AzNurse67

Congrats on completing your first week as a travel nurse! This by far, is the scarest part of travel nursing... we all remember our first time. My first was going from a 5 bed Rural ER to a 22 bed Level One Trauma Center and ER... what a difference! yet, virtually the same... Here's to many more years of traveling!!! \_/c

If you do a research on Delphi for On Assignment, you will find several posts where the company stranded nurses in Tucson. Including one nurse that had paid in advance for three months of RV space. My experience has been that the bigger companies like American Mobile, Cross Crounty, Aureus, and World Health all treat you like a number and just want sales. The email I received from World Health wanted to know my skills so that their SALES TEAM knew exactly how to present me to the hospitals. My resume "sales" itself, I don't need a sales team! Aureus Medical called me one day and left a message on my answer machine about a job... I called back and they couldn't find me EXCEPT by my Social Security Number. Cross Country... when you start out there they want you to do the shared housing thing, and their pay is lower. They have lots of assignments, but still.. big company politics. Personally, I am with Trinity Healthcare now and absolutely love them. I have also had contacts or worked with Cirrus Medical, Bridge Staffing, Nursing Innovations, Nursing Options, Midwest Staffing, and All About Staffing.. They are smaller companies who will work with your individual needs. Hope this helps!!

There is a difference between a PERMANENT RESIDENCE and a TAX HOME. You can have a permanent residece in a state if you have your drivers license, mail box, and bank account in a certain place. BUT, to have a tax home and take the tax advantage, you must duplicate expenses. Such as, have a house payment on your residence, and a rental payment on your travel place (either paid by your housing stipend or directly by the travel company). You must also duplicate utilities and other living expenses (laundary). There is no exact TIME length that you have to spend at your tax home, but you must keep strong ties, and it is suggested that you spend atleast a few weeks between assignments there. To find out more, a great site to visit is http://www.traveltax.com

I have never had to complete "other" paperwork. My residence is in Arizona, I have worked in Idaho, Mississippi, and fixing to go to Iowa, and never have had to notify the state board where I am going. When you get to the other hospital, they will ask to see your original compact license and that's it. AzNurse

Compact is about 20 states that have "compacted" together so that you can work in those states without having to get a new license in the other state. The only "trick" to this, is that your residence also has to be in a compact state. For more information visit their website: http://www.ncsbn.org/nlc/rnlpvncompact_mutual_recognition_state.asp

I travel in an RV with hubby, child, and 2 goldfish... We homeschool and have a small plastic aquarium that we put in the sink before the head down the road. They make RVs with up to FOUR bunks in the back now. I know others who do the homeschool and apartment thing.. I know of others who do school one semester at a time and others who take 9month "school" assignments and 3 month "summer" assignments. If you want to travel with family bad enough, it can be done! There are some trade outs, but all in all... my son loves to travel and be homeschooled.

Yes, LPN can travel. Don't know for sure their pay rate, but I would think that it should be for around $20/hour.

There is also a newly released book out "Highway Hypodermics: Your Road Map To Travel Nursing" by Epstein LaRue, RN. It has great information on what to look for in a travel company, what to look for in a hospital, and how to survive your travel nursing assignment. I believe that this can also be found at Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or by doing a search on the web for it.

My hubby fits into the househubby category. Some of the other travelers I know have hubby's that work at nationwide places, like grocery stores/fast food, and a few who's hubby's are truck drivers. Hope this helps!

I would try taking a nearby assignment at first. My first assignment was 200 miles from home. It was just enough for me to get my feet wet, but not out far enough that I felt "stranded." Hope that this helps!

I have been traveling for almost 2 years and a fulltime RVer for 1 year. We have a 36foot travel trailer that is two bedroom. There are three of us living in this comfortably! A new trailer will cost you from $10K, but a new luxury motorhome could cost you up to $300K... they even have Million Dollar motorhomes! Check out several RV dealer websites and get an idea of what floor plan you would like. And then you will have more of an idea when you get out there for "reality" shopping. For internet access... I have access through my cell phone (SprintPCS) and we also have satellite for TV and Internet. Good luck on your adventure!