A fellow travel nurse wrote the following article for Travel Nurse Aim and asked me to publish it on my site. I told her I would, but without including the name of the author or any hyperlinks. She agreed. I am not sure if she is just new to blogging and wanting a critique of her writing style or if she is just trying to advertise travel nursing. The article appears to be more of an advertisement for travel nursing to me than stories of her own life. With her agreement, I have removed all hyperlinks to her commercial sites. Let her know what you think by posting a comment:
Her Article
Whenever I consider going on a nice, fancy vacation, all I can do is dwell on the costs. How much money I am going to be spending on this? What will I will have to show for it at the end of the trip? Sure, I might come back with some good memories, but am I willing to gamble $5,000 - $10,000 over it? Usually guilt takes over and I opt to stay at one of my parents' vacation rental houses since they let me go there for free. Don't get me wrong, they are pretty nice, but I've been going to these places since I was in the 2nd grade, and to me, a real vacation involves exploring new, exciting, long anticipated and never before seen (by me) territory...with as little cost as possible...of course!
What other profession guarantees you a solid job in the area and hospital of your choice, and an opportunity to travel to the vacation getaway destination at the same time? Oh, and you can take your family along too. And I forgot to mention that you can stay in a deluxe apartment for as long as you desire. Oh yeah, and you get paid well to do this.
Back to Her Article
If you don't want to be in an apartment, the company will give you a housing stipend (allotment of money) and you can stay whereever you choose. Some companies have just offered me a higher rate of pay. Just consider the tax breaks from housing reimbursements though.
I have known many travel nurses that have invested in $700,000 luxury RV's. They take the housing stipend and travel off to high paying assignments (like California) and get their RV's paid off in no time! The reason the pay is so high in CA is to compensate for the high cost of living in the area, but if you're providing your own housing (RV), then all the money you're making, plus the housing supplement (stipend) goes towards paying off your RV that you can take with you when you leave. Smart, smart!!
When I first started exploring the world of Travel Nursing, I came across statements like this:
- Excellent Pay and Benefits
- Free, Private Housing
- Top Destinations
- Work at the Finest Facilities