Nick and I started the month of May in an Airbnb rental in Toronto and ended it back in our home in Kingston, Jamaica. In between, we spent two weeks in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, where we had our YOLO (You Only Live Once) moment of the month of May.
It might be a stretch to describe a 14-day experience as a “moment,” but when your eyes are opened up to a whole new way of doing things and you have a great time in the process, that’s pretty special. So, for May, my YOLO moment of the Month was our first ever formal house and pet sitting experience in Ottawa.
Nick’s brother and his wife have been house and pet sitting for many years using a service called TrustedHouseSitters and have recently been urging us to give it a try. At the time, TrustedHouseSitters was largely a European based service, but in recent months there has been a huge effort to expand into North America.
When we first checked it out in February, there weren’t many sits available in Canada, but that had all changed when we looked again at the end of April; the number of options had quadrupled at least, probably by much more.
We identified a couple of potential sits and Nick set about applying for them. We’d been advised by Nick’s brother that applying for your first sit, when you don’t have any reviews, can be hard and we shouldn’t be discouraged if we were turned down several times. Now Nick is nothing if not determined and he devised a plan based on advice from his brother and tips he’d gathered from the internet.
Within 48 hours we had our first trusted housesit booked. We were going to Ottawa to look after a 13-year-old cat called Tyler while his owners were away for two weeks.
We decided to travel to Ottawa from Toronto the day before, just to make sure we weren’t delayed, which is classic Nick. We journeyed on Canada’s slow and dated train service VIA Rail, reaching Ottawa at about 4pm.
We had booked a night at the Swiss Hotel which we in turn described as “idiosyncratic” and “quirky.” Actually, to be fair we had a good night’s rest in a clean and comfortable room, and it is located within walking distance of downtown Ottawa. This meant that we were able to enjoy a quick preview of the sights before we started our sit.
At 11am the next morning, Tyler’s owners Nicole and Gilles arrived at our hotel to take us to their home. We had already had a video call with them, and this act of kindness cemented in our minds what lovely and thoughtful people they are. We met Tyler, the effervescent neighbour Beth and were given a tour of the condo and, what was, a huge complex.
After what seemed like just a few minutes, but was almost an hour and a half, we were on our own with Tyler. While Nick and I own dogs, Oscar and Rocky, (and very recently acquired a stray cat who we named Catrick) neither of us had much experience with cats.
Nick did look after a neighbour’s cat when he was a child, but the startled animal ran away the first time it saw him, and young Nick was terrified the neighbours would never see the animal again. Fortunately, it did return safe and sound when its owners came home.
It turned out that we didn’t need to be nervous. Tyler was so easy going. I suspect that due to his age he spent most of the time sleeping and eating. Like many felines, his energy levels did spike slightly in the evening, and I enjoyed playing with him then.
Then when Nick settled down to watch TV, Tyler would crawl into his lap and aggressively lick his arm. My theory is that Tyler found Nick’s hairy limbs comforting. Whatever the reason after a few minutes Nick’s skin was red raw because, as we learned, a cat’s tongue is very different from a dog’s tongue. It’s like comparing sandpaper to silk!
We quickly learned that Tyler had a real personality. I believe that he speaks too. If he wanted to attract attention he loudly shrieks “HELLO.” If there is a door between you and him the hellos increase in volume and he knocks on the door frantically with his little paws. He didn’t like being picked up for long and after about a minute in my arms he’d make it clear by yelling “Nooooo”. I know that Nick think’s that I’m a bit crazy, but I know what I heard!
Of course, what we loved best was getting an entire condo to ourselves for two-weeks absolutely free of charge. It had super-fast internet, so we could both work effectively, especially as the unit had two levels.
Nick used the office on the lower level and I worked from the dining room on the upper floor. It was great to not have to listen into Nick’s endless and, quite frankly, loud calls.
Before we left for this trip, he told me that his calls wouldn’t disturb me, as he “just listens in and doesn’t say much” and as he wears headphones, I wouldn’t hear the other participants. Well, what I found out was that he talks incessantly and boiseterously during every call. In our Toronto apartment, this was an issue for me, even though I tried not to complain, so this was bliss!
The complex was huge. It comprised three apartment blocks and at least 50 row homes that were positioned around a small private park and lake. It also had a fitness centre, a games room with a pool table, and a hair salon. There was an outdoor pool too, although that was just being readied to open by the time we left.
As the weather had improved enormously from our time in Toronto, it was delightful. The location was great too, with many supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, and other shops within easy walking distance.
We became regulars on the number 7 bus, which went from outside our apartment right into the downtown area and beyond. We were even able to use the Presto Cards that we had obtained in Toronto, which made life easy. Despite warnings from Canadian family and friends, who told us that it was dull, we really enjoyed Ottawa. It’s quite a vibrant and lively city with fantastic outdoor spaces.
