Tag: travel

Which Nomad Insurance Is Best?

Posted on by The Happy Housesitter

If you read When Best Laid Plans Go Wrong you'll remember that I included a suggestion of purchasing insurance for your trip that might help if something untoward happens.

At that point in time, the only insurer specialising in nomad travel that I was aware of was World Nomads, however I recently came across another insurer - SafetyWing - so thought I would do a side-by-side comparison of the two insurers to help you choose which would be the most suitable for you.

The Rest of the Market

Of course, there are lots of other travel and medical insurance providers, however most of them are lagging behind the times when it comes to understanding the lifestyle of long term, casual travellers such as those of us who housesit internationally on a full-time basis. Most impose limits on the number of travel days per year and want to know your detailed itinerary before you set off. But as you will know, many housesitters aren't 'setting off' - we're already out there, with no firm...

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Kiwi.com Just Got Even Better

Posted on by The Happy Housesitter

I've been a huge fan of travel website Kiwi.com for some time now. Their unique approach to searching for low-cost travel makes it my go-to website when it comes time to book a flight. And their unique booking guarantee means that if you make a booking through them that involves connecting flights and you miss your connection, they will do all they can to get you to your destination.

But now they've gone one step further.

Playing the System

There have been numerous news articles in the travel press of late about airlines getting litigious with their own customers. Airlines have had the upper hand for far too long. Complicated routing and pricing, copious amounts of terms and conditions for a sale that is really a glorified bus ticket at the end of the day.

With technological advances, frequent travellers have been gradually turning the tables, using search engines to find ways to get from A to B for less. New terms such as "skiplagging" and "throw away ticketing" h...

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When It’s Time To Go

Posted on by The Happy Housesitter

June 2017. I return to Cyprus after a blissful week visting my Italian part-time neighbours at their other home in the Veneto Region of Italy.
 

We have explored castles and towns, visited wineries and mountains, seen art in all its forms and indulged in some retail therapy Italian style.

Together we have shared so many wonderful meals - both home cooked and restaurant prepared and, with the exception of breakfasts, washed them down with delicious wines of every hue.

The sadness of our parting for the timebeing - at this point in time with the intention of seeing each other again in Cyprus in November - is only tempered by the warmth of the memories we have created and the excitement I always feel at the prospect of being reunited with my beloved Eddie.

Back On Too Familiar Territory

Arriving home I at once take in the view of the valley behind. The view that held me spellbound when I first came to view this place. The view I thought I would never tire of. And I real...

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When You Meet Someone On The Road….

Posted on by The Happy Housesitter

The town of Servigliano in the Le Marche region of Italy is unusual for the region.  It is not built atop a hill with a commanding view of its surrounding domain.  Instead it lies on one of the few flat areas of this undulating landscape.

The old part of town is enclosed within a fortress of sorts.  Its high walls have small houses and shops built into them.  Once through one of the three gateways, you pass along cobbled streets and emerge into a large central piazza.  Three sides are taken up with the shops and houses of the external walls. The centre is a combination of marketplace and urban park with memorial statues.  The centrepiece of the piazza completing the fourth side is, inevitably, a church.

Visit the town on market day and you will probably be so focused on the stalls you will not look up at the church. But come here on any other day and you will notice a large white plaque on the front of the church.  The majority of the plaque is taken up with a vertic...

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