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I have wanted to become a travel nurse ever since I discovered it was a thing shortly after becoming a nurse! I honestly never thought I would be able to do it. My daughter’s dad and I were divorced with joint custody so I couldn’t just pack her up and go. Maybe I could get a summer contract when my daughter was out of school and maybe her dad would agree to a different custody schedule for the summer, I thought. I would literally daydream about how cool it would be to travel to a different city or state and work for 13 weeks then find a new destination! There wasn’t much info out there about travel nursing with a family either.
Fast forward to September 2021, the pandemic is still roaring, my husband lost his job, and I was only working part-time at the time. I decided to call a recruiter to see if I could get an assignment. It took me about a week to complete my profile with them, a couple of days later I’m submitted to jobs, and a couple of days after that I got an interview and offer! It felt so surreal. My first assignment was only a little over 2 hours away from home but this was a new city with new people! I was so excited and nervous at the same time. Since this assignment was so close to home, we didn’t complete uproot. We just stayed the nights we needed to away from home and came back on our days off.
Come October 2022, we accepted an assignment in Wyoming! Now that was a long drive from home.
Uprooting
This assignment was a 29-hour drive from home so we had to uproot and relocate temporarily. We only brought what would fit in the back of our Suburban. We packed clothes, a few toys for Elliott, some crafting supplies and toys for Elexious, my espresso machine, our air fryer/slow cooker, our laptops, toiletries, and some food that would expire in the next few months.
Traveling To and From the Destination
We almost made the drive in 2 days but we made a stop in Nebraska to pick up Elexious who was with her dad and stepmom on their assignment. We made it about 2 hours from our destination before having to stop again. On the way home, we only stayed two nights and made it home around 3AM. Keeping a toddler entertained in a vehicle for several hours went a lot better than I thought! He usually went back to sleep in the mornings when we left, then we’d take a break and let him stretch, and let him watch his tablet when we’d go to leave again.
Housing
We chose to use Airbnb for our housing. Some Hosts give discounts for extended stays and the homes are already furnished and include utilities. I know some travel nurses use Furnished Finder but we got a better deal on Airbnb for our destination. We wanted at least a 2 bedroom so Elexious would have her own space. We also wanted to have an entire space to ourselves. Some travelers I met rented a room to stay in or had an RV or camper.
Schooling for Kids
We decided to homeschool Elexious since we were 5 hours away from her dad and were going to be alternating between homes every 2-3 weeks. We used Time4Learning for an online curriculum. Elexious liked some of it but for the most part, she just wanted to go back to public school. The curriculum has a lot of features for parents to be able to schedule lessons or give their kid the flexibility to choose what to work on that day. Most travelers I’ve spoken to homeschool their kids, however, I talked to one who put her kids in public school where she was. She said before she accepted an assignment, she would research the area and the hospital to make sure it seemed like somewhere she would want to extend and that the school system was good. She said sometimes she even switched hospitals in the same area and got to keep her kids in the same school.
Jobs for Spouse
Andy didn’t work full-time while we were traveling, he’s still in the Marine Corps Reserve so worked one weekend a month with them. He considered getting a part-time job somewhere in town or delivering for DoorDash or Uber Eats but it was honestly easier for him to not work. I didn’t want to have to turn down any overtime and wanted to remain as flexible as possible with scheduling. Plus if he worked, we wouldn’t have been able to spend as much family time together as we did.
Traveling Back Home to Visit
We were in Wyoming for 6 months and only went home to visit twice. We flew both times. I have a post on flying with a toddler and a car seat that has some tips on how to keep them entertained and how to travel with a car seat. Luckily my schedule was mostly a 7 on 7 off rotation so it was easy to plan a trip back home.
Overall Travel Nursing with a Family
It definitely takes some extra planning and flexibility to make travel nursing work with a family. If we uproot and travel again, Elexious wants to go to public school so if we do that, I’ll be sure to write about our experience with it. I would recommend to anyone who is able to experience travel nursing, to go for it. It’s such a great experience!
