Favorite cities/locations you've traveled?

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Hi guys! I'm on my first travel assignment (labor and delivery) in Phoenix area for the summer (yes I knew it would be hot when I signed on.) :) I am then headed to Nairobi Kenya in August/beginning of September for some volunteering. When I get back, I'd like to take on another travel assignment in late September/beginning of October.

Wanted to ask: What are your favorite cities/locations you've traveled and why?

I am interested in going somewhere that I will have lots of things to explore when I'm not at work. My current location is nice aside from the heat, but I went here more for the opportunity to work at the hospital and because they were willing to take a first time traveler.

I am not sure how many more travel assignments I'll have the opportunity to do, so I'm thinking ahead about where I might want to work. I am from Idaho so I have a compact license but I'm open to getting other licenses too. I'm an adventurous soul so any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

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Explore? Car, walk, hike, bike, skate, kayak? City, small town, rural, third world? That does make a difference. But I can say I've been traveling for 20 years and have found much to explore everywhere I've been. The usual problem is that three months is not enough. I'm not even sure I could pick a place to miss.

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NedRN, I'm up for anything. I love visiting huge cities like NYC that have great night life, but I also did a 5 week internship in Ketchum, Idaho (Sun Valley) and found lots to love about that too. I think there is something fun to be found about wherever you go. Even here in Arizona I'm enjoying learning a new area (I had only flown through Phoenix before this, don't have family or people I know here initially.) Maybe a better title of this thread should have been "Places that have few redeeming qualities, DON'T visit." ;)

P.S. that is pretty impressive that you have been doing this for 20 years. The staff where I'm working now are friendly and I love the adventure, but I'm wondering if someday I will get sick of being the new kid on the block every 3 months. :p

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Being new has its advantages. No one takes you for granted, that is for sure.

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kinda like being the new kid. you don't have to impress anyone to fit in. show you are skillful and you are good to go. plus no meetings and politics to deal with

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Specializes in critical care.

Travel nursing makes me wish I decided to become a nurse before having kids. I used to be in property management and we placed all of the travel nurses that came to our area. When I considered it back then, it bothered me that the places hiring (and paying an OMG huge amount of money per hour for them - the salary isn't the only thing they pay. Add about $20-25, sometimes $30, per hour to your hourly wage and that's what they're paying to cover all of the expenses, and that's in a low cost of living town) the temporary staffing weren't directing their efforts toward hiring locals. Now that I'm looking at it from a nurse's pov, I'm star struck at the idea of the adventure the opportunity of travel nursing provides. If only I were younger with fewer responsibilities :)

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The grass is always greener! Anything associated with the idea of freedom is very romantic and traveling nursing is no different. I was a so-called traveler before I became a nurse, taking year long bicycle trips trips camping and staying at youth hostels. I stayed at a single dad's house in Wellington New Zealand (connection being the same house that I lived at in high school) who had three rather wild boys. He got quite a lump in his throat he told me sometime later when I bicycled away from his home continuing my adventures overseas.

There are nurses with kids who travel and I've met a number of them, both men and women. It still takes a certain can do attitude (which was also a hallmark of the other kind of traveler I was - you could always tell who other travelers on the street), but it seems most workable with a dedicated partner to handle family affairs on the road.

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Specializes in critical care.
The grass is always greener! Anything associated with the idea of freedom is very romantic and traveling nursing is no different. I was a so-called traveler before I became a nurse, taking year long bicycle trips trips camping and staying at youth hostels. I stayed at a single dad's house in Wellington New Zealand (connection being the same house that I lived at in high school) who had three rather wild boys. He got quite a lump in his throat he told me sometime later when I bicycled away from his home continuing my adventures overseas.

There are nurses with kids who travel and I've met a number of them, both men and women. It still takes a certain can do attitude (which was also a hallmark of the other kind of traveler I was - you could always tell who other travelers on the street), but it seems most workable with a dedicated partner to handle family affairs on the road.

You make a very good point about that grass is greener feeling. Honestly, my feelings about staying put as opposed to roaming freely are more to do with my little ones, and their happiness with their school and their life here. Don't get me wrong - I'm happier NOT being a traveler because we have a beautiful life here. But it would have been nice to take advantage of certain freedoms when circumstances were different. It's more of a "I didn't sow enough wild oats when I had the chance" thing. (Not that I would consider my post a wild oat. Hopefully this makes sense!)

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Specializes in ICU/PACU.

I left my heart in San Francisco. I adore that city. I only wish I could afford to live there permanently.

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Specializes in Ortho/Uro/Peds/Research/PH/Insur/Travel.

I recently started my fourth travel assignment. When asked by the charge nurse where I was last, I stated "Florida." Without missing a beat, she stated "Must be nice." And, without missing a beat, I replied, "Yes, yes it is." We all make choices in life. I hate that people, including some of my "friends," begrudge me my freedom. I mean, I "only" work three days. :)

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Specializes in Dialysis.

I agree with the above posts. I am a single mother of 3, I'm 28 and usually I take my mom and my children with me. I'm in texas as a traveling LPN and I came because my daughter wanted to come here. My family tries to tell my mother to tell me to settle down in one spot and not travel. I've tried and I'm miserable when I stay home. I love the adventure of traveling, but I hate the first 3 weeks of being the kid on the block. My new battle/adventure is getting my RN on the road and continue to work. If I can figure how to do both then I will be truly blessed

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Congrats to being a successful single mom. How nice that your mom is part of your travel crew!! Go get that RN as we both know that there are so many more opportunities for travel RNs...

Much success to you, Strawberrykool!!!

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