Full time travel nurse?

Brownms46 · Sep 10, 2002

I have been doing travel for 10yrs now, and for the most part..it depends on what you want. There are married couples who are both nurses, or nurses and therapists...etc..etc.. doing travel together. There are spouses who work in all kinds of different fields who travel together. There are spouse who have S/O who travel together but not married. All kinds of people out there traveling. Those with children who do this full time, and home school children, and those who do long term assignments, and or just renew/extend until they're ready to leave. Every kind of scenario you can think of is out there!

For the most part you can usually extend or can find assignments close to home. I stand in S. C. for four years while my daughter finished high school there at a private school. But many hospitals are starting to put a limit on the distance away from the hospitals, from where travelers can be from. Most say at least 50 miles or more. This is to keep local nurses from leaving the hospitals, and coming back as travelers, which is done a lot! In fact I did it. I lived less than a mile from two contract hospitals.

I must admit though...in trying to stay away from bad hospitals...sometimes I nurse may have to take less money....in order to stay in an area. But in areas where the shortage is the most critical...,most have no problem staying where they are.

I must warn you though...traveling can become addicting! :cool:

Good luck if you decide to do it!

tiredernurse · Sep 10, 2002

I did travel nursing for 5 years. I started out with 2 nurses from my graduating class, met a guy in the Virgin Islands and he and I travelled for more years. I loved it. I am now going to start travelling again, alone this time. The money is better and the competion is fierce. Everyone wants you. My experience has been the better the money, the worse the assignment, but you can survive just about anything short term. There are even companies that will fly you somewhere for a day and pay you a fortune. I have been all over the US and the Carribean and have met, and kept in touch with a lot of really cool people. I learned more about life, people and what I want out of life. Everyday is an adventure that's for sure. If you are single, most staff people will adopt you and include you in things so you don't feel alone. I highly recommend but have your name in with several agencies and make them fight over you. All the best.

live4today, RN · Sep 10, 2002

I did travel nursing for several years, and my youngest daughter traveled with me the entire time. I loved it! I only traveled to states that I chose to go to. No agency told me where to go. I did one assignment where I had two of my daughters with me. I highly recommend travel nursing to the adventurous at heart.