Snow bird nurses

Working in Florida for 6 months or so as an agency traveler or directly for a hospital is no problem. The population in South Florida, or at least the hospital census, goes up by perhaps 50 percent. That is not true of Indiana in the summertime. I would check with your home hospital and see if you can make an arrangement. Otherwise, you may need to be flexible and take assignments outside of Indiana too. Or just work 6 months a year!

Or just work 6 months a year!

Not quite realistic for Florida, is it??

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Why not? Lots of nurses are doing it. In fact, it preceded travel nursing.

Why not? Lots of nurses are doing it. In fact, it preceded travel nursing.

What I mean is, is it really possible to make a year's salary in 6 months working full time at 36 hours a week in Florida? I'm from the northeast, so my idea of a decent year's salary is likely higher than most. Are travel nurse wages that lucrative there? I could see doing it in California though.

It is always an option to work less if you can afford it. I did only one assignment last year.

At some point in life money and extra expensive "stuff" stops to matter as much as time. My goal is to work 4 to 6 months a year tops when my expenses are down next year....

It is VERY possible to earn $50K in six months as a seasonal nurse in Florida. Of course, you will have to work an extra shift every other week. I have worked for three seasons in South Florida and, if you start as early as possible (i.e. October), you can often extend your contract an additional month (and maybe not work as much overtime). I earned an average of $45 per hour (night nurses earn an additional $5 per hour). The biggest challenge in seasonal communities is finding affordable housing. However, there are a fair number of apartment complexes that have short-term 3-7-month leases. So, I suggest that you secure a 6-month contract, get a 7-month lease, take two weeks to settle into your new town/city, find another travel nurse to rent a room to for 3-4 months, and enjoy the last two weeks of the contract on a cruise. THAT'S how it's done!

South Florida from October to March/April is when the most travel nurses are hired. Being in the ER specialty, you will probably not have any problems getting a job. I will say, alot of times, hospitals will not hire new travelers, so you may be a little more limited in the beginning and not work the best assignments. There are many hospitals that bypass the travel companies and hire seasonal nurses for 6 month contract. I know Ft. Myers does, as well as the hospital in Venice. I am sure many others do, you just have to check around on the internet. However, Ft. Myers will not hire if you have not had 2 years of travel or similar work. So to get hired seasonally may be in your future and not currently. Many contracts are 13 weeks, and many assignments will renew for another 13.

I am not an ER nurse, nor do I work nights, but personally I do not think Travel is a lucrative career. I suppose if you want to work a lot of overtime, it could be. It all will depend on your housing and other expenses you have every month. But for me, I am not in travel to experience working in different hospitals, it is the living and playing in different parts of the country that attracted me. Working as a nurse is just how I am able to accomplish enjoying my time off in a new town.

Best of luck. I am sure you will not have any trouble finding work in South Florida. And keep in mind, even if you want to work in a certain town to enjoy what they have to offer, you may be able to get a job in a town only an hour away. I have worked some small towns in Florida, but I was close enough to enjoy places like West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, etc.. while living in a town that wasn't jammed with cars. As well as housing can be more affordable. And now that I say that, housing can be quite expensive in South Florida in the winter, so keep that in mind. Some of the smaller town could save you a few hundred dollars a month.