May 10, 2016
I may have had ulterior motives in taking you on the tour of our Montreal apartment. But they were good ulterior motives.
If you are interested in traveling to Montreal this summer, I'd like to share our home with you and your family.
We won't be here. We're going west for six weeks. Somewhat surprisingly since at the beginning of the year this didn't seem financially possible for us. It's still going to be tight, but we have free accommodation and a great car to get us where we need to go. Which in this case is Montana for three weeks, Alberta for two weeks and an extended weekend of camping with friends in Ontario on our way back home.
We will not be in Montreal for all of July and half of August and we want to share our apartment with you. It's a freebie, with a small amount of cat loving in return, our cat Pippin will not be traveling west with us. (Pixel died this spring. Last week and that's a story I'd rather not tell right now.)
We have a list of contacts who are potentially interested in housesitting/having a free place to stay in Montreal, and a couple confirmed stays, but there are gaps in the schedule and I keep coming back to the idea of inviting blog readers to stay at my home.
Some people would say this is crazy. But what's an internet community if not a little crazy?
Remember the days when people blogged under pseudonyms? Well, this is pretty much the opposite of that kind of blogging.
Airbnb is an option I suppose for "renting" out our house while we're gone and Mind My House is a global housesitting matching service. But when I thought about doing either of those I kept thinking I'd rather have people with whom I share some kind of connection stay here. I'd rather have you stay here.
I have corresponded with many blog readers through the years and gotten to know internet contacts and friends on a much deeper level than an Airbnb recommendation. You've told me about your kids and your marriages, your joys and sorrows.
There's no easy way to contact all the people I've met via the blog. The best means of communication is my blog.
So here it is: If you're a blog reader and want to visit Montreal this summer and are interested in staying at our apartment for your vacation/holiday/travel please contact me. I have enough responses from people to meet our need this summer. Thank you.
For those of you concerned about the risks of opening up my home to strangers from the internet I assure you, people will be vetted.
Because of this blog I have met amazing people who live all over the world. Some of these people have shown us hospitality on our travels. A few years ago we took a working road trip and were hosted by online friends. A couple years before that Damien and I went out west and were shown hospitality by more blogging connections. And we were hosted by blog readers all along our Appalachian Trail adventure. I was astounded by the generosity people showed us. It is unfortunate I did not have the time share all those stories as they happened, they are some of my best trail memories.
You know what generosity and hospitality does? It begets generosity and hospitality. And because I am not always able to give back directly to the people who gave to us, I want to pay it forward.
That's the ulterior motive. To pay back some of what we've been given. And of course we do want a loving family or individuals to feed our cat and keep an eye on him.
Montreal is an amazing city in the summer. You should come.
In case you need convincing here are a few posts about Montreal:
I look forward to hearing from you.
I love Montreal! I sent you a message. I hope it went through. Thanks for the opportunity!
Renee, this is a very generous and interesting offer. You definitely have me thinking...
just wanted to say...you are awesome,
If we didn't have disabilities to deal with, we would jump at the chance! You are one lovely family X
I love the way you think! If my kids were older, I'd jump at the offer. I actually may be asking you for advice in the future for my 17 yr. old daughter. She's interested in road tripping around the U.S. and maybe Canada after she graduates next year and is planning on pretty much living out of her backpack. I know you did pretty much the same thing during your thru hike, so maybe you'd have some advice for how she could find accomodations and spend as little money as possible. (You don't have to answer me now! I'll contact you when we get closer to that time.) Anyway, I hope your trip is awesome. And I'm sorry about your cat. We have three, and I love them to pieces.
Thank you for the generous and welcoming invitation! I must send my regrets...I'm sorry to miss out on the opportunity.
Our summer is full, but if not... What a great idea - and I hope you get all of your dates filled!
I would love to do this. Only I would wish your family would be there so our family could spend time with you all. ; )
Oh, I would SO love to do this. Maybe one day, when I don't have six kids under twelve. :)
What an adventure. So where are you visiting in Montana? We live in Missoula(city house)and Plains(country house on 40 acres)?
Hi! Just wondering, when can I stop checking my email to see if we'll be able to stay in Montreal this summer? :)
I plan to send an email this week :) hopefully within a few days.
Super!! Thank you!!
Nancy, The email you gave me in your contact message, and the one associated with your comment on this post is not working. I'm getting an error message: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain
Please email me renee at tougas dot net so I can get in contact with you about housesitting follow-up.
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Misti on May 10, 2016, 1:18 p.m.
Oh, what an opportunity! If I was back in my kid-free days I'd probably jump at the chance! I hope you find a few people. :)