our connecting flight, tell them it was because of immigration, and they would get us on the next one for free - what?!?! The age limit to get this type of visa previously was <30, but after COVID, they increased the age to <35, which was great for us as Dan turned 30 last year.
So, despite the frantic airport energy and transit, once we touched down at the airport, we were immediately welcomed by our lovely hosts. They picked us up, cooked dinner for us and treated us just like family. It was like the biggest, warmest cuddle we could ever receive upon entering into a new country with no real close contacts and nothing but the bags we had with us. They warmly welcomed us into their home even though we had only met on a Zoom call 5 months ago. Oh, so Canadian. We have, in general, found Canadians to be such friendly, sweet and welcoming people - I remember feeling this sense of warmth from locals when I was here 10 years ago, so it's nice to see this hasn’t faded.
So for the next 4 weeks, we lived in their home and cared for Elfie - the sweetest rescue dog. Something that just blew our minds was that our hosts even entrusted us with driving their car (a very nice Jeep, might I add) while they were gone as a means of transport. We arrived two days earlier and stay with them to get to know them, the house, Elfie and his routines. They also went out of their way to introduce us to their daughter, brothers, and neighbours just in case we ran into any troubles while they were gone and needed someone to call on. Honestly, we were in disbelief at just how generous and hospitable they had been to us. You can see why we really felt like their family. This experience was something that I will treasure forever. To have been connected with these two 75-year-olds effectively as strangers and to now have such a close relationship with them both is something really special, and I feel immensely grateful for trusting this opportunity and for the trust that both had in us.
The stay was exactly the kind of landing pad we needed to recalibrate and, in other words, get our shit together. We got back into our routines with walking/running with Elfie 2-3 times a day, working, reading, and cooking in a fully equipped kitchen with all the appliances, spices and baking condiments I could dream of - side note: this was something that I really missed travelling and has now become really important to me since becoming GF due to my recent coeliac diagnosis.
I also spent a lot of time planning and researching the next part of our trip, which resulted in us buying a van! What else was going to fit the bill of being mobile and having accommodation that wasn’t costly, such as Airbnb, hotels, or motels?
We honestly could not have set ourselves up as well as we have in the first month living here without having this housesit. It has been a total game-changer for us. I love the fair-exchange model that solves a very real problem for both parties. Now, I know I have painted a really sweet deal here, and I will caveat it and say no two housesit are the same, and they do require the house sitter's time, trustworthiness, attention and skill to be able to fulfil all of the responsibilities that they outline. We are both trustworthy people whose backgrounds and experience helped us score sits. Being a pet owner myself, I can also see the benefit of using this platform in the future to have my own animals looked after.
We have signed up to the TrustedHousesitters affiliate program as we are genuine believers and users of their product, as you can probably tell from this article. I have already had many people ask about it, and so as a way to support my free substack at no extra cost to you, by following my link and entering the discount code, you can receive a substantial discount of 25% off their membership fees if you end up signing up. You can also sign up for a free account too if you aren’t ready to commit to a membership.
You must follow the link and enter our discount code to receive the discount.
Link: Maddy & Dans THS link
Discount code: DANDM25
So once we acquired our Van - a very happy and exciting day for us we jetted off up Island to another housesit in Courtney and then spent four nights around the Tofino/Ucluelet area, officially kicking off our Van Life adventures!
We paid for 3 nights in an RV campground in Ucluelet, as wild camping is not permitted in this area, and wild camped somewhere off the highway on our way back. The night before we left the Island, we called back into our first housesit…..we couldn’t get enough. They were so generous and allowed us to stay another night in their home before we caught the ferry early next morning. As a happy ending, they have also invited us back to do another long sit later in the year. We, of course, had to say yes because we had just fallen in love with life on the Island, the dog and our newly adopted Canadian parents.
As we planned to start our road trip on the mainland, we decided to look for another housesit, this time in Vancouver. Accommodation is pricey, and we weren’t sure how safe we would feel sleeping in the van. We were lucky to have scored another housesit, this time looking after a very sweet kitty cat.
Things are coming together and shaping up to be a really nice mix of van life and housesits. It’s great because we are flexible. We look to book in sits and then plan our road trip around the sits. So far, it seems to be working. We have wild camped, stayed in provincial parks, and paid for the odd night at an RV campground to get a hot shower and fill up our water tank. It’s been great and, to be totally honest, I don’t know if I’d be cut out for full-time van life.
So, let’s see how this housesit x van life thing pans out for the rest of the trip. It may not be as popular in more regional parts of the country, but for now, I’m giving it a big thumbs up!
Until next time,
Maddy :)
Owners consent has been given to show property and pets