So this week John and I are tipping our toes into the location independent lifestyle. We’re House Sitting & Pet Caring for our friends puppy dogs, Zulu + Shiloh. We’re only 55 minutes from home, but it feels as if we’re a million miles away already.

As we sit on the covered veranda, we reminisce about doing this for real — leaving our munchkins behind, in the loving care of Row + Daniel. And it feels good.

Liberating!

We look at the assembled clutter in our temporary home, at the mementoes of our friends’ travels… and we look at each other knowing we’re up for an exciting adventure.

It feels good, different.

The more I look at stuff, the less I want it. I’m already dreaming up how we can literally travel with just one bag on our back — and leave all the hassles of toying with checked-in luggage, and having to carry, pull, or lug stuff around with us behind.

I’m not ready to take the plunge of doing this just yet. But I feel as if we’re getting closer to being able to say, “YES, we can do this packing-light thing,” at some stage in the future. For now we’re content with the knowledge that we’re following our dreams. And that’s what life is meant to be about.

House Sitting & Pet Caring.

The week has flown by and our first house sitting & pet caring gig has gone really well. We bonded with these two glorious fur babies from the get go and have loved every second with them, I think they have too.

Living in a different home for any amount of time has its challenges, just like moving in to a new home or rental for the first time, every thing is new and strange. You can look at this in a couple of ways, but the way we have embraced it is like a new adventure, a holiday away from home. Getting to know a new area, saying g’day to the neighbours and living each day with excitement has been awesome and is something we are really looking forward to doing much more.

We’ll be back home tomorrow. We’ll miss our new puppy friends. They’ve been great company. Taking them on early morning walks was lovely too, because it forced us to go out and move.

Walking + moving our bodies is something we’ve neglected in recent years. Thankfully this will change too, because with travel comes movement, and for that I’m thankful too.

Our bodies + minds become so accustomed to being lazy in the comforts of our home that it’s easy to say, “I can’t be bothered to go for a walk today because it’s raining… or it’s late… or whatever excuse we come up with at the time.”

There will be no more excuses for us once we’re on the road! We actually love hiking and walking! And we’re excited to be doing a lot more of that in the years to come.

What about you? What comfort have you succumbed to that you could break out from — even if it’s just for a 30-minute stint? Let us know in the comments below.