solo travel Archives — Page 2 of 6

Returning to New York City to cat sit two Ragdolls

by Madolline Gourley | 14 February 2022

Landing a house and cat sit in New York City can be very competitive, with some ads getting more than 20 applications in less than 24 hours.

The more desirable the location, the more responses the owner gets. And for sits over a week, you could be competing against 50 or so other sitters. So when I got a listing notification about this sit, I wrote to the girl, Emily, straight away. I knew her Chelsea location would be much sought after, but I was hoping my experience with the Ragdoll [cat] breed would get me over the line.

While I’m not sure the Ragdoll experience is what did it for Emily, it didn’t matter because I got the sit. We organised for me to head over the night before so I could meet Coffee and Cookie, and we could run over a few things in person. Coffee—the more anxious of the two cats—was the first to greet me. I asked Emily if she got Coffee and Cookie at the same time, or if they were from the same rescue. Emily said they’re biological sisters and she’s had them since they were kittens. It’s hard to believe they’re biological sisters because their Ragdoll colours are so different, but I guess it happens all the time with moggie litters.

My first full day in Chelsea was spent at Chelsea Market and exploring other nearby attractions. Chelsea Market was about a 15-minute walk from the apartment and you could walk back via the High Line (the High Line’s literally behind the apartment). Emily’s building was really close to Hudson Yards, and just far enough away from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station to escape the crowds. You could see the Empire State Building from Emily’s window and the rooftop offered a more comprehensive view of things surrounding it.

More about the cats

Cookie is the confident sister, and she’s more demanding and causes more trouble. She liked to chew on all my plastic bags even if they were hidden under layers of clothing in my suitcase. Cookie was the one who’d remind you breakfast was late or if she wanted dinner a little bit earlier. She was also a little bit of a bully, but I think that’s because Coffee is so reserved. Coffee, if you can’t tell by now, was the well behaved one. She took a liking to me straight away which surprised both Emily and me. Coffee would sit outside the bathroom waiting for me to come out and she liked to laze at the end of the bed when I used my laptop at night.

Emily had really gone all out on cat furnishings for her apartment and I just wish I got a better photo of the setup. The cats have their own ‘cat wall’, with a walking bridge, hammock and scratching post. They’ve also got a few other things they can sit/sleep on, but the hammock is the only one I saw them on. Cookie gets the hammock bed thing during the day and Coffee gets it at night. I’m not sure how they came to this arrangement, but this is how it worked every day for the nine days I was there.

Things to do

A few of the things I found myself doing were things I missed out on seeing last time I was in town. It was nice to be based in Manhattan, but I did miss the quieter, more chilled vibe of the Brooklyn neighbourhoods.

Little Island at Pier 55

This one’s a very unique attraction—it’s a manmade island across from Chelsea Market. There’s a few little walks you can do, there’s some art on display and it looks like there’s an amphitheatre as well.

New York Public Library: The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

I don’t think I knew about this building until now (well, until I started planning what I’d do in NYC). I know there’s public libraries all over the city, but I didn’t know such a beautiful one existed in Midtown. The architecture is amazing and I just wish we had somewhere like this in Brisbane where we could go to study.

Strand Book Store

Candace, a girl I house and cat sat for a few years back, said I had to visit the Strand Book Store. I thought Powell’s Books and BookPeople were pretty big, but the Strand’s slogan is 18 Miles Of Books. In addition to three or four floors of books, they’ve got lots of fun cat merchandise.

The Morgan Library & Museum

The Morgan Library was one of the things I was looking most forward to last trip. The personal library part is amazing, but I just wasn’t sure about everything else. Maybe I should’ve read more about it before I went. At least the ticket was free—they offer free tickets after 5pm on Fridays, but you’ve got to book in advance.

Philip Williams Posters

The Philip Williams Posters store sells all original prints. They have a section for New Yorker covers and some of them date back the 1970s. All of them are available for purchase.

Moulin Rouge on Broadway

I got my Moulin Rouge ticket for $50 USD through the TodayTix app. You don’t get your exact row and seat number until the day of the show, but you do get a general idea of where you’ll be sitting when you book. Overpriced cocktail(s) aside, I enjoyed the show.

Next stop

My next house and cat sit is back in Brooklyn. It’s in South Slope, and close to Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery. This time I’ll be looking after two rescue cats called Kiki and Paco.

← Austin, TX: Reunited with another cat friend House and cat sitting my way around Brooklyn →

Austin, TX: Reunited with another cat friend

by Madolline Gourley | 3 February 2022

Being invited back to Austin is what prompted me to return to the United States for more house and cat sitting adventures.

