House-sitting

Many times squalors take possession of an empty house and the law makes it very difficult to vacate them. This has been happening for ever, however, now a day there is a new kind of squalors.

I was reading an article about how people are trespassing in houses when the owners are on vacation. The article sites that these people “vacation” in the empty houses, however, they eat and drink everything in sight, they leave a mess behind and in many cases they vandalize the properties.

The one article I read sited how when the home owners came back they found the house in shambles. There were dirty dishes in the sink and on the floors of the living room and bedrooms. The bathrooms were filthy as it was the rest of the house.

And even that I find this conduct reproachable, I can’t stop thinking why these people did not get a house sitter?

I have been doing house sitting for the last 5 years and it is a great program. There are many websites for it, I have been using House Carers and I love the experiences I have had.  I have house-sat in the US, England, Ireland, Spain, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Italy.

It doesn't cost anything to the homeowner to get a house sitter but they get peace of mind of knowing that somebody is taking care of their place while they are on vacation.

Most of the time the house sit it’s to take care of a pet because the owners don’t want to leave their pets in a kennel or cattery, and it makes perfect sense, the pets are better off being in their own environment. Nevertheless, there are many house sit where there are no pets, however most of them do, and let’s face it, all of us (house sitters) are pet lovers, otherwise we would not be doing this.

For people like me it provides the opportunity to travel and live in one place for a time and be able to learn the ways of life of that country, their traditions and customs and language, and don’t let us forget the opportunity to taste different foods.

It is a win-win situation. The home owner gets somebody to take care of their house and pets and the house sitter gets a place to stay.

 Win-win!

http://www.housecarers.com/sitter.cfm/cristinagrau.htm

It’s all part of the adventure.

I am still in Estonia and this weekend I decided to go CouchSurfing to Tartu. Thursday I took the 2 ½ hours bus from Pärnu to Tartu. 

Half way there, a car come speeding next to the bus, blinking and blowing the horn and signaling to the bus driver to stop. The car swerved in front of the bus making it stop, just to find out that we were leaving an oil trail all over the high way.

Needless to say, the bus could not continue any longer. So, there we were, in the middle of nowhere with a broken bus.

The bus company was sending another bus, but as I mentioned before, we were half way there, so no matter where the bus was coming from, still will be a long wait.

It was a beautiful day, so I walked a little, sat a little, walk some more.

            Finally the replacement bus came and we were on the road again.

Nordic Spas

We all have heard of the Nordic spas, and who has not dream of going to one? and be pampered like the movie starts?

Pärnu is the summer capital of Estonia, with long sandy beaches with shallow waters and lots of sun, many cafes and restaurants and most important, the famous Nordic medical spas.

So, of course while in Pärnu I visited one of these spas, after all, I have been told that that is what you do here.

There are many spas in the city; however, there is Spa Tervis one block from the house where I am staying, so there I went.

These therapy treatments are cover by the insurance of the people here, however, my insurance doesn’t cover for preventing medicine, so I paid regular prices for all the treatments. There are packages treatments that you can buy when you stay in their hotel; however, I am not staying there so I paid everything a la carte.

First thing I needed to do was to have a physical exam and then the Dr. recommends what type of therapy I would need.

I had my physical and I am very healthy so I was allowed to take whatever treatment I wanted just to take them.

I also had my cholesterol and triglycerides check and a dental checkup. I had to go to the hospital to get a pop smear and a mammogram.

Once the medical exams where done, I went for a haircut, many/pedy (1 hr. ea.), a 1 hr. massage, a mud bath, and of course the sauna.

Mud baths are a cure for all; they are anti-inflammatory and great for the skin. All I know it’s that couple hours after my bath I felt very light. My legs, my body were light and days later I still felt light, so I booked another bath for the day before I leave here.

As you lay in the warm mud you are supposed to relax, however for the first few minutes all I did was giggle because it was such a funny sensation, it was like being submerge in pudding.

They have Finnish sauna, Turkish sauna, salt sauna, infrared sauna, and of course regular sauna and they are great, but I love saunas and I go to them as much as I can.

This is just what I did, the spa offers: pools, exercise classes, different types of massages and spa treatments, physiotherapy, examinations, dentist, face treatments, body treatments, beauty salon… You name it and they offer it.

Needless to say that every day there is at least 3 full buses of people coming from other countries just to this spa, I don’t know about the other ones but I am guessing they are about the same.

The place is great and the people very nice and helpful, even if they don’t speak much English and when they do it is very basic so you need to figure out what they are trying to say.

I am enclosing the prices for all these treatments and exams. Make sure you are seating down and do me a favor, once you read them: close your mouth!

Treatment	€	$
Medical exam	16	21.38
Cholesterol	27	36.07
Popsmear	22.67	30.29
Mammogram	26.34	35.19
Dentist	10	13.36
Total for Drs.	102.01	136.29
Hair cut many/pedy	77	102.87
Mud Therapy	13	17.37
	13	17.37
Massage	35	46.76
Sauna	5	6.68
	5	6.68
	5	6.68
Total for pampering	153	204.41
Grand Total	255.01	340.7

At these prices I would like to have done everything they offer, but I didn't, I behave and I am very happy with everything I was able to do.

Really, I felt great. It is nice to pamper oneself once in a while, besides it have been couple years since I had a medical checkup so I was due for one.

Next time I need some pampering I know where to go.