Life as Digital Nomad House Sitters and the Global COVID-19 Pandemic
In normal times we live a pretty unique life as digital nomads and full time house sitters. However, now that life as most of the world knows it has changed because of COVID-19, our lifestyle is being put to the test. Read on to see how we’re coping, are in some ways busier than ever, still finding house sits, and more!
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Answering Your Questions
We haven’t been extremely vocal during the global COVID-19 pandemic for a couple of reasons.
First, in the grand scheme of things any COVID-19 ‘suffering’ that we may have had and continue to experience is more of an inconvenience really. All things considered, we know there are so many people and families that have it much worse than we do. Our hearts go out to them.
We consider ourselves extremely fortunate during this time. We both have plenty of work, we’ve been able to keep a full-time schedule of house sitting jobs (so far), our loved ones are in good health, and so are we.
Second, we haven’t felt like we had anything of value to add to the conversation. We’re not fans of talking or commenting simply because we have the ability to do so. We much prefer to listen and learn from conversations and usually speak up when we have something that’s worth being heard.
“However, we feel that maybe it’s time to answer a lot of the questions we’ve been asked numerous times by curious and concerned readers, as well as friends and loved ones.”
As digital nomads and full time house sitters pursuing financial independence, retire early (FI/RE) our life, like the rest of the world, has changed in many aspects, but thankfully because of our existing lifestyle, it stayed the same in many ways.
Read on, as we’ll catch you up on where we’ve been the last eight months or so, tell you about past house sits, and how we’re (thankfully) still finding house sitting jobs in a COVID-19 global pandemic world.
House Sitting in New York City
For those that follow us regularly, you’ll no doubt remember that because of Shannon’s work, we were house sitting mainly in and around the New York City area last year. However, we were both excited at the end of last year when Shannon received a promotion into a roll that allowed us to be location independent within the United States.
With the new added freedom we wasted no time in planning a move to a new location. In late October of last year we accepted a house sitting job in Carlsbad, California that started on January first of 2020! Little did we know, NYC would become the initial epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States and how fortunate we were to leave the area before it started.
“We left New York City and the east coast only a couple of months before the area became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. ”
COVID-19’s Initial Impact On Us
The first time the virus impacted us was while Shannon was on a work trip in Dublin, Ireland in very early March. After just a couple days in the city, her local business office had a COVID-19 scare and was shut down. Shannon’s work meetings continued for a day in the hotel conference center, but shortly after that the company made an announcement that out of an abundance of caution, anyone traveling for business was to immediately return home.
Choices to be Made
Shannon had the option of keeping her original flight home (three days later), or immediately rebooking for a sooner flight.
“We spoke about the seriousness of the situation and the known information, which was very fluid since it was changing often.”
On one hand, there was a risk of being separated from each other by international borders and an ocean. President Trump had yet to announce the closing of US borders, although when his announcement became public it only included Schengen countries, which Ireland isn’t a member of.
On the other hand, we were house sitting outside of Shannon’s hometown and would be soon visiting her at-risk parents. If she’d been exposed to COVID-19 in the Dublin office, she’d risk infecting her parents, who very likely would be unable to survive it.
Waiting to come home on her originally planned flight would isolate her longer, increasing the chances of knowing if she’d come down with the virus, as well as for her company to inform her if the ‘flu like symptoms’ observed in the office were in fact someone with COVID-19 or simply the flu. If it turned out she’d been exposed, her employer had confirmed they would allow her to self-isolate in the hotel and not risk infecting others.
We also considered the number of known cases in Dublin and in the greater area of Ireland, compared to San Diego County and the greater area of California. Statistically speaking, based on known cases, Dublin was a safer place to be.
The Decision
After weighing the options and speaking with her manager and director, we made the decision for her to stay in Dublin a few more days.
Flying Internationally During the Early Stages of a Global Pandemic
Flying from Europe, Dublin specifically, to the United States is something we’re familiar with. We’ve always appreciated that like Canada, the Dublin airport has a US Preclearance Facility. Security takes extra time in Dublin, however once arriving in the US, it’s much simpler because you don’t have to go through passport control.
