We’ve talked about the challenges of travel nursing a lot, but as Dan and I wrap up our first year of travel nursing I wanted to take some time to talk about what we’ve loved about travel nursing. It’s an incredibly unique and adventurous life to live, traveling from place to place, and an opportunity unlike any other that we’ve had. During our first year of travel nursing Dan finished three contracts each 13 weeks long and began his fourth. We lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina then Kittery, Maine then Phoenix, Arizona, and finally Charlotte, North Carolina.

Check out our slideshows of each of our contracts here.

the chance to travel

This is definitely the most obvious positive of travel nursing, but it’s not an overstatement! Most contracts are just three months in length giving plenty of time to explore many new cities each year. We typically took a few trips to explore even more cities during each contract. We visited over two dozen cities new to us since beginning travel nursing and had our most adventurous year by far.

exploring new places

We loved exploring new places while travel nursing, be that the place we were living in or nearby cities. Savannah and Charleston were some of our all-time favourites and are on our long, long list of places we hope to go back to. Between changing contracts every few months, the road trips in between contracts, and the fact that Dan had off three or four days a week, we had PLENTY of opportunity for travel. Saving money while travel nursing was a priority for us, but we were able to find a good balance adventure and saving.

deciding where we may want to settle

The three months that we spent in each new location was an ideal amount of time for us to get to know the cities we lived in while travel nursing. One huge benefit of travel nursing for us was that it widen our perspective in considering where we would like to settle down someday. Dan especially hadn’t wanted to consider much living outside of New England (or even New Hampshire), but travel nursing made us realize we could see ourselves living in other parts of the country. We love the climate of the south and could genuinely see ourselves moving to one of the Carolinas someday.

how it’s grown our relationship

Dreaming of our future together and where we would want to settle was another fun aspect of travel nursing that benefitted our relationship. We had travelled with each other in the past, but this was a horse of a different colour. After we got married and before we started travel nursing, Dan moved up to Montreal where I was living so he had some experience living away from family, but not much. Travel nursing in a way forced us to figure out how we would operate as a couple in different places and situations, largely independently from our families. It also gave us the chance to explore and evaluate cities that were new to both of us, together.

relying on each other

Being away from family as a newly married couple was a really valuable experience in our opinion. That coupled with the chaos of moving frequently and getting to know a new place, forced us to rely on each other and look to each other for comfort in a unique way. It came with it’s own challenges, but I think it grew us as a couple as we navigated the stress of moving to new places every few months.

figuring out what’s most important to us

Along with the fun and adventure of travel nursing, came the task of finding last minute housing every few months. We had to decide what was most important to us in terms of our priorities with travel nursing, what was most important to us when it came to housing, as well as what we wanted to bring with us. It was a stretching experience for both of us to leave behind the vast majority of our belongings and comforts, and with that came the decision of what was most important to bring with us – what made the cut? It was challenging, but also fun to learn more about each other through all of these decisions we had to make.

navigating stressful times & change

Change is something that neither Dan nor I are super comfortable with. So why would we do travel nursing you ask? Well, we both were intrigued by the travel and adventure aspect of it, but we did quickly realize it was going to be so much harder on us than we initially expected. Some of that was our own ignorance and rose-coloured glasses, but some of it was also the inaccurate assumptions and portrayals of travel nursing that are prevalent today.

It’s not for the faint of heart, and that goes for if you’re doing it as an individual or a couple. There are ways to make travel nursing a bit easier, like staying in one place for longer, but no matter what, it’s stressful and challenging. Navigating that together wasn’t always easy or pleasant, but I think we’ve come out of it with more patience, better communication skills, and a deeper understanding of each other.

savings & professional development

Our first year of travel nursing provided us with ample opportunity to save money, as Dan made much more than he would have as a staff nurse. It also provided Dan with invaluable work experience that evidences his skill and adaptability to future potential employers.

savings

Travel nursing is a great way for a nurse to make money if they’re willing to adopt the nomadic lifestyle. Expenses can be quite high, but the pay is higher than most, if not all, like staff nursing positions. One doesn’t have to choose between adventure and fiscal responsibility when travel nursing, adventure is worked into the job. There are decisions that have to be made about how to balance the scales between adventure and savings though. For us, I think we’re happy with how we prioritized each during our first year of travel nursing.

professional development

The skills and experience that Dan has accrued over the past year of travel nursing are so impressive to me, and no doubt to prospective employers as well. He’s faster on his feet, more organized, more flexible, and better at learning from his coworkers than ever before. Every few months he learned a new documentation system, developed new skills to address different patient populations, and navigated all new hospital dynamics and coworkers. And that’s all with only two days of on the job training per contract! You will walk away from travel nursing a better, more well-rounded and flexible nurse, and that can only benefit you in your future career aspirations.

what do you love about travel nursing?