Sittin' on houses

From the frigid mountains of British Columbia to the scorching beaches of Honduras - Peter and I are about to take our roles of "homeless vagabonds" to a whole new level.

I will credit our family and friends for encouraging this behaviour. Since returning home from South America, we have been completely spoiled with shelter, food, drinks, entertainment...you name it, we got it...from our very generous benefactors. Who needs a home when we have such an amazing network of people to take care of us?

Realizing that we do not want to rely on this generosity forever (in case it should run out!), but knowing that we are not yet ready to "settle" and be committed to anything that cannot fit into a backpack, we began to explore new options. We debated another bout of backpack slinging, and researched the continent of Africa as our next destination. We sketched out a route of eastern Africa to the Middle East to Eastern Europe to Russia across Siberia to China. Yeah...we got tired just thinking about it. Our desire for a full-fledged traveling adventure is currently outweighed by our exhaustion after almost a year of such travel in South America. We need some more downtime to allow our full spirit of adventure to return.

And so our new plan (and career?) is born. It encompasses our desire to explore without the weariness of continuous travel. It allows for enjoying the comforts of a home without the roots of owning it. We have become professional homeless bums. We are house sitters!

For at least the next 8 months, we are committed to easing the minds of home owners who need to be away from their home for some time. We will begin with a 2 month "job" in the Kootenay's of British Columbia at this beautiful house.


No TV, sketchy internet, and we will be 30 minutes from the nearest town. We have loaded up on books, movies on our laptop, craft projects and more to keep us occupied during our stay at what some friends have dubbed The Overlook Hotel. We couldn't be more excited for this downtime, and to explore the surrounding natural beauty strapped into our hiking shoes or via kayak.

But wait - we COULD be more excited! After our 2 months in the beautiful mountains of BC, we will have just a few days to put away our sweaters and load up our bathing suits. Our second house sitting job is going to take us to the picturesque island of Roatan, just off the coast of Honduras. While the home owners wait patiently in the US for this house to sell, we will ensure that it is well cared for and maintained. We will have the opportunity to improve our Spanish, continue our passion of volunteering, and...well...live in PARADISE! Because the home is up for sale, we could be in Honduras anywhere from one month to indefinitely, but are committed for 6 months if it remains unsold.

Does life get much better than this? These are obviously once-in-a-lifetime opportunities which we are again excited to grab hold of and enjoy to the fullest.

Homeless vagabonds, we be! And it ain't such a bad thing.