Flying Home
Not surprisingly the Dublin Airport wasn’t very busy, however Shannon was surprised that her flight was relatively full. Looking back, it was probably because of the (at the time) rumors that President Trump ‘might close the US borders’.
While in the airport and while flying, Shannon took caution to frequently wash her hands, not touch her face, and wipe down the entire area of her seat with sanitizing wipes. This was before social distancing on airplanes though, so she did have a seat companion who was also returning home from business in Europe.
Landing in the United States
Through a colleague, Shannon knew that LAX was doing COVID-19 screenings with temperature checks for those arriving on international flights. So logically, she expected the same when landing at JFK.
No COVID-19 Screening
However, to her consternation, she walked right off her flight and into the terminal, presumably with thousands of other passengers arriving from international flights who hadn’t been through a COVID-19 screening either.
This realization sent Shannon into a heightened mode, and she made sure to wash and sanitize everything around her. She was also never more grateful for having Priority Pass since it gave her entrance into an area (airline lounge) with less people that was likely cleaned more often.
“She claimed a seat in a corner of the lounge that was away from others and was able to control her freshly sanitized area while she waited for her flight to San Diego, California.”
She was thrilled that unlike her first flight, her cross country flight was less than a third full and she’d been upgraded to Comfort+. In fact, she had an entire row to herself!
At the time, very early March, her flights were relatively normal. Meals were served, beverages were served, and there were no mandates for social distancing or masks. Upon landing in San Diego, she couldn’t help but think that this flight would likely be the last ‘normal’ flight she’d take for a very long time…
House Sitting During COVID-19 and Shelter in Place Mandates
We started the year with a couple of months house sitting in Carlsbad, California where we cared for Mollie, a Boston Terrier, and Bailey, a Golden Retriever. The location was amazing (three blocks from the beach), the dogs were as sweet as could be, and the homeowners, Dave and Marilyn have become family to us.
After our house sitting job in Carlsbad and Shannon’s work trip to Dublin, we spent a week visiting Shannon’s parents, who we hadn’t seen in 18 months! We then moved on to a house sit in Hillcrest, San Diego, California.
The house sitting job began in the middle of March and life was already starting to change. We couldn’t greet anyone with a hug or a handshake and social distancing was just starting to be a ‘thing’. So, we greeted the homeowner, Lindsy with big smiles and immediately washed our hands (for 20+ seconds!) when entering to help keep her home COVID-19 free.
The plan was to care for two cats, Phil, AKA Fat Phil as Lindsy affectionately called him, and Tufa over the next two weeks. Lindsy had originally planned to visit family in New York City, but had wisely changed her plans to simply visit her partner in Northern California.
The Challenges of Finding Supplies as ‘OneBag’ Digital Nomads During a Pandemic
One of the first impactful challenges we had during this pandemic was a consequence of traveling with only a carry on size backpack apiece.
We love the mobility of having a 36 liter pack that we keep at about 15 pounds (7 kilos)! But in this case, when most people were stocking up and some could argue hording supplies, we didn’t have that option.
“To our dismay, when we arrived at our new house sit and set off to stock up on groceries for the next two weeks, we were greeted with empty shelves.”
We’ve never had a challenge finding our basic food supplies, beans, frozen vegetables, canned tomatoes, oil, etc. But we were concerned about what we’d do when every grocery store we went to was completely out of stock of these and similar items.
We were incredibly grateful that just after starting our Hillcrest house sit Trader Joe’s updated their store procedures. They gave their employees more time to stock shelves by decreasing store hours and also increased separation in the store for both workers and customers by metering how many people could be in the store at one time.
We soon found limited but stocked shelves at Trader Joe’s of many of the food supplies we were after. Plus, the practice of plastic wrapping fresh produce (which we’re not typically a fan of because of the extra waste it creates) came in handy when we transitioned to fresh salads, our alternate meal favorite.
Trader Joe’s became our new super hero!
