8 Month House Sit in Hawaii!?

Mark and I have lived in a very pleasant climate for the last eight years. Longer, if you count our yearlong overland adventure in Mexico and Central America prior to that. We love blue skies. We love to hang out in little more than a bathing suit. We love small piles of laundry. We love to jump in the ocean to cool off or sit in the shade with a good book. We cherished that part of our previous life, forgetting the times that we melted away from heat and humidity during the summer time… But the winters in the tropics were so very comfortable! We listened to the “horrifying” stories from land-based friends and family in the US and Europe and we smiled.

Now, we have our temporary base in New England, USA. We are in the Boston area, a region with record snow and cold temperatures last year. And, winter is coming…We managed to obtain some warm clothes and have a washer and dryer to our disposal. But we are not looking forward to winter and we have a sneaking suspicion that after braving one of those, we will be more than ready to head south! A little bit on purpose, we didn’t wait for a house sitting job in a place like Florida, Texas or California for this winter. A while back, we committed to a three month stint in Northwest Connecticut, which starts in the beginning of the New Year. We figured that nice weather would distract us from what we hoped to achieve: concentration behind our computers to get some work and projects done. Nothing encourages that more than being “locked” inside a cozy, warm home, while the outside world – pretty and white – is oh so biting cold!

I don’t think we know what is coming… The fall was relatively benign and pleasant, but now, it is getting icy cold. And that will last until May/June of next year! We will be ready for some warmth and sunshine in April, after the time spent in chilly Connecticut. As fate would have it, I recently stumbled across a very attractive house sitting gig in Hawaii, starting in May 2016. The timing was perfect. The owners are looking for a responsible couple, ideally with experience in the tropics and a salty environment, to care for their dog and their lovely house with impressive views on the windward side of the Big Island. For eight months! I have always wanted to live in Hawaii for a while. We applied. We were invited to do a Skype interview with one of the owners, a TV personality from the eighties. We were mutually interested in each other. We were offered the position.

Mark and I thought about it, weighing the pros and the cons. Then… we declined. Why would anyone without kids, pets, a house or serious responsibilities decline such an attractive position and opportunity? Why? The answer – in our case – is quite simple: we aren’t ready yet to move that far away from the semi-settled house sitting lifestyle we have created on the East Coast of the US. We would have to sell the car we “just” bought and buy a new one on the Big Island. We would have to deal with a six-hour time difference (same as in French Polynesia), which is difficult to run the business, which is now located “around the corner”. We would have to purchase expensive plane tickets to fly to Hawaii, an expense we rather not have if we can help it. We would be very far removed from our friends and family we just reunited with. And… there are many rules to abide, which would heavily restrict our freedom and interrupt our day. Every day. For eight months.

I will miss the climate. I will miss the Polynesian vibe. I will miss the comfort and luxury, the expansive sea view. I will miss the opportunity of living in Hawaii for eight months, if not longer. But, I hope we get a second chance to move over there in the future and I trust another opportunity will appear for April/May that will (almost) be as exciting as this one! With fewer restrictions and commitments…