Mary & Bart

We are Bart (engineer, 50), Mary (personal assistant, 43) and Oscar (explorer, 6), and we all feel as if we were (almost) 12! We are a cheerful family of three (pretty-) slow-paced globetrotters. We work, learn and homeschool while traveling and discovering cultures and lifestyles.

Archie (it is Oscar's middle name, which we use equally) is the happiest and the merriest of us, although he's also very quiet and, according to others, well behaved. He uses to play with toys meant for children slightly older than his age. At least as much as visiting amusement parks, he likes to visit museums. He is interested in topics like aviation (on the serious side, like aerodynamics and aircraft control), sailing, science, astronomy, history (back to BCE)… He likes to read (by himself), practice math and play with numbers. He speaks three languages (with English in the first place) and is eager to learn more. He does not lack skill and imagination, and handles everything with care and respect. He also shows some good endurance in cycling and we use to make long excursions together, which often take us out for a whole day.

As far as we, Mary and Bart, are concerned, besides running our online business, which is still at an early stage, we used to endorse various roles (developer, project leader, event coordinator, head chef) in various business sectors (information technology, banking, education, hospitality industry). Throughout our career, at every position, for every project, customer satisfaction has been the only measure of success for each of us. Naturally, the same values prevail also in our private life.

At home, we like to listen to some relaxing music, mostly to jazz, but ranging actually from artistic songs through folklore to classic. We use to ignore the television set where there is one, but we do watch some personally selected content on the computer. Our hobbies include cycling, personal development, and handling all sorts of unexpected situations that would usually not happen to anyone else, a discipline in which we have gained quite some experience by now. As you may have guessed, we are quiet people, very cautious, also non-smokers and non-drinkers.

We are familiar with both rural and urban environments. We appreciate nature and the quietness of the countryside as much as we like cultural activities in larger cities. We also love the company of pets and even that of farm animals, so much so that we usually manage to find a furry companion to cuddle wherever we are. Our last four-month home-sitting in Belgium with two cats and two rabbits has been a great experience for all of us, especially for Archie, who personally took the responsibility to prepare the pets' food and water every day and demonstrated affectionate care and attention when playing with them. We are also familiar with visits to the vet, as well as providing medical care to animals ourselves, including administering medicine, making injections and providing special assistance. Before Archie was born, we also used to have our own cats and our relationship with them was fantastic. We would love to experience that again!

We will be happy to look after your property and your pets if you are willing to share this opportunity with us.

P.S.: For whatever purpose it may serve, Bart is an experienced driver and is familiar with both left- and right-hand traffic as well as right- and left-hand drive.


Why we want to sit pets and houses

As one of eight siblings, Mary was born and raised at a farm in a village surrounded by a forest and a river.  Obviously, she is quite familiar with most farm animals.  She also used to have a little dog in her childhood, of which she has great memories.

Bart used to own some cats (not more than two at the same time) since he was a teenager.  He and his feline pets developed such a close affinity that one could say they could communicate with each other.  We both experienced the same fabulous connexion with a cat we thought had been lost, but which much later appeared to be a neighbours' cat that simply decided to stay with us (with her previous owners' permission), and has been our exceptional Lady Cat for a year and a half.

Mary's education was focussed on respect, mutual help and responsibility, as well as love and care for nature, while Bart developed the same qualities.  We moved house about 20 times over the last 15 years.  As tenants, we use to care for anyone's property like for our own.  As a funny yet genuine fact, at the end of each stay, we usually manage to leave the place in a better condition than that in which we found it, to landlords' greatest pleasure and real estate agents' surprise.

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