Rebecca, the lady I house and cat sat for in 2019, messaged me a few months ago and asked if I’d be interested in looking after Shady again. I originally said no because there was still a lot of obstacles for Australians wanting to travel overseas, and I felt spending one month in one place (even though I just did a month-long sit in Sydney) isn’t as enjoyable as house and cat sitting in a few different cities.

I told Rebecca I might know someone who’d be interested in doing the sit and put her in touch with Clare. Clare is the the lady I sat for in New York City, back in March 2020, and she’s started to take on the occasional house and pet sit. The ladies agreed to Clare house sitting for about two and a half weeks, but Rebecca still needed someone for the final part of the stay. I was eventually able to commit to the second part of the sit after the Australian Government lifted its overseas travel ban.

I arrived in Austin at 6am after a short overnight flight from Seattle. While the flight saved me a night’s accommodation, it left me feeling shitty for the next week. I planned to get the bus to the apartment to save some money, but I guess I didn’t think about how it’d still be dark at that time. I ended up getting a Lyft instead.

Clare came down to get me and it was kind of surreal catching up with the last person I house and cat sat for when I was in the States. We spoke about how lucky she was not to have contracted COVID, especially living in a place like New York City. She said she wasn’t sure the Austin sit would even go ahead because of the Omicron outbreak just before Christmas. I know Rebecca and her partner were originally going to Costa Rica, but I’m not sure if the Omicron variant had anything to do with them changing these plans. They ended up spending the month roadtripping around Texas.

Shady was eating his breakfast while we spoke and I was reminded just how amusing it is to watch him eat. He’ll scoop the food up with his paw and lick it off, and continue to do this until his food’s all gone. He’ll then retreat to his Kirkland macadamia box until it’s time to nap on his little rug thing. Shady still has the exact same macadamia box he had last time I was here—like, literally the exact same one. Rebecca said they’ve got one in reserve (the very same Kirkland macadamia box), but they’re waiting until his current one breaks.

Shady was a little larger than I remember him being, but he’s getting old. Rebecca’s house sitting ad has Shady down as 12 years old and it also says he has the ‘uncanny ability to purr through virtually everything’. He actually doesn’t stop purring. Except maybe when he wants to be fed and he’ll let out a few little meows.

Things to do

I’ve been pretty lucky with the locations of the apartments I’ve stayed in recently and my Austin sit was no exception. Rebecca still lives in the same building—across from the flagship Whole Foods store and less than a kilometre away from the main part of downtown Austin. A lot of the things I did during my 7-day stay were walkable from her building.

East End

Following 6th Street all the way through to East End was a walk I took to get photos of two Austin murals. I continued to follow 6th Street down to Revival Coffee where I found even more fun murals and stores. It’s worth stopping in at Revival Coffee, too, for the cute pink interior.

BookPeople

BookPeople is a locally-owned bookstore across the road from the apartment. I’m not a huge reader, but BookPeople has two floors of [books and] gifts, homewares, cards, and lots of quirky Texas things. The coffee shop inside, CoffeePeople, made the best iced caramel latte I had while I was in town.

Food trucks along Barton Springs Road

I stumbled upon these food trucks after visiting the Zilker Botanical Garden (not great (maybe because it’’s winter)). There’s a lot of food trucks in Austin, but these ones seemed to offer a bit more variety. After you’ve eaten, there’s a nice walk back to West End along the Ann and Roy Butler Trail.

Day trip to San Antonio

I passed through San Antonio last time I was in Austin and I was hoping to get out there again. This time I visited Historic Market Square, Buckhorn Saloon, The Alamo and the River Walk. I’d love to get a house and cat sit in San Antonio so I can explore more parts of the city.

Next stop

I’ve been pretty fortunate to score two sits in New York City. The first one is in Chelsea—where I’ll be looking after two Ragdolls—and the second is in South Park Slope. I secured the South Park Slope sit on Monday and it starts the day the one in Chelsea ends. Both sits were found on TrustedHousesitters.

← A short house and cat sit to mark my return to the United States Returning to New York City to cat sit two Ragdolls →

A short house and cat sit to mark my return to the United States

by Madolline Gourley | 26 January 2022

I’ve done a few house and cat sits in Seattle, but this sit’s particularly memorable because it was my first one outside Australia in almost two years.

My last international house and cat sit was in New York City in March 2020. This is when COVID-19 panic started to kick in in the United States and I thought it’d be a good idea to end the trip a few days early. But now it was time to go back. While I had been looking forward to returning, ensuring I was actually eligible to enter the United States was a bit of a process. I had to:

organise, download and print my international COVID-19 vaccination certificate
find a travel insurance company and policy with COVID-19 cover
print a lot of additional paperwork to fly
get a PCR test done one calendar day before boarding my first flight. Waiting for the result was the most nerve-wracking part.

