Open-minded and adaptable: Robyn & Jeremy's member story

Robyn and Jeremy were living in Sydney when the pandemic restrictions were lifted. Being a UK native, it had been three years since Robyn had been able to return to her roots, and as a born and bred Aussie, Jeremy was also seeking a new adventure.

“We decided to quit our jobs, sell our house and most of our possessions to travel through Italy for two months before moving to the UK full time.”

Well, that’s one way to do it! Luckily, Robyn and Jeremy are also huge pet lovers and had heard about TrustedHousesitters through a colleague.

“It made sense as we love animals, we didn’t know where we wanted to live or what we would do next in our careers.”

They booked their very first pet sit in Camaiore, Italy in December 2022 for four days with two dogs, a guinea pig, and a gerbil. Once they made it to the UK, they didn’t see any reason to stop sitting! Now, they have 23 sits under their travel belts from all corners of the globe - the UK, USA, Spain, Singapore, and Thailand.

“We have stayed in some amazing places, including a beautiful home in central London with a 20-year-old cat called Pickle, looking after a dog called Lola in Bangkok over New Year's Eve, and spending the summer in Bath Spa, UK with a sweet chocolate labrador called Rolo.”

So, with all their widespread experience, Robyn and Jeremy have a pretty good idea of what makes a great pet sitter.

“You need to be open-minded and able to adapt to the different ways people care for their pets and their homes. Every pet sit is different and it’s important to respect the owner's instructions, even if it’s not what you would normally do. You need to be friendly and have great communication skills - we often only have a few hours to make sure the owners trust us and feel comfortable leaving us to take care of their pets.”

Paw-some advice, team! Being adaptable and open-minded means they’ve been able to enjoy a whole host of funny antics and meet different purr-sonalities on each sit.

“We really feel like we know them by the end of our stay and we talk about stories from past pet sits all the time.”

Alongside their pet caring and cuddle duties, the pet sitting lifestyle has allowed Robyn and Jeremy to start up their own business.

“When we started pet sitting we realised our savings would go so much further as we had minimal accommodation costs. This allowed us to travel full-time while starting our own online business […] pet sitting allowed us that freedom to experiment without worrying about rent or bills.”

So, how’s business going for them?

“While we were pet sitting for a cat called Dusty in Singapore, we spent the whole pet sit applying for an Innovate UK Smart Grant to fund our business idea of building an AI-powered platform that helps charities find and convert their ideal donors. Recently, we found out that we won the grant - none of this would have been possible without pet sitting with TrustedHousesitters!”

Congratulations, Robyn and Jeremy! With their business off to a flying start, this dynamic duo has a couple of lovely London-based sits coming up.

“We have two pet sits coming up in London later this month. One for a three-legged dog near Camden and one on the outskirts of London for three weeks, looking after two cats.”

Any final thoughts or parting words of wisdom?

“We would really encourage anyone who wants to travel full time or start their own online business to consider pet sitting. It gives so much flexibility, financial freedom, and the opportunity to experiment and work out what you want to do with your life”

If you’re curious to learn more about Robyn and Jeremy’s charity fundraising AI platform, head to their website pravi.ai. Otherwise, keep up with their pet sitting adventures through their Instagram page: @onthegocouple.