A Week of E-Reading for Travelers

As we wind up our week of e-books for travelers–one for adventurous baby boomers, one for travelers to Cape Cod, one for cheapskates in Paris, and this one about Housesitting–it is only appropriate to announce the upcoming book by Andrei Credescu that addresses this question “Is print dead? Will literature survive technological advances.  His book, Bibliodeath: My Archives (With Life in Footnotes) will be released in paper back and e-book in November 2012. If you have ever heard his erudite and witty talks on public radio, you’ll want to read his latest.

Destination: Everywhere

Book: How to Become a Housesitter and See the World,  by Dalene and Pete Heck (New e-book, August, 2012)

A couple from Canada decides to drop out of the rat race, sell their encumbrances and travel the world–digital nomads.   Are there really as  many people doing that these days as it seems, or is it just that they all have blogs, and many have a gift for words and photography?

At any rate, Dalene and Pete Heck DO have a gift for words, and share great photos and videos. I’ve enjoyed their Hecktic Travels website for the past year.  They particularly caught my eye with their way of saving money on lodging as they travel. They figure they have saved $30,000. Got your attention now?  Nope, they did not do it with sponsored stays at posh hotels, or at  the opposite end of the luxury scale, by couch surfing.  The Hecks, business people that they are, got into the business of house sitting.

Since they started house sitting–generally exchanging the privilege of staying in someone’s home in a desireable location for being termporary caretakers, rather than being paid–they have visited a slew of interesting locations. They’ve stayed in a variety of enticing places including a beach house in Costa Rica, a brownstone in Harlem in New York City, and this lovely manor house in Ireland.

Being logical and methodical people, they made lists as they went along. Lists of questions to ask potential employers, lists of the things they cannot live without, lists and evaluations of companies that book housesitters, lists of bloggers who write about housesitting.  They share this invaluable information, along with much more in their new e-book How To Become a House-Sitter and See the World.

I had a lot of unspoken questions about house sitting before I read this book, and I honestly can say that they answered ever single one of them.  One of the things that surprised me is the abundance of opportunity for housesitters. Many times the Hecks have had difficult choices to make about where to go next–big city or countryside? Europe or North America? While they share a few of their personal experiences and pictures– including the pets they met and cared for along the way–you will have to go to their website to get the full scoop on their travel experiences. How To Become a House-Sitter is strictly a how-to book.

If you are curious about the ins and outs of housesitting, click here to visit Hecktic Travels where you can purchase a copy of their book and learn even more. You’ll get the unvarnished truth about those agencies that place sitters, learn how to write an impressive resume, and ultimately, be equipped to decide whether house sitting is for you.

Have you ever been a house sitter? Would you consider the idea?

This concludes our week of E-book Reading for Travelers.  Would you like to see more e-book reviews in the future?

Disclaimers: The Hecks provided a free copy of their e-book for review at A Traveler’s Library. They also supplied the photos. Please respect their copyright.  And links here are affiliate links, meaning that if you decide to buy a copy of their book, I will make a small percentage. None of these factors make a dent in my opinionated rantings.