The "I will go anywhere" option on holiday sites, and the amazing concept of Trusted Housesitters

As the start of my Barbados adventure has been delayed, and the English winter is just awful (long dark nights, cold and wet days), I started looking for an escape to top up my vitamin D, aka a winter sun holiday. A quick google for options brought up quite a few locations, Europe, Canaries, Egypt, Turkey etc but finding a website that would allow you to say 'I will go anywhere' was a bit of a challenge. I really didn't want to narrow my search, I just wanted somewhere warm. I used to work in the travel industry so I think I am quite good at searching, but this feature seems few and far between. I finally found the TUI website had this option and allowed you to search for holidays up to 28 days long as an option. Yay!

I quickly ruled out Europe, as most of it is only a few degrees warmer than England at this time of year, and I really wanted something much, much warmer. With hints of really cold weather coming by the second week in December, I wanted to be South.....way south of the cold and snow. My body seizes up and becomes really painful in the cold weather, really painful, so somewhere hot and sunny was preferable to ease that situation.

The options for dates seemed quite open so thoughts then turned to Luna my cat. She will be coming on the Barbados adventure with me (she is the paw in my One Paw in the Sand name), but for this holiday I turned to a website I have used a few times before Trusted Housesitters.

This site matches people whose houses/pets need looking after, with people who will move in and look after them while you are away. There is a membership fee to join this service, but after this, you don't have to pay for any of the sitters. You place an advert about your house and pet, and people from around the world can apply to look after them while you are away. It gives them a base from which to explore your area of the country, without them having to pay for accommodation. On top of this, your pet gets to stay at home and get lots of cuddles from a new Auntie or Uncle. It's a win-win situation.

If you want to be a sitter you can make a free account from here https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/find-a-house-sit/

Fancy signing up to get someone to look after your fur baby in their own home? Follow the link www.trustedhousesitters.pxf.io/vnojRL

The first time I used the service I was really nervous. This is a person I don't know in my home. I mean, c'mon.....that's weird, right? Well, with this site you can see how other people have rated each sitter and the site has a checklist for your peace of mind, things like ID verification, and phone verification to external references, which made me feel a lot better about things. They also encourage you to video chat with your potential matches before confirming the sit, so you can be even more confident.

You fill in details about your location and pets, enter the dates, and wait for people to apply. So far I have had 2 or 3 people match each date I have entered. You can then talk to them, ask questions, and go with the person you feel happiest with. With our extended trip, I found a few different people, and also have Luna's Nanny covering the few days people were unable to do.

Cat care sorted, it was time to book something for me! 28 days in the sun, STAT!

Back on the TUI site, I had ruled out the European locations, and was now looking for some good deals. One location kept coming up which seemed too good to be true, Cape Verde. I hadn't really looked at this cluster of islands before, but they seemed to be in the temperature sweet spot of about 27 degrees throughout December. If you aren't sure where the cape Verde Islands are follow down the west coast of Africa to Dakar, and then look for the islands out to the west of there. The specific location that caught my eye was a Rui hotel "all-inclusive" resort on the island of Boa Vista. The pictures look really nice, but we can all be tricked by a good photographer. A quick look on TripAdvisor and the mostly excellent reviews pretty much sealed the deal. I don't usually go for an all-inclusive hotel as I don't really drink alcohol, and find that the cost is usually higher than I want to pay. This time though the all-inclusive resort was cheaper than some of the self-catering locations. Now that is persuasive! The resort is in a more remote area of the island, and by remote I mean there is literally nothing else around the hotel for miles except empty sandy beaches, sand dunes and the rest of the landscape resembling the surface of the planet Mars. But I just wanted somewhere to relax, see the sun and keep warm. Sold! Since I was pretty much ready and packed for Barbados, I didn't need to get anything else sorted. I set the date to leave for 7 days time (this was the suggested lead time for TUI to sort out the visa which is included in the cost of the holiday) and stocked up on food etc for Luna. She would never forgive me if she ran out! Trust me, you don't want to get those filthy looks!

I found a "park on my driveway" space for hire for a month near Gatwick airport, just one stop away from the airport on the train, and much cheaper than the airport parking would be for the time we are away. I paid just £44.38 for the month and the train is about £2.70 to get to the airport. Since you are hiring someone's parking space at their house I also feel this comes with some added security as the person will be around. I know the airport parking has security, but it does also sort of advertise that the owner is out of the country, whereas the driveway space hire doesn't. It is the first time I have used this site, but I found it very easy to deal with. The space hires for a month automatically renewed until cancelled, but a quick message to the company and they had it set up just for the one month. They also do spaces for hire by the hour so if you are going to an event this could be a great way to find a place to park that doesn't cost the earth.

Use my referral code to pre-book your parking and get £5 off* your first booking! I get a fiver too when you book, so it's a win-win.

Click Me to Book

The outbound flight was fairly early in the day, so I decided to book a hotel near the airport for the night before, so I could get a good night's sleep and not have to worry about delays in traffic in the morning. Everything else would be taken care of by TUI, flights, transfers, room and food/drinks. Since I have a credit card that works overseas without any fees and gives a great exchange rate, I didn't feel the need to get any local currency. If I wanted to do any local excursions I would use the card to pay, this was a huge advantage to the all-inclusive resort. So now it's just time to wait until I can jet off, once I get settled I will let you know my thoughts on the hotel and any hints and tips I find along the way.

www.trustedhousesitters.pxf.io/vnojRL

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.