Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Travelationship
Hi ALL-
Hello, It’s been a while! We hope you are all doing fantastic!
I know it’s been a very long time since hearing from us last. We apologize for that overextended delay. A lot and nothing has been going on in the last few years. Basically, life getting in the way of life. We’ll get into all that soon, but the easiest way to start would be with a June 2023 update.
So for those who don’t know – we’re out in the world full-time (again). We just finished up our 6th month. We started at the top of the year on the west side of the US and then spent time in Japan, India, England, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden.
Yes, I will work on an update to cover the beginning of the year for you all. Please be patient (as if six years wasn’t long enough, right?!) as we baby-step our way back into this blogging thing & get our act together.
Let’s dive in!
June 2023 was all about housesitting in England. We started in the City of London and ended in Greater London. 27 of the 30 days were filled by 1 of our 3 Trusted Housesitters sits. This time, we’re bulking up on many petsitting gigs to help save on accommodations. We use TrustedHousitters.com to book our sits and, at times, even determine our next destination. Petsitting also allows us to experience places “locally” and get our animal fix with super cute pets. Not to mention it curbs our need to adopt another pet. But more on all this in a future post. In the meantime, let us know if you have questions about house/pet sitting.
If you want to become a sitter or need a sitter, here’s a 25% discount link.
Where We Went
The Stops
- Brighton, UK
- Alfriston, UK
- Arundel, UK
- Eastbourne, UK
- Lewes, UK
- South Downs National Park
- Worthing, UK
- Portsmouth, UK
- Alverstoke, UK
- London, UK
- Penge, London, UK
- Crystal Palace, London, UK
What We Did
We arrived in London on May 31st from Sweden, spent the night, and hopped on a train to Brighton. It was our first time in Brighton, we had an 18-day dog sit with Ari, and we loved it. We loved the hosts, the house, the dog, and everything about southern England. We were not in the know about Brighton, and upon arrival, we immediately noticed the artsy, beachy, and inclusive vibe. Super cool!
Brighton was super walkable, and even with all the hills, we still really enjoyed walking everywhere we could within the city. Plus, the street art in Brighton was terrific.
Our hosts, Steve and John, let us use their car, which allowed us to visit Arundel, Alfriston, Lewes, Worthing, Eastbourne, and South Downs National Park.
That was just the first half…
After we left Brighton, we moved to Portsmouth for a couple of days before starting our 2nd sit of the month. Portsmouth was fine, and we were really impressed with our stay at Ashby’s Accommodations in Southsea near the old town area of Portsmouth. A huge old house that was turned into beautiful rooms upstairs, and the downstairs area was split into four huge sitting and playrooms along with a full kitchen and bar for use. Oh, we saw a hovercraft boat in motion, and an English warship and its sailors depart for their tour.
Our sit in Alverstoke was less than a week long, which was good because there wasn’t much to do. The two dogs were lovely, and the house was a short walk to the beach.
From there, we moved to Penge in South London, where we are until July 10. We are sitting for Teddy, who is truly a little teddy bear. Mostly, we’ve spent time enjoying street art and looking for dinosaurs in Crystal Park.
I spent much of the month researching and planning for our upcoming locations and sorting/editing photos. Matt spent a lot of time creating and adding to our Etsy shop.
The Great
Overall, we had a good month. It was slower-paced than our previous months, giving us time to relax.
Since we were at home most of the month, Matt got to cook, which was good for us and our wallets. Before the temps soared, he made a super delicious beef stew. He makes the best stews and soups!
Favorites
My favorite day and Matt’s 2nd favorite day – hiking some trails at the South Downs National Park was a definite highlight of the month. The trails were beautiful, and we saw the wild horses along the chalk cliffs. It was amazing and scary how the horses ran the edges and knew where to slow down and stop.
Matt’s favorite and my 2nd favorite day – was a trip to Arundel to see the castle and gardens. Arundel was very charming. The gardens were in full bloom, and the air temps were perfect.
We agree that our honorable mention favorite day was taking Ted, the dog, on a Tedventure to Ted Lasso’s Tedville in Richmond. Richmond was super cute, and for lunch, we shared a picnic table with a wonderful couple, Sue and Paul, from Islington, Australia.
My favorite meal was the steak and ale pie at The Smugglers Inn in Alfriston.
Matt’s favorite meal was a buffalo chicken sandwich at MEATLiquor in Brighton.
The Not So Great
My least favorite day – getting into a yelling fight while walking around Crystal Palace. Talk about embarrassing and stupid. It’s not in our characters to bring that kind of attention to ourselves. And yes, we made up.
One thing we have noted this time around is that we are both a bit more sensitive. It’s taken us longer to get into the traveling groove, making us out of sync and not as much fun as usual. I’m also dealing with the unjoys of menopause, which quite frankly fucking suck.
Ladies, please send tips on managing your energy levels and hot flashes.
Matt’s least favorite day – trying, waiting on hold forever, and not succeeding at getting Taylor Swift tickets for any of the 2024 Melbourne shows. He stayed up all night for two different nights trying to get tickets. For those who are not aware, Matt lllooovvveeesss Taylor Swift.
We were also both disappointed that we couldn’t schedule a meeting with our friend, Elle. But we know we will meet up with her somewhere in the world.
The Oops! and The LOLs
Are one and the same for June and every month since we left the U.S., we completely failed with our packing! We have too much stuff, and it’s annoying AF, but we can’t seem to get it squared away. Having already sent one box of stuff home, given away a few things locally, and ran out of a few things, it is still crazy. We are still at 22-23 kgs/48-50 lbs in each suitcase plus a roller carry-on of our electronics which is about 9kgs/20 lbs. It’s a shit show every time we are in transit, but we can’t seem to part with much else for now.
What We Read
- I read nothing but blog posts and itineraries on several locations.
- Matt listened to The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith.
What We Watched
- The Diplomat on Netflix – Recommend
- Austenland on Netflix (Thanks Bianca for the rec) – Recommend
- Ted Lasso Season 3 on Apple TV – Recommend
- Daisy Jones and the Six on Prime – Recommend
- The Bear Season 2 on Netflix – Don’t Recommend
- Glamorous on Netflix – Don’t Recommend
- And a bunch of crap shows not worth mentioning.
- We thought about going to see a few movies but never made it.
Up Next
July starts slow and then takes off like Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Olympics. We are in Penge finishing up our Teddy dog sit. From London, we fly to Finland, then travel to Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. It will be a hot summer month to remember…stay tuned.