Exciting Travel Housing

"Where did you find your house?" asks a fellow travel nurse excitedly.

She had recently been on this blog and checked out the new one dedicated to just pictures; Gary and Mary Photos. There she saw pictures of the beach across the street from our house, the oddities of the fence surrounding the courtyard with fire pit and the uniqueness of the home itself.

"It's not hard finding housing on your own," I told her; "but it does take some effort".

The owner of the property is a "hand shake" kind of guy, and usually just posts a large "FOR RENT" sign on the front gate. Had not something different happened, Mary and I would never have found the place.

This time the owner's son opted to place an add on www.craigslist.org where we kept daily viewing the new posts, and were actually the first to respond.

After viewing the property we made a point of sitting down with the owner and just having a talk with him, a chance to allow him just to get to know us. The owner received several more calls on the property, but rented to us.

Most all travel agencies for nurses provide housing arrangements and many times they prove adequate, clean, and safe, as well as convenient. If those are your main requirements then by all means that would be your way to go.

Yet if you desire that memorable experience with a once in a life-time opportunity to enjoy exciting locales I would suggest trying it on your own.

Our search first began with online resources looking up corporate housing and short term lease apartments but we found those to be too expensive. Of course, Craigslist is a popular resource but often times the leads were not reliable, also the time frame was just a small window from post time to move-in date, usually two weeks or less.

If you are looking for housing near beaches, lakes, resorts or any type of vacation areas your best option may be to check out vacation homes, especially during the off seasons. The Channel Isle area where we are currently staying offers some of the best winter time access to the beaches yet still favorable weather.

While looking for vacation home rentals here are a few for you to check out. www.homeaway.com
www.VRBO.com www.zonder.com
The first two sites, I believe are owned by the same company and are very easy to use, while Zonder.com is too, it doesn't have the same extensive listings.

Keep in mind that these homes are usually in the most optimal of areas, so you are paying a premium. They are, however a great starting place to learn about the area as far as housing cost, peak travel seasons and housing availability.

Good luck on finding your next home.

More Pictures!

Tired of just reading text on this blog?

Wish there was more pictures?

You can always catch up with my travels and personal stories at Garys Travels but if its just pictures you're interested in I have started a new page.

Just click here.

Hawaii Delayed?

Mary and I like our new home on the beach. Locals have been telling us how nice the winters are here and we would be leaving during some of the best months. "It's spring when the June Gloom sets in that you will want to leave." so they say.

Furthermore we are still continuing to build our savings and Hawaii will cost us money. So we are considering staying through March before leaving for the Islands.

So on the small scale of our plans it appears that we are having trouble making up our minds, but on the larger scale the travel plans remain the same; except for one particular thing. Let me explain.

Our whole intention of travel nursing was to enjoy different locations during their prime season. That would rule out northern climes during the winter, and most likely southern climes during the summer, or even gulf locations in hurricane season.

When we locate to a place as wonderful as the beach house we're now in, why not enjoy it without feeling rushed? Why get to the next location just for the sake of trying something new?

The main challenge to this of course is that we are no longer going to the work, but asking the work to come to us. That may not pay off, and so we will place Hawaii as a contingency for now and hope that three more months of employment will come our way at the beach.

So I began by suggesting an exception to our larger plans, what might that be?

I don't foresee five years being long enough to travel and accomplish all that awaits us, and we may have to extend that time before settling down again.

"How long?" you might ask.

We'll see.

Why Travel Nursing

This month marks the one year anniversary of my nursing director in a small town hospital calling a staff meeting to inform us that the CEO demanded budget cuts in our staffing.

As a result, he cut the “weekend option staff”, of which I was one, resulting in a thirty percent cut in pay.

Later that day I remember him asking who would be the first people to leave. “Me!” I responded, and within just a few months so did over ninety percent of the day shift; including that same director.

This was the catalyst for the change in my nursing career but it certainly wasn’t the reason. I had already made up my mind to be a travel nurse but had intended to wait another year before my departure.

So what are the reasons that a nurse might take up travel? I am sure you can find lists pasted all over the internet, but I am going to attempt answering this question of why to take up travel nursing by describing who a travel nurse might be.

You have an opportunity radar.

My last day at that small hospital cutting the weekend position was the day before the cut in pay was implemented. I refused to accept the gloomy circumstances presented by the nursing director and hospital CEO.

Instead I believed that if opportunity was removed at that small town it must be available somewhere else. I left that hospital to work an agency position in a town no further away from my home that paid considerably more money.

I then accelerated my time frame to begin travel nursing. Since then, I understand that the second nearby hospital I worked at implemented staffing cuts as well.

A travel nurse can sense opportunity and is willing to make adjustments to seize them.

You have broken your attachment to the material life

I have heard of nurses lured by the pay of travel nursing to take positions in order to “catch up on bills”, only to discover they remain in the same rut.

Yesterday, Mary and I were shopping at a wholesale club store stocking up our pantry when we came across a laptop computer nicer than ours just purchased this spring, and for half the price. We stood there several moments evaluating the benefits of each of us having a computer rather than sharing. Not to mention it was such a good buy!

The laptop remained at the store, because here is the bottom line; what you buy has to be carried with you or left behind. Filling your closets and stuffing every purchase somewhere isn’t an option.

If you are a person who has detached from that “I gotta have it” mentality then you would make a candidate for travel nursing.

You believe that life is to be lived now.

It will be difficult to make it out your door to the first assignment if you don’t have this mentality. Delayed gratification, and plans to travel someday will keep you home, but if you have that sense of urgency, travel nursing could be for you.

Many people questioned me regarding retirement plans if I travel but my reply was that I will stay put and rest in retirement when I am tired of travel.

The need to travel gets in your blood and the desire to see what’s on the other side drives us. We are not looking for greener grass, but rather a new view of the sunrise.

Travel nursing puts you in the “now moment”. It doesn’t matter what kind of charting you did at your last assignment, you chart like the current hospital wants you to. Perhaps driving your car might be the best transportation in one city, riding the subway in another.

Except as an oddity, locals are not interested in what you did at another location, what matters is that you can adapt to what is going on now.

You are not a control freak.

I am a creature of habit, and living and working out of my routine element has been my largest stressor.

People who feel the need to control on the micro level would definitely have problems with travel nursing.

Sure there are things on a larger macro level that can be controlled while traveling, but there are just too many variables on the smaller scale. Simple things that I once took for granted just don’t always apply while traveling.

Many people admire the freedom of the travel lifestyle but with it come the unseen cost of not always being in control.

This is an element that recruiters won’t tell you about, nor will you see it on travel company brochures. There are two sides to the freedom to travel coin and I strongly suggest considering the cost side as well.

These four considerations didn’t really appear on my decision list when I thought of travel nursing yet now that I have been out there I strongly suggest putting them on yours.

Here’s to hoping they help.