Woman travels the world for free by catsitting
Madolline Gourley estimates she’s saved £16,000 on accommodation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An Australian woman has revealed how you can travel the world for free by catsitting.
Madolline Gourley, 31, has toured across Oz and the US for next to nothing by offering her housesitting services and looking after people’s pets while they’re away.
The enterprising writer, originally from Brisbane, says she’s saved around A$28,000 (£16,050) in accommodation costs to date by using site TrustedHouseSitters.
She has even started a blog – titled One Cat at a Time – in which she shares updates on her trips and pictures of cute cats, plus gives others travel tips to follow in her footsteps.
Her most ambitious trip took Ms Gourley all across the US on a 75-day itinerary.
“I’ve looked after 15 cats and nine different homes in seven cities across the country,” she says on her site.
“I started out in Seattle before making my way to Austin, New York City – where I got sits in Chelsea, South Park Slope and Prospect Heights – Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, and Portland.”
Next up is a trip to Canada, where she’s currently looking for catsitting gigs in Toronto and Quebec City.
To feed her itchy footed habit, Ms Gourley says she works a 9-5 job in Australia between holidays.
“While house and cat sitting for strangers has saved me thousands of dollars on accommodation-related expenses, I still need money to pay for things like my airfares to and from sits,” she says.
“That means I spend the other, less exciting part of my life working a regular Monday to Friday job in Brisbane, Australia, putting money aside for my next adventure.”
It follows one money-saving vlogger sharing her own tip for bagging luxury hotel stays and meals at lavish restaurants for free.
“I have been hotel mystery shopping around the world and across the United States since 2004,” said Jen, aka @SmartyPantsFinance, in a Tiktok video.
Mystery shoppers are under-cover customers sent by retailers, market research and consumer watchdogs to experience the customer service of a brand – for example, a hotel or airline – and report back.
“So the first thing I do is, I go to mystery shopper websites that I’m registered with and I look at their list of available assignments,” she continued.
“There may be an assignment in New York City or one in Chicago or one in Cancun, and I just pick the ones that I’m interested in doing.”
Once she’s nailed the hotel stay, she turns her attention to getting to her impromptu destination.
“If I get one of the hotel jobs, then the next thing I do is start looking for airline mystery shopping assignments,” she said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments