How to stay in the world’s most expensive cities for free according to the woman who’s visited 90 countries
AN AUSTRALIAN has visited over 90 countries, yet for several of her holidays she didn’t spend a penny on accommodation and experienced destinations better than most tourists.
Kiera Bourke from Newcastle, Australia, and her partner, Nathan, have experienced some amazing destinations through years of flying, backpacking and exploring the world.
But the savvy traveller has also managed to find a way of seeing new places, without paying for accommodation – and actually having a better holiday for it.
Kiera said: “We’ve visited like 90 countries and all seven world wonders.
“We were looking after people’s pets, in their homes, around the world.
“We didn’t take any payment, but in return we would get these great places to stay, with great animals as company.
“It helped us to see more local parts of the world and the local way of experiencing places, that we may not have had access to otherwise.”
Since, the 33-year-old has told other people about her experiences and how it is a great way to save money “but also experience things more authentically”.
Over the past years, using Trusted House Sitters, Kiera and Nathan has been to Glasgow with a German Shepherd, stayed with a Rottweiler on Vancouver Island in Canada and mostly carried, a French Bulldog around New York City.
But it is not just dogs the couple have sat, they have also stayed with cats including in London.
“We did a cat sit in Wimbledon with a lovely lady, whose cat came and go as it pleased.
“We almost felt guilty because we had so much free time.
“We would walk around and see cafes, chat with locals, write and even see how the subway (tube) connected into the area.
“It was definitely a more original way of seeing the city, rather than hopping into the very centre of London – which is still a cool experience, but once you have ticked off the typical tourist spots they are done.
“We even wet to a Millwall FC game.”
As for her favourite place, that was also in the UK.
“I think my favourite sit was probably in Scotland, in Glasgow.
“We had a car and we were looking after a German Shepherd named Lola and she was a gorgeous dog.
“So we were really lucky that because she was so athletic, we could drive two hours into the countryside and go for mountain hikes with her during the day.”
Lola went with the couple everywhere, even down to a creek on the hottest day of the year.
“We would keep the owners updated and it was funny, because we sent pictures of Lola when we were hiking, and her owners said she’d now seen more of Scotland than they had.
“I’d been to Scotland before, but not to Glasgow and being able to explore the regions, hike and see nature was absolutely beautiful.”
Replacing hotels with peoples homes meant that Nathan and Keira could cook their own food and have space to spread out – as well as save thousands.
Keira added how in a lot of the destinations she pet sat, owners would leave a basket of goodies, or perhaps bake a cake or stock the fridge up.
In return, her and Nathan would try and leave some Australian goodies.
“Slowing down and experiencing the local way of life around the world was something that was a novelty to us when we travelled before [pet sitting].”
And when it comes to perhaps weird or hard situations, the couple have been fortunate enough to not experience any.
Keira admitted: “Sometimes an animals’ quirkiness is quite funny.”
The duo were so inspired by travelling locally, that when they returned to Australia they set up their own tour company, Newy Tours.
“We found that the days we got the most out of a travel experiences, were not when we were at the middle of tourist hotspots but actually when we were experiencing the local way of life.”
By fostering good relationships with locals, Keira and Nathan have created tours that allow visitors from the people who live there.
People get to meet the creators and hear stories straight from owners – offering a different experience to much of the tourist draws in Sydney, only two hours away.
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