After missed connections, over sold planes, 36 hours of traveling --> we made it. Was it worth it? Damn right! London is a pretty cool spot, and even though we're only a full 24 hours into it ~ we're having the time of our lives. Today looked like: - Coffee and Breaky - Tour the British Musuem (did you know The British Museum's collection actually totals around 8 million objects, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive in existence) - High Tea on the River Thames (OMG everyone must do this at least once) - Tower of London, Big Ben and Parliment - Walking across the London Bridge - Home to work and meet w/ clients (on the West Coast) - Dinner at 11pm (like a real European) So, my question for tonight ~ if you had someone deposit a plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? and if you've been to London and you have recommendations - let us know!

Hey love, The World Cup kicks off today, and for the first time in history it's happening right here across the US, Mexico, and Canada — 16 cities, 104 matches, 34 days. And most people are about to do it the expensive way. Here's the quiet little secret nobody's posting about: the thing that makes the World Cup "unaffordable" isn't the tickets. It's the hotels. Flip that, and the whole trip changes. Let me show you. 🏨 The hotels are the real ticket price Hotels in 13 of the 16 host cities are up at least 80% per night versus last year. Guadalajara went from about $90 a night to $511. Vancouver's averaging close to $890. Boston's at $611. That's the number bankrupting people's dreams — not the football. 🏡 Now flip it: house sit in a host city Tickets actually start at $60 for group-stage matches (they climb with demand, but $60 is the real floor). The final tops out around $6,730. Now picture a two-week house sit in Guadalajara during the tournament. You'd have paid roughly $7,150 in hotels. Instead you pay $0 — you're loving on someone's dog in a neighborhood you'd never have found otherwise. That saved money is your ticket. Possibly your flight too. ✨ This is the whole system This is exactly what Sandra and I mean when we say it's not about having more money — it's about a decision and a system. The decision: I'm going. The system: I sleep for free in the city where the thing is happening, and I redirect what I would've burned on a hotel toward the experience itself. A house sit isn't a consolation prize. It's the cheat code. 👉🏽 World Cup host cities & schedule 👉🏽 What hotels are actually charging This life is available to you. You don't need a lottery win. You need a decision and a system. If you haven't already jumped into House Sitter Academy, do it NOW! You have access to it as part of your membership in the CLASSROOM area.

Someone ran the numbers and it stopped me cold. In middle America, a "stable" life costs $2,800–$3,200 a month. And no — that's not lattes and avocado toast. That's healthcare, rent, food, and getting to work and back. No vacations. No cushion. That's $3,200/month just to hit the bar we've all quietly agreed to call stable — which, read the fine print, actually means: "I can pay my bills without having a panic attack." We've set the ceiling of a good life at not panicking. We're calling survival a success story. And here's the part nobody says out loud: the danger isn't the price tag. It's what chasing that number does to your brain. You stay in the job that's draining you because it's steady. You don't start the thing, take the trip, or bet on yourself — because be reasonable, you have bills. That fear wears the costume of being responsible. But underneath, it's a cage with the door painted to look like a wall. So let me flip the whole thing 👇🏽 Real stability was never a number. It's a structure — how many ways money can find you. One paycheck from one boss who can cut you on a Tuesday? That's not stable. That's a single point of failure wearing a lanyard. Betting everything on one job you don't control is the actual risk. Betting on yourself is the hedge. A slower life is not a smaller life. Done right, it's a richer one in every sense of the word. If you're 40-something and some part of you keeps whispering is this really it? That's not ingratitude. That's your intelligence trying to get your attention. 🤍 So I want to hear it 👇🏽 What would your life look like if "stable" meant free instead of stuck? Drop it in the comments — be specific. That's where this gets real. New here and that whisper is getting loud? Grab the free Location Freedom Mini Blueprint — the first real steps to income that isn't tied to one boss or one zip code → https://hsac.theboujeenomads.com/

HERE IS WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT WHO ELSE IS ON THAT NETWORK AND HOW TO STAY SAFE. Two years of house sitting. New WiFi password on a little card at every single home. And we never once asked — who else is on this network? Until San José, Costa Rica changed that for us. Turns out when you connect to a homeowner's WiFi you're also connecting alongside their smart TV, security cameras, previous house sitters, the neighbour who got the password two years ago — and a router that's likely logging every website your devices visit. We got a VPN that same week. Never sat without one since. The quick fix: Get NordVPN or ProtonVPN, then immediately turn on two settings most people miss — Kill Switch (cuts your internet if VPN drops so nothing leaks) and Auto-Connect (VPN connects before anything loads on any new network). Then ask every homeowner to set up a guest network — separate lane for your devices, separate lane for theirs. Five minutes. Game changer. Save this checklist. Run it every time you arrive somewhere new: ☐ Ask homeowner about setting up a guest network ☐ Connect VPN before doing anything else online ☐ Confirm Kill Switch is on — all devices ☐ Confirm Auto-Connect is on — all devices ☐ Note where smart speakers are located ☐ Update all devices if updates are waiting ☐ Use phone hotspot for banking and sensitive work ☐ Run a DNS leak test at dnsleaktest.com Inspired by the amazing work of RECLAIM™ — a free digital privacy movement. Worth following: thereclaimmovement.substack.com Not yet on TrustedHouseSitters? Grab 25% off right here. Hope this finds you surfing the web safely and your information protected Brandi + Sandra 🖤

Here's the thing about traveling full-time — you think you've done your homework. You've got your flights, your accommodation, your itinerary sorted. And then something comes along that you had NO idea was even a thing. That's what happened to me when a friend sent me this REEL about EES. The EU's new Entry/Exit System. It went fully live on April 10, 2026. And if you're a non-EU traveler (yes, us Americans), every time you enter the Schengen Area, you now get biometrically registered — fingerprints, face scan, passport data. Digital record of every entry and exit. Passport stamps are gone. This is the new reality. Now here's where it gets real. People are waiting UP TO 6 HOURS in Portugal right now because they showed up with no idea this was happening. Long lines at border control, confused travelers, delayed flights. It's a mess for the people who didn't know. (This was almost us!) But here's what I know — and now you know too. There's an official EU app called "Travel to Europe" (free, App Store + Google Play — do NOT download any version that charges you, those are fakes). You can pre-register up to 72 hours before you land — scan your passport, take a selfie, answer a few questions. When you arrive, your data is already in the system. You still go through border control, but you move through significantly faster. That's it. That's the hack. Download the app. Do it before you fly. A few other things that came up that you should know: 🇬🇧 If you're routing through London — London is NOT Schengen. It's a completely separate border. And as of February 25, 2026, Americans need a UK ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) to enter. It's £20, takes 10 minutes to apply for, valid 2 years. Don't skip this or you could be denied boarding. (see my POST earlier last week to learn more about this!)