I want my cat to be able to go outside but I'm afraid she will get lost. What should I do ? (Read body)
So I have a 7 year-old female cat called Chich, we adopted her last year as she was originally the neighbor's cat but she kept coming over so we took her in. The street we live in is a dead end, so there are not many cars, there are two dogs that don't seem to bother her and a few other cats that rarely wander into our garden, so Chich is allowed to go outside a lot at home, she knows the street and can find her way home but she mostly stays in our garden.
We are currently on vacation in our house in the countryside and we took her with us. This is her third time coming so she wasn't too stressed as she rediscovered the house. However, the last two times she did not go outside at all because there are many dogs, cats and cars but this time I wanted to try it.
I tried to get her used to her harness but after a few tries she runs away when I pick it up or hides under the bed.
So I decided to take her outside while supervising her. The first time went fine (I had to lure her back in with food), the second time she got up on a small window that we have in our garden wall and another cat showed up so I had to take her back inside, the third time she got up on the wall but came back down and I lured her with food. However the fourth time was unintentional. We were eating dinner outside and had locked her upstairs. One window was open and she jumped from the first story into the garden (which I thought she wouldn't do). We let her stay outside while watching her and that's where it went downhill.
She climbed a tree and got up on the back wall and into our neighbor's yard(said neighbor is absent currently). We tried to lure her in with food, to no avail. The neighbor's cat then chased her and she climbed back on the wall and went towards our garden. We got a hold of her at this moment before she could come down on her own and she was very stressed so she scratched my dad. She then seemed quite scared because she hid under the table and she wasn't aggressive but she didn't come for pets like he usually does when I reach out my hand. We got her back inside and she is pretty much back to normal.
What should I do ? I really don't want to lock her inside and it's a pain to have to manage every window and door in the house. We also want her to get outside time because she is very playful and happy when she does. I really can't force her to put the harness on and I don't want her to be scared of me because of it. I feel like she could get back home but I'm scared she won't and our regular house is across the country.
Thanks for any advice
TL; DR : we are on vacation in our house in the countryside which my cat is familiar with but it's her first time being outside there, I can't put her on a harness and we are getting mixed results and I am scared she could get lost. What should I do ?