Not only was food hard to find and we couldn’t stock up for the long haul when we did find it, but we also had a very challenging, near impossible time finding hand sanitizer, face masks, and disinfecting wipes. Being nearby family was our saving grace. Shannon’s parents were able to give us enough of all of the above until we found it on our own.
Don’t miss our Ultimate Gear and Packing Lists! Whether you’re traveling long-term or going on a short vacation, we'll show you how to travel with a single carry-on. We share our packing lists (his and hers!), packing tips, and our favorite gear. Plus, we discuss what we don’t carry and why!
California’s Shelter in Place
Two thirds of the way through our house sitting job with Tufa and Fat Phil, the California Governor mandated a state wide Shelter in Place order.
Thankfully, this wasn’t a challenge for us when it came to work. We both already work remotely and even though Shannon has access to her company’s offices around the world, they’d already been closed for anyone who could work from home.
“Our concern shifted from finding supplies to what would happen to our current house sitting job and our upcoming house sitting job. ”
On the same day the Shelter in Place order was announced, the homeowner of our house sit notified us that she would be traveling home a couple of days early. Fortunately, she was gracious enough to offer for us to stay the remaining time of the planned house sit. In fact, she later offered her place as a refuge if we ever needed it.
Thank you so much Lindsy!
Flying to Our Next House Sit in Oregon
Thanks to Lindsy’s generosity, we took advantage of the couple days and rebooked our flights for a day earlier than they were originally scheduled for.
Speaking of rebooking, shout out to Southwest for having the best cancellation and rebooking policies in the industry! We didn’t have to deal with the headaches that so many other people did.
“And let’s not forget about the Southwest Companion Pass that gives you the ability to fly 2 for 1!”
We were so glad we rebooked for a Sunday flight instead of a Monday because we quickly saw Southwest cancel our original flight, along with all direct San Diego to Portland flights for the rest of the week. Furthermore, about 50% to 60% of the flights on the same route were ultimately canceled that week.
On top of that, our rescheduled Sunday flight was also canceled last minute. We weren’t even notified of the cancelation (we imagine their servers were overwhelmed), but because we were actively checking the flight status, we noticed right away and rebooked for a new flight a few hours later. Thankfully, the third time was a charm!
We booked our Southwest flight with miles earned from our Southwest credit card sign-up bonus. Plus, the Southwest Companion Pass made our flight a 2-for-1 deal. If you’re wondering how to do the same, then we’d like to welcome you to the world of ‘travel hacking’. See what credit cards we carry, and how we take full advantage of the points and miles we’ve earned.
TSA Screening During COVID-19
The lines at security when we arrived at the San Diego Airport mid-afternoon on a Sunday were non-existent. Literally, there was no one in line. TSA Precheck was also closed, so even though we have Global Entry, we had to remove our liquids and electronics form our bag.
There were also at least five TSA agents for every passenger in the security area.
Unfortunately, Sergio’s bag set off an alarm and was moved to secondary screening.
“Sergio was pulled aside and his bag was taken apart, item by item and then wiped down to the seams for testing.”
While Shannon waited she chatted up a few TSA agents, one of which discreetly told her that the bins weren’t being sanitized between passengers because they were very low on alcohol.
Fortunately, even though the public area of the airport was out of hand sanitizer, the agents were kind enough to give us a few pumps of a bottle they had on a desk. And for our trouble, the TSA agent also gave us a few sprays of the critically low alcohol to sanitize our bags.
About 35 minutes later (we wish we were exaggerating, but Sergio’s bag was torn down and swabbed by a TSA agent in training), his bag and items were returned and we were left to re-pack it.
We spent at least ten minutes sanitizing every item they took out, touched, and wiped from Sergio’s bag. We just weren’t going to take any chances.
Flying Domestically During COVID-19
The rest of our travel was thankfully uneventful; however, flying as we knew it had definitely changed.
We had a row to ourselves as passengers self selected to sit a row or two apart from other passengers.
We wiped down every square inch of our seats and the back of the seats in front of us with sanitizing wipes.
Open beverages weren’t served, only unopened cans of water, which we wiped down with an alcohol wipe.
