The Traveling Kind

Part I was the biggie. Having a positive working experience greatly effects overall satisfaction with travel nursing. In this post I'm going to list a few other things you can do to ensure you have the best possible time seeing the states! HAVE REALISTIC HOUSING EXPECTATIONS You really can't expect to live in luxury housing everywhere you go. In my four assignments I've taken my company's housing 3 times. The first was great! the second was eh, and the third was average. Every apartment we had was safe, clean, and close to the hospital. And to be honest, the second place was probably better than "eh" but the first apartment set high expectations. Those'll get ya. It'll all depends on what city you're in and the cost of living. The cost of living in a "luxury" 2 bedroom apartment in Texas is the same month's rent as a grungy studio in LA (note: we did not live in a grungy studio in LA). START MAKING FRIENDS RIGHT AWAY Sometimes t...

Obviously, as with every job, there are ups and downs to travel nursing. Let me start off by saying there are TONS more ups, but the downs can weigh kind of heavily sometimes...mainly if you're home sick, it's a holiday, or your girlmones are going cray...or all of the above. Ha! During my second assignment in Los Angeles I completely changed my attitude towards traveling and it has really helped me become a happier traveler and happier person in general. I just got news that the last two weeks of this assignment I'll be switching to night shift (boo). So excuse me while I talk it out and give myself a pep talk. I'll let you in on some ideas that will make your travel experience exponentially better. LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS A LITTLE   and BE REALISTIC (this doesn't mean work is going to suck) Negative Nancy:  If you've been an inpatient nurse for any length of time you've probably worked with a traveler. Did you see their assignments? Yeah, the...

Gah! We've been so busy! Except today. Today we watched TV and I played on the internet for a lot of the day. What?! Don't judge me, it's my Saturday. In the last two weeks we've flown to Texas, seen tons of friends and family, been in a wedding, cleaned up a wedding, more family time, flown back to San Diego, put up our Christmas tree, and lots of good ol' working. Let me just say that with every trip to the Lone Star State it's gets harder to leave. I love how comfortable home feels. I love traveling and we get settled in new places but they never become home. It was so good to get to attend so many family functions! We got to see most of my family at Thanksgiving and most of Ryan's at the wedding. Speaking of the wedding, it was so beautiful!! And so fun!! I'm so glad I got to be apart of it. The next three professional photos are by  Brian Shofner Photography out of San Antonio. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL bride and quite dapper groom. I...