Off to travel....soon I hope.

[NENE RN]

I am interested in becoming a travel nurse. I have been scanning articles and travel sites. I have also been reading a few threads on this site. I would like to begin traveling in late March or at the beginning of April. I will have about 18 months of Med-Surg/ Tele-Neuro experience by that time. From what I have read (please correct me if I am wrong), I need to have some money saved (atleast 1000 or more to begin) because I will or may have to pay upfront cost of travel. I have found some companies that say that they will purchase the ticket for the traveler or set up hotel for travel to and from location. Housing? Does anyone know this to be true? I am looking at AZ, FL, CA. I would eventually like to goto HI,VI, or Guam. If you have had recent experience (2012) can you please tell about it. For those who have worked with PNS, TaleMed, CrossCountry what are you opinions regarding those companies? Should I sign up for more than one? Also is there a period of time during the year that travel nursing slows ie:lack of jobs (seasonal issues)? I would also like to hear from RNs that may have had similar RN experience before starting to travel.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

Moved to Travel Nursing for more response.

[cheryl056]

I am a labor and delivery nurse thats planning on traveling the same time you are. Early April. Ca, Tx, AZ, Las Vegas. I am also interested in HI, and the VI. Keep in touch. I'm excited to get started.

[cmimmel]

I would suggest you have some savings built up prior to traveling, in case anything happens. For example, if your contract gets cancelled or something like that. I paid my travel expenses and was reimbursed by my company on my first paycheck whatever was quoted in the package. I had them divide my travel expenses between my first and last paycheck to help with the return trip as well. I've worked with Cross country on the phone, but never taken an assignment with them. So far they seem okay, not a lot of assignments for my particular specialty. I would suggest having a few companies that you primarily work with. If they all pitch you the same job, you can make them compete for you a bit, can work in your favor. Jobs in the southern states definitely pick up in the winter time (FL, AZ, NM), otherwise I haven't been doing it long enough to notice any trend for seasonal jobs.

[boricualuna]

Texas in the Winter. The hospital I work at is full in every dept. I work as a tech in the ICU while I finish nursing school and with the increase in pts has made the dept always short both days and nights. If you have general ICU experience central Texas is in need.