Snacks weren’t served.
London, San Francisco, Paris, New York City, Athens and more?! Trusted Housesitters has allowed us to travel the world on a budget, but more importantly given us an opportunity to make new friends and have cute and cuddly companions along the way. Sign up and start your next great adventure!
House Sitting During the Peak of COVID-19
Our next scheduled house sitting job was in Oregon, South Portland to be exact, where we’d be caring for a smaller and older dog (14 years old!) Mickey. It turns out he had quite a personality and was lovingly known as a ‘grumpy old man’. What really threw us for a loop is that even at 14 he could keep up on walks that were about three miles long!
The homeowners, Anita and Andy, were visiting their family and holiday home in the United Kingdom and it was important to them to keep their travel plans in place because Andy’s mother wasn’t doing well. Her ultimate death was very hard for them, but even harder because a formal funeral and wake together as a family wasn’t allowed due to COVID-19 stay at home orders and social distancing.
Our thoughts are with you Anita and Andy, we sincerely hope your family is able to gather later in the year (or early next) and celebrate her life!
“We enjoyed three months caring for Mickey and taking him on beautiful walks along the Willamette River.”
In the end, we weren’t only fortunate that this house sitting job wasn’t canceled like many other house sitters experienced during this time, but after discussing it with the Anita and Andy, they decided to extend their stay in the UK (and we were happy to extend our time caring for Mickey!)
How We’re Finding House Sitting Jobs During COVID-19
We’re always on the lookout for our next house sitting job and when possible we try to stay booked one to three months out.
As you can imagine, and what many house sitters already know, being booked three months out is nearly impossible during a global pandemic. People simply aren’t leaving their home (for good reason!).
As Oregon started to lift some of its restrictions in late May/ early June, a few house sits started to pop up on Trusted Housesitters. We kept our eyes peeled and were quick to apply to a nearby house sit (only about 6 miles from our then current sit with Mickey).
Thankfully we were offered the house sitting job to care for an adorable kitty!
We’ve since continued to be offered new house sits and have been able to keep our schedule full.
While it’s speculation, here few a few reasons we think we continue to book house sitting jobs during the middle of COVID-19:
We’ve earned over 60 five-star reviews with glowing feedback.
We have a detailed profile that very much tells a homeowner who we are and what we’re about.
We have a dozen pictures on our profile.
We nearly always apply to new house sits right away.
We have a detailed application introducing ourselves that conveys to the homeowner how we’ll care for their pet(s) and home.
We now include a few sentences on how we protect ourselves and would protect their home from COVID-19.
We’ve tried to focus on applying to local house sits, reducing worries of travel delays or travel exposure to COVID-19.
We do a video chat with homeowners to ensure we’re able to connect with them and confirm that both parties are a good fit.
If you’re looking for more specific tips on how to get a house sitting job, we’ve detailed our tips, tricks, and process for not only finding house sitting jobs, but finding ones that are a great fit for you and the homeowner in our Ultimate Guide to House Sitting (a six part series)!
Friends and Family During COVID-19
We both found that we had to convince our parents to take COVID-19 seriously, and more so on Shannon’s side.
“When we initially saw our parents, it wasn’t only a matter of protecting them and us from the virus, it was also a matter of us not taking the virus into a home we were so graciously entrusted to house sit. ”
When we reminded Shannon’s parents to keep a six foot distance around others the last time we saw them in Southern California before traveling to Oregon, it was a challenge for them to remember. They’ve both been through so much in their lifetime, that they’re less worried about the virus and more worried about enjoying their day to day lives.
Thankfully, both our parents continue to be healthy and COVID-19 free.
When we arrived in Portland, where Sergio’s parents live, we didn’t tell them we were in town. Not only did we want it to be a big surprise (and it was such a BIG surprise that Sergio’s mom nearly fainted when she saw us!), we wanted to self-isolate for two weeks before visiting them.
It was a wonderful day the first time we saw Sergio’s parents. However, we’re cautious every time we see them as we don’t want to unknowingly get anyone, especially our parents sick.
