Hi, I am Irina from Vienna/Austria. i’m a 54 year old program manager (health&social development) gone health coach and a single mother of two daughters (17 and 20). Traveling, often for extended periods, has been a steady part of my life from early childhood on. Having worked as a journalist and in humanitarian aid I have lived on every continent, always thrilled to feel my way into new cultures and surroundings, to learn new languages, to meet new people and to “figure out how things work”.
We’ve always had cats and when possible (garden) also dogs. I believe that children should grow up with pets. When we lived in India we pretty much ran an animal shelter taking care of street cats and dogs. Recently on my many trips to Greece I`ve started to active against chaining dogs and for better treatment of donkeys - both still ubiquitous issues unfortunately.
While my younger daughter is still in school I am based in Vienna and take off as much as I can. I am a very dynamic, hands-on, active, curious connected (I hope) woman. Besides being a nature/ecology-freak, I don’t miss an art-museum and am very interested in architecture, anthropology, evolution, history, health, nutrition, alternative medicine, personal development and much more.
This is my first time on a professional housesitting site, but I have taken care of houses and pets before (organised through personal networks) in India (dog, cats, two cows), London (cat, chickens), Mexico, Paris, Vienna (cat), New York (garden). I have some references if requested. I’ve also stayed in a lot of Airbnb-houses. I could provide screenshots of the reviews I got. We’ve rented out our apartment while in India and had people stay to take car of our cats/dogs, so I’m also familiar with the side of entrusting strangers with our most intimate surroundings and things. Whatever questions or doubts please do let me know, and I'll try my best to answer.
P.S. FOTOS are mainly of my daughters with our many pets - the curse of being a mom that you’re always the one taking pictures of others.
Single
Irina was a fantastic house sitter for our two cats and our home - it could not have worked out any better. She clearly had experience with pets and we could tell she quickly understood the personalities of our two cats and was making sure that each was comfortable and well cared for. She checked in routinely with photos and notes and we came to feel she was part of the family during our 2 week trip. When we got home, the house was very clean and both cats were happy and quickly back into ... MORE
