Fly or Drive

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Which is better, or does it depend on the assignment? My guess is that if the assignment is in a big city like Boston or Chicago, it may be better to fly and rent a car there. How close is housing to the hospital, typically? Is there a demand for med/surg nurses? Regarding salary.....is that for ICU nurses only, or do med/surg nurses bring home 5-6Kmo as well?

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Presonal preference yet again Sandy. I prefer to drive to assignments. I like the trip to my new assignment as I make it my mini-vacation (2-3 days) between assignments. You will see more places driving of course. Also, you get the added benefit of not having to locate rental cars and usually save alot of money with your own car.

Company housing is usually pretty close to your assignment, usually within 5 miles. The furthest I have been housed has been about 15 miles away. Just make sure you let your housing coordinator know if you want to be as close as possible......15 miles is a short trip if you are working a rural area in Utah but a huge distance if you happen to be working in a city like LA or Chicago and no major highway is nearby.

Pay varies greatly by state/city/location and by company as well. I have been at assignments where ABC company was paying $24/hr while XYZ company was paying $29/hr for the same position. A good network of traveling friends will steer you toward the better pay and better companies. Location is hard to get around on.....good locations usually pay less because people naturally want to be there (Hawaii, Southern Florida, etc) while more rural or intercity places pay more to get the people to come there.

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Presonal preference yet again Sandy. I prefer to drive to assignments. I like the trip to my new assignment as I make it my mini-vacation (2-3 days) between assignments. You will see more places driving of course. Also, you get the added benefit of not having to locate rental cars and usually save alot of money with your own car.

Company housing is usually pretty close to your assignment, usually within 5 miles. The furthest I have been housed has been about 15 miles away. Just make sure you let your housing coordinator know if you want to be as close as possible......15 miles is a short trip if you are working a rural area in Utah but a huge distance if you happen to be working in a city like LA or Chicago and no major highway is nearby.

Pay varies greatly by state/city/location and by company as well. I have been at assignments where ABC company was paying $24/hr while XYZ company was paying $29/hr for the same position. A good network of traveling friends will steer you toward the better pay and better companies. Location is hard to get around on.....good locations usually pay less because people naturally want to be there (Hawaii, Southern Florida, etc) while more rural or intercity places pay more to get the people to come there.

Thanks again!! I am thinking of Boston right now. I tend to lean more towards the intercities. I really don't like to drive, and hope this will work out for me. Hopefully I will have my first assignment within the next month!!

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Did an assignment just 30 minutes NW of Boston. In a town called Lowell. Loved the area and the people. Was a very nice assignment.

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Hi again :) Boston, Chicago, NYC, places like that I think I would fly because the costs of parking your car is like renting an apartment. But that is if you are working IN the city. Now if you work in the suburbs, you need a car. I am in San Jose right now, and you definitely need a car because South bay is so spread out. But Oakland and San Francisico, traffic is a nightmare and public transportation is the way to go. Parking in San Fran is like $50 and up per day! And in Chicago to rent most parking spots is about $400/month. That one I am sure of because I am from Illinois and it is a nightmare there. If you don't want to take your car because of wear go with a company that provides it. I paided mine off last year and I love not having car payment so I want to keep it for at least 5 more years, so I travel with companies that provide it instead. And depending on where you work, you can make 50 - 70 plus in Med Surg too. I do ICU, but some hospitals do not have a pay difference between specialities.

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Hi again :) Boston, Chicago, NYC, places like that I think I would fly because the costs of parking your car is like renting an apartment. But that is if you are working IN the city. Now if you work in the suburbs, you need a car. I am in San Jose right now, and you definitely need a car because South bay is so spread out. But Oakland and San Francisico, traffic is a nightmare and public transportation is the way to go. Parking in San Fran is like $50 and up per day! And in Chicago to rent most parking spots is about $400/month. That one I am sure of because I am from Illinois and it is a nightmare there. If you don't want to take your car because of wear go with a company that provides it. I paided mine off last year and I love not having car payment so I want to keep it for at least 5 more years, so I travel with companies that provide it instead. And depending on where you work, you can make 50 - 70 plus in Med Surg too. I do ICU, but some hospitals do not have a pay difference between specialities.

Great information, thank you. I have just submitted my first application to RNNetwork. Hopefully, they are reputable. I truly do not want to drive, but did not realize that a rental car is provided by some companies. I would like to start out working in the big cities, I think!!

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Correction to previous, when I say 50 -70 I mean $50,000 - $70,000 per year is what I mean. I worked for RN Network for 1 assignment and they seem ok.

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