The PCR test came back negative, but making my way to Seattle was the next stressor. My connecting flight out of Fiji was delayed by an hour. The engineers were able to resolve whatever the problem was within about 15 minutes and we spent the remaining time waiting for the cabin crew. The delay meant I had less than 60 minutes to get through immigration at LAX, collect my luggage, walk to the Alaska Airlines terminal, check the luggage back in, go through security, and arrive at the gate before my flight’s 2pm departure. I did it, but the drama didn’t end there.

I was meeting Tayla, the girl I was sitting for, at the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport because she was flying out to Burbank not long after I touched down. We found each other at one of the baggage carousels, and I was given a quick rundown and the keys to the apartment. I then realised I’d been waiting at the wrong baggage carousel so I headed over to the correct one only to find two suitcases left. Neither of which were mine. The baggage counter staff told me my luggage wasn’t lost, it just hadn’t been loaded on to my Seattle flight. They gave me an incident number and told me to call up the next day if I hadn’t heard from them. I ended up calling when I got to Tayla’s apartment and was told my luggage had been sent to Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is literally at the opposite end of the country. I guess I should be grateful it wasn’t totally lost and was delivered to the apartment the next evening.

Tayla told me it might take a day or two for Athena (tuxedo (girl)) and Ody (Snowshoe-looking one (boy)) to warm up to me, but they took to me instantly. I think it’s because my carry on bag had Pixel’s scent all over it. Pixel would sit on the Country Road bag pretty much every day during my time in Sydney. Athena and Ody spent the next couple of hours rubbing their faces all over the bag, and climbing in and out of it. They continued to love on the bag until the sit ended.

Both cats are rescues, with one of Tayla’s friends finding Athena in a car park and Ody being adopted from a shelter. Athena’s two years old and Ody’s about a year and a half. They’re very, very playful and love to cause mischief. I don’t remember my cat, Gracie, being anywhere near as mischievous when she was that age. Ody—the cheekier of the two—particularly enjoyed chewing plastic bags, paper bags, plastic straws, and things like my itinerary and receipts. Tayla also said the cats have been known to chew power cords and advised I didn’t leave them out during the day. I’ve made this mistake once before and was sure to put my cords away as soon as I’d finished charging my devices.

Things to do

This Seattle sit was about seeing things I hadn’t got around to doing previously. The Fremont Sunday Market was on my list, but jet lag kicked in four days after I arrived.

Chihuly Garden and Glass & Space Needle (combined ticket)

I’d never heard of the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum despite it being one of Seattle’s most popular attractions. It’s right next to the Space Needle so I decided to buy the combined ticket and visit both on the same morning. A single ticket to the glass museum is $32 USD which I thought was quite steep, but it seemed a little less exorbitantly priced when you add on the cost to visit the Space Needle.

You can also head out to Tacoma—to the Chihuly Bridge of Glass and neighbouring Union Station—to the to see some of Dale Chihuly’s glass work for free.

Ferry to Bainbridge Island

The ferry to Bainbridge Island makes for a fun little day trip. The downtown area is mostly independent stores and places to eat and drink, and there’s a few art galleries and museums as well. One thing to keep in mind is the ferry doesn’t really run to schedule. The one I had wanted to get on Saturday morning was cancelled and the one I was getting back to Seattle was running 30 minutes late.

Capitol Hill neighbourhood

Tayla’s apartment is in Capitol Hill and it’s a neighbourhood I’ve stayed in once before. It reminds me a lot of Sydney’s Surry Hills (Pixel’s home) and is probably the equivalent of Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. Capitol Hill has lots of great stores, a diverse range of cuisines and coffee shops that aren’t Starbucks. Twice Sold Tales is worth checking out, too. It’s a used bookstore with resident cats.

Osara Commissary

Osara Commissary is a Japanese store within the Pike Place Market building. It has all kinds of Japanese homewares and most of the art is drawn by the store’s owner, Mikako Hamaguchi. Her husband happened to be working while I was in there and told me Mikako used to give her drawings away when they first opened the shop.

Next stop

I’m now on my way to Austin, Texas, to look after Shady. Shady’s a cat I cared for in the summer of 2019 and I’m looking forward to exploring the city without the extreme humidity.

← Reunited with Pixel: An extended house and cat sitting stay in Sydney Austin, TX: Reunited with another cat friend →