Digital Nomads and Work During COVID-19
Sergio’s IT consulting work is a bit slower than usual, but Shannon’s work is busier than ever.
Working as a project manager for a tech company during a time when everyone is working from home and using their services, means everything was suddenly a high priority. And even though her product area wasn’t one of the ones suddenly in higher demand due to work from home needs, it was impacted because everything that was in-person was now going digital.
Between the increased workload and the stresses of COVID-19, Shannon started to manifest physical symptoms of stress.
Unfortunately, she got a migraine in the midst of the Shelter in Place and no matter what she tried, it didn’t go away. Not after four days, a week or even two weeks! At three weeks the pain was increasing and it was time to get help.
Visiting Urgent Care During COVID-19
It took three weeks to even consider going to the doctor for her migraine because of the fears of entering a medical facility during COVID-19 and putting herself at a higher risk of being infected. But we couldn’t manage this on our own anymore.
We started with a phone screening, which lead to a phone appointment with a doctor. After speaking with the doctor, it was recommended that Shannon go into the urgent care clinic for an evaluation and likely an injection of medication.
“So, we put on our homemade masks and made our way to the clinic.”
We were impressed by the set up, as we were the only people in the waiting room and Sergio wasn’t allowed into the exam room. They were also kind and turned off the music and bright lights to help mitigate Shannon’s pain. After a neurological exam Shannon was given two injections of medication.
When someone is in severe pain, like a migraine, the gut shuts down and oral medications aren’t as effectively absorbed. So, an injection has a better chance of working.
It took nearly two days of rest for the pain to fully dissipate and her nausea to go away. And even then, over the next couple of weeks she had a few headaches here and there. The difference was that she no longer pushed through them, she gave them the proper attention and rest to help quickly resolve them.
We don’t know why Shannon got the migraine and why it stubbornly wouldn’t go away. However, we can extrapolate that it was primarily due to stress.
The increased work stress, the anxiety of COVID-19 headlines, and the missing piece of effectively managing this stress. (Sergio here! From the beginning of COVID-19, I asked Shannon to ‘please stop following the doom and gloom of the news… remember, focus on your sphere of control instead of sphere of influence...’ fortunately, she has!)
Managing Mental Health During COVID-19
Each person manages stress and fear their own way, some more successful than others. Clearly, Shannon’s approach wasn’t successful.
After some long and hard conversations with Sergio, Shannon had that aha! moment. It was time to care for herself and make some major and lasting changes in her life.
She implemented daily meditation (thank you Sam Harris for your Waking Up course!), traction for her neck, and regular physical workouts (this Jillian Michael’s DVD is her favorite). All of these are things she already did, just not consistently or regularly enough.
Fortunately, since Shannon’s life changes things are going well! She feels stronger, has more energy, and has had only one short lasting migraine since.
Moving Forward and Final Thoughts
COVID-19 has impacted us all. It hasn’t been easy for us, but relative to most of the world, we’re thankfully doing very well.
We miss traveling. We’re itching to go overseas again. But for now, it has to wait.
We’re so glad that we’ve been able to stay healthy and that our family and loved ones have as well. We’ll continue to implement COVID-19 precautions as they’re updated and we suspect that some day-to-day things in life and business may be changed for a very long time, if not for good.
We’re getting used to wearing masks. Shannon watched dozens of YouTube videos on different ways of making face masks and tried a couple. We have limited supplies, so she was limited to hand sewing, but she finally settled on a pattern that made a comfortable face mask. We’ve gotten used to wearing them and sincerely appreciate when others do too.
We’re extremely careful. We sanitize our hands with wipes or hand sanitizer and more than anything else by washing regularly and thoroughly with soap and water. Thank goodness for good, quality hand lotion because our hands get dryer than ever now!
Selfcare is critical now more than ever. Meditating, stretching, exercising, and connecting with loved ones is critical to staying healthy.
As always, we’re grateful. In some ways, our lifestyle has easily adapted to this. In other ways, it’s been a bit more challenging but ultimately, we’re doing well and we’re safe and healthy. We sincerely hope you and you loved ones are too!
