rossallen

I an one month into my first assignment and feeling pretty good about my decision to travel, although the first couple weeks were a bit overwhelming. The orientation was pretty brief so I had to ask a thousand questions along the way. Learning a new computer system was challenging. There is a lot of adjustment so be prepared for some stress. Now I am settling in and feeling more comfortable and I only have 8 weeks left. I love exploring the city and taking day trips on my days off. It's been a great adventure and I think I will do it again!

I am a month into a contract at a Kaiser in L.A. This is my first experience as a traveler. My impressions so far are mixed. The orientation period was way too short-8 hours on the unit with someone who didn't really care to teach after 4 days of 6 hour classroom sessions. By not giving you the 12 hour days the first week you get screwed on your pay. In California you get paid overtime for over 8 hours in a day so my contract had a low pay rate for the first 8 hours and a higher rate for the last 4. So your first week you get all your hours at a lower rate. In L.A. you also have to get a fire card so be sure you get paid for that as well with the class lasting up to 6 hours and costing $35. They also have put me on low census already and I am not sure I will be paid for this, so make sure your contract specifies what happens in these cases. In my opinion the staff is not traveler friendly. I love the weather though and it is a fun city to be in. It helps to find other travelers to talk with and share stories.