Trust & Reliability

About this sitter

Hi, I am Irina from Vienna/Austria. i’m a 54 year old program manager gone health coach and a single mother of two daughters (17 and 20). Traveling, often for extended periods, has been a steady part of my life from early childhood on. Having worked as a journalist and in humanitarian aid I have lived on every continent, always thrilled to feel my way into new cultures and surroundings, to learn new languages, to meet new people and to “figure out how things work”.
We’ve always had cats and when possible (garden) also dogs. I believe that children should grow up with pets. When we lived in India we pretty much ran an animal shelter taking care of street cats and dogs. Recently on my many trips to Greece I`ve started to active against chaining dogs and for better treatment of donkeys - both still ubiquitous issues unfortunately.
While my younger daughter is still in school I am based in Vienna and take off as much as I can. I am a very dynamic, hands-on, active, curious connected (I hope) woman. Besides being a nature/ecology-freak, I don’t miss an art-museum and am very interested in architecture, anthropology, evolution, history, health, nutrition, alternative medicine, personal development and much more.

P.S. FOTOS are mainly of my daughters with our many pets - curse of being a mom that you’re always the one taking pictures of others.

Why they want to house sit

I feel that house/petsitting in exchange for accommodation is a great way of getting to know new people and new locations, of settling into a place more deeply. It brings traveling, exploring new cultures and social interaction to another level really. The mutual trust and reliability it’s based on is a wonderful and ideal human trait that needs enforcement in today’s world.

Their experience

This is my first time on a professional housesitting site, but I have taken care of houses and pets before (organized through personal networks) in India (dog, cats, two cows), London (cat, chickens), Mexico, Paris, Vienna (cat), New York (garden). I have references upon request. I’ve also stayed in a lot of Airbnb-houses. I can provide screenshots of the reviews I got. Vice versa we’ve rented out our apartment while in India and had people stay to take car of our cats/dogs, so I’m also familiar with the side of entrusting strangers with our most intimate surroundings. Whatever questions or doubts please do let me know, and I'll try my best to answer.

What can they bring to the assignment

Intrinsically deep level of respect for preferences/likings that differ from my own, reliability, trustworthiness, hands-on active personality (very useful in emergencies and when doing out-of-habit-things), cleanliness and tidiness as a natural way of living. High level of flexibility , lifetime of traveling, living in different cultures, curiosity, love & respect for all creatures.