Courtesy of Madolline Gourley
Madolline with Jaspurr, a Ragdoll cat she cared for in her hometown of Brisbane in December, 2019.
- Madolline Gourley is a 29-year-old traveler and writer from Brisbane, Australia.
- Since graduating from college in 2012, she has visited and lived in 12 different states in the US by offering house and cat sitting services in exchange for free accommodation.
- As a house and pet sitter, Gourley has stayed in amazing locations and connected with generous homeowners, for no more than the cost of caring for their fluffy friends.
- If you're a pet lover interested in low-cost travel, Gourley recommends joining a house sitting services site that can pair you with local and international sits, and cost as little as $20 for a yearlong membership.
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My house and cat sitting journey started as a sudden, one-time thing where I viewed it as a free place to stay over the 2017-2018 holiday season, with just a few extra responsibilities and a cat thrown in. It was also an opportunity to explore San Francisco. But what started out as a 10 day "home away from home" holiday has led to me traveling back and forth from Australia to the United States four more times. I've gone from Seattle to Boston, to Cincinnati and Santa Fe with several other cities in between. During my last trip, I cared for homes and cats in Nashville, TN; Austin, TX; Lake Forest Park, WA; and Birmingham, AL. It felt like an low-cost, extended summer vacation, complete with a perfect animal companion.