Travel vs permanent employment

Negotiation is key. Generally, you should be able to negotiate:

-Housing
-Salary in the area of 35 and up (I have not worked for under 35 in years)
-Medical
-Perdiem at times if you have a tax home 50 plus miles away
-Perhaps some reimbursement for license, accreditation, or specific
requirements (such as CEU's specific for that state)

Again, the above is negotiated. The best part is, you also negotiate what is important to you as far as hours, schedule, float or not float, time off etc. Mandatory meetings are usually not required as they do not want to pay a Traveler for that time (whew).

Can you work back to back assignments? Yes, usually, if that is what you want. Sometimes, it is nice to save your money and take the Holidays off and I hear of that quite often.

Mainly the main benefit that I got as a traveler was the chance to travel.

I agree that the money that I made wasn't very much more than the staff nurses. However, some will say that the money that travelers make is a lot more than the staff nurses.

The health benes weren't that great. I found that the few times I needed it the Rx were a large co-pay as was the MD appts. There was not any sick time, etc. so if for some chance you missed a day of work (which you really couldn't) you did not get paid.

I found the housing to be great!! I don't think that I would be able to afford living in many of the places that I stayed in. And plus the big hassle of trying to find a place to live was taken care of. For example, I stayed in this beautiful cottage with cathedral ceilings, a large yard, on a marsh, and walking distance to the beach on Cape Cod ~ during the summer! I would never have been able to afford that on my own.

I was able to work for all the time that I wanted to. Midway through the assignment my recruiter and I would talk about where I wanted to go next and if the assignment I was currently on would extend me. I worked for a large company so there was always an assignment where I wanted to go.

Also, it is very important to research the travel company that you are going to assign with and make sure to state specifics in your contract.

Travel nursing was one of my best experiences!

I was able to amass down pmt for my house and bought new furniture outright. The tax benes at the end of teh year were very nice also.
I traveled for payrate not location though. I also worked much OT.

For a while I travelled out of state in which your housing is payed for. Depending on location, need, and time of year you can make a lot more money with completion bonuses etc than a staff RN. But if you go to places that are popular with travelers (warm and sunny) then you probablly are not going to see a huge difference in pay. It is a perk to get housing payed for. I also did travel nursing that was a fairly long drive from my home but I lived at home. I got the higher wages along with a housing stipend that was monthly. It was a huge sacrifice and not very fun. But it payed off all my bills, payed for my beautiful wedding in full, and my new furniture. Also entitled me to start a nice savings. In my experience health benefits have been pretty lousy.And that is me sampling 4-5 different agencies. A lot of times they will refund costs of applying for new Rn licensures and travel allowances. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I did reap the financial benefits. Good LUCK!

I was wondering if you knew the average pay for LPN's? I will only be making 1$17.00 hour

Who is your agency and where are they sending you for $17.00?
What else is included in your contract?