Using housesitting and volunteer exchange sites has allowed Hannah and her husband, Rob, to travel extensively since leaving the UK, with no plans to return home anytime soon. A preference for slow travel and long stays of at least a month in each location means that Hannah gains an in-depth insight into the cities and countries she’s visiting.
Here on Goats On The Road, Hannah writes about places she’s spent extended periods of time during the past couple years, such as Durham in North Carolina, Bath in England, much of Vietnam, and Montenegro, with plenty of new places already lined up for future travel articles. As an avid house and pet sitter, Hannah also contributes about that topic here on Goats On The Road.
- Local Of: Peterborough, England, and London England
- Expert of: Durham NC, Bath UK, Las Vegas NV, San Diego CA, Peterborough/London England, Montenegro, San Jose & Costa Rica, Rome & Brescia Italy, Budapest Hungary
- Travel Style: Foodie, Midrange, History, Culture, Bars, Wildlife, City Lover, Hiker, Digital Nomad
- Traveling Since: January 2022
- Favorite Destinations: Durham NC, Kotor Montenegro, Santa Theresa Costa Rica.
- Backpack or Suitcase: One very large backpack
- Window or Aisle: Either’s fine but I usually get the middle
- Bus or Train: Whichever is quickest/cheapest/most convenient
- Education: University of Birmingham – BA Honors English
Connect With Hannah
Hannah’s Expertise
After planning for over 3 years, I left the UK in January 2022 to see the world and seek new horizons. My husband, Rob, and I had always traveled extensively, but we wanted to find a way to do it permanently. With some savings and things organized back home, we set off with a rough plan and haven’t looked back.
Coming from a marketing background and with a degree in English, after 6 months on the road I began to be offered some remote work opportunities. Carefully keeping this in check with our travel plans we have both now found a level of work and traveling that suits us and we have no plans to return home.
Hannah Around The World
Hannah’s #1 Travel Tip
One of the biggest expenses of traveling is accommodation. A site like trustedhousesitters.com is a great way to save an absolute fortune. Build up your profile by completing a few short-term sits, perhaps even ones close to where you live. Then once you have 4-5 reviews you could be in the running for some amazing long-term sits anywhere in the world.
I also have a couple of reusable plastic bags that I always carry around with me. These come in really handy for grocery shopping. I tend to pick up bits and bobs if I see them, like little travel soaps or a sachet of washing powder and stash them, because you never know when you might need them further down the line!
Hannah’s Favorite Food
I don’t really dislike any food and will try anything. I’ve eaten fried bugs in Mexico, donkey in Italy, and snails in France, and I always try to sample the local food of a place at least once whilst I am there. But I really love seafood, especially when I’m close to the ocean. And I find it hard to pass up a pizza, especially in Italy.
Favorite Travel Experience
Every new place I visit creates new fantastic memories. My favorites though are of all the animals we have looked after in the last few years. With almost 20 pet-sits successfully completed, we have looked after some truly wonderful cats, dogs, horses, and even rabbits in some stunning homes. One of my favorites was looking after some horses on a ranch in Tuscon. Getting up early to feed the horses as the sun was coming up in the desert was pretty stunning and felt very zen!
On the flip side of that was sitting two lovely puppies on the beach in Costa Rica – surely any house sitters dream!? Having the beach literally on the front doorstep and taking long walks each day was lovely. I love being near the ocean.
Where Have You Lived?
Since leaving the UK I have tried to stay in countries for as long as my tourist visa will allow. Being from the UK, this is 3 months for Europe, Central America, and trips to the USA. I really love the idea of living somewhere rather than just passing through – you get to learn so much about a place and its people this way.
In the last two years, I have spent extended periods of time in San Jose Costa Rica, Santa Theresa Costa Rica, Brescia Italy, Rome Italy, Podgorica Montenegro, Durham NC, Bath UK, Mission TX, Waco TX, Boulder CO, Budapest Hungary, Nashville TN, Tucson AZ and the south of France.
Funny Travel Quirk
I love going food shopping on the first day in a new place. I actually look forward to it, even if it’s a generic supermarket similar to what I have back home. I enjoy just strolling around the aisles and seeing what’s different compared to stores in other countries or states. It’s just interesting to see what different things are on offer and it’s a great way to pick up and try new local foods too. When I see good red wine for under $1.50 in Italy and bananas for $0.07 in Costa Rica, it’s a bargain!
My husband certainly has more travel quirks than me, like needing the right number of pillows and ideally a fan to get to sleep! He’s had a few rough nights whilst travelling to say the least.