We liked to walk around the classic sights, such as Parliament Hill and along both the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal. We also went across the Alexandra Bridge into Gatineau, which is in the Province of Quebec. We spent many evenings in the Byward Market area where there were bars, restaurants and street performers. I’m not sure what we were expecting, but it wasn’t this!
One thing I was excited about was finding that we were in town for the Canadian Tulip Festival. I loved the colours of the beautiful tulips that were on display in wonderful Commissioners Park.
It claims to be the largest tulip festival in the world with over a million blooms and 650,000 visitors. It started when the Royal Family of the Netherlands sent a gift of 100,000 tulip in bulbs in 1945 to thank Canada for sheltering the future Queen and her family during the period of Nazi occupation.
The tulip festival gave Nick a chance to show-off what he does best, being prepared. He was adamant that we take our waterproofs, despite it being a beautiful sunny day. Sure enough, at almost exactly 3pm, as he predicted, the sky went dark accompanied by thunder and lightning. The skies then opened and those in shorts and t-shirts, which was most of the visitors, were soaked.
We experienced another weather event whilst in Ottawa and added a new word to our vocabulary: “derecho”. According to the US National Weather Service website a derecho is “a widespread, long-lived windstorm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.”
We are used to power outages in Jamaica, but I wasn’t expecting one in the Rideau Centre shopping mall and to see the traffic lights in downtown Ottawa not working. Nick was in the National Gallery of Canada and missed the whole thing. Although when he came out, he was surprised to see fallen trees and a largely deserted city. Thankfully, we were OK, and we managed to get a bus back to the comfort of our temporary home.
All too quickly, our housesit came to an end and we had to say a sad goodbye to Tyler. We (and by that, I mean me) made sure that we followed the advice of Nick’s brother and cleaned the apartment to ensure that Nicole and Gilles returned home to a spotless condo.
We were rewarded with a glowing five-star review on TrusteedHouseSitters, which should make our second housesit easier to get. We also have some brilliant new friends in Ottawa, and Nicole and I message each other often. I’m just sad that Tyler isn’t on WhatsApp or Facetime so that I can chat with him.
Our first house and pet sitting experience was amazing. We highly recommend it to anyone else who likes to travel, save money, and live like a local. Yes, it was our first housesit, but it won’t be our last!
Author
Monique Abbott
Hi, I ’m Monique, founder and editor-in-chief of Yes2Yolo, travel addict, lover of home makeover projects among many other passions, including creative and inspirational writing to embolden us to live our best lives. At my core, I am a creative artistic being and I believe that creativity knows no end.
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I’ve explored over 60 countries with my husband Nick. Together we’ve partnered on some truly exciting projects such as creating and running a successful Airbnb business, chairing condo boards, purchasing fixer-uppers and renovating them from scratch on our own while balancing all of this with full-time jobs and family.
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While my personal passions are travel and home décor, I am, by profession, a lawyer with over 17 years experience.
Extremely interesting read and what a beautiful cat Tyler is. I’m fascinated by tulips, probably my favourite flower, so it must have been a spectacular festival. Thanks for this informative capture of what you can experience when visiting Ottawa. Beautiful place to visit and so much to do. You also exposed me to a new travel option, I never considered house sitting before. I will be sharing this article with fellow adventure seekers.
Simone, thank you so much for taking the time to drop us a line. The Tulip Festival was amazing and you would have enjoyed it, given your love for tulips. Ottawa is a wonderful place to visit…so much to see and do and the people are very friendly. If you ever need our help in setting up your first housesit, we’d be happy to do so. We really appreciate you sharing the article with your fellow adventure seekers and hope they enjoy it. Cheers Simone!
I can see that you both had a wonderful time and thank you for sharing your experience with us. We live vicariously through you and Nick’s travels. Ottawa is beautiful and has such rich history and cultural diversity. Housesitting definitely seems like the way to go. An inexpensive way to travel and live in other countries for a few weeks. It’s indeed a win win.
Tyler seems so adorable . I know you will miss him and I’m certain he’ll miss you guys too.
I can’t wait to see where you’ll go next and also your next housesitting experience.
Thank you so much Taña. We really appreciate you taking the time to read our post. Ottawa is indeed a beautiful place and we enjoyed every moment of our housesit. If you are ever thinking of trying it, we are here to help! Thanks again Taña!!!
I am always excited to hear about the adventures of Nick and Monique! I am not crazy about cats but Tyler seems pretty cool especially since he talks albeit that maybe its only you Monique who can hear him! Lol. Ottawa sounds like a great place to visit and I hope that one day soon, I will do just that.
Awww! Thanks Elizabeth! Tyler was indeed a pretty cool cat and it was a breeze looking after him. Yes, you should definitely add Ottawa to your bucket list of destinations to visit. Thank you so much for dropping us a comment…so well appreciated…