r/TravelNursing

Hello, I am a 27 yr old nurse currently living in Arizona and I plan on moving to Brooklyn NY next year. My 1 year of nursing will be in February and that’s when I would like to hopefully move/have a job lined up. Any tips? Any other people with similar aspirations? Is it doable having a one bedroom with just my income & still be able to travel? Should I take a travel contract before jumping into a core job? Any advice would be appreciated! :)

So I’m new to travel nursing, and I was talking to another traveler who told me he travels all over, including places like northern New York, Maine, and Northern California, with his travel trailer. He said it makes moving between contracts much easier and ends up being cheaper overall.
I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are on doing this. I’ve looked at RV trailers, and it seems like you can get a decent one for around $18k for a 25ft, so I’m wondering if it pays for itself fairly quickly compared with renting furnished apartments or extended-stay hotels.
Has anyone actually done the math on this, including the cost of the trailer, campground/RV lot rent, insurance, maintenance, propane/electricity, etc.? About how long did it take for the trailer to pay for itself?
Thank you!

thinking about traveling but i don’t even know what i don’t know… thinking about california as i hear nursing/contracts pay best there, but i don’t know what rates i should be looking for to know if it is a good paying contract or not/relative to cost of living. can anyone help or share their experience? coming from nyc area

Okay looking for some advice on this situation.

I have a recruiter (A) I just recently traveled with who submitted me for a contract in a major Midwest city. I have another recruiter I’ve traveled with in the past (B) submit me for a contract in a Metropolitan city in the Midwest.

It turns out these contracts are the same contract, same company, same city, same everything. Recruiter A submitted me first, but because I traveled for this specific facility company with recruiter B last year, I was informed by recruiter B the expectation is that I travel with recruiter B again. I want to get back to recruiter B’s company anyways as I’ll get a higher premium and their insurance and benefits are better and I’ve been with this company for a while. I don’t usually maintain multiple recruiters so now I feel shady af.

How do I tell recruiter A that even though they found me this posting first, I’ll be accepting the contract with my previous travel company?

I’m no from he US but had already obtained the correct visa, sponsored by the hospital, specifically for my year-long clinical education program. Additionally, I had completed all the Aya onboarding steps and paperwork. Then at 5:30 on a Friday, a week before my start date, an Aya employee very casually texted me saying my visa status was a problem and that I might need to leave the country and re-enter on a different visa.

There was almost no explanation, nobody available to help over the weekend, and the employee was then out on Monday. I’m certain they are mistaken, and I seem to be much more familiar with the visa processes then them, but it caused an enormous amount of stress over something as serious as my immigration status and ability to start my program. It’s now 3 days before my start date and they called to tell me about my benefits, and when I said they hadn’t even confirmed if i was employed they said “you can proceed as such for now, while we wait for legal” like what?!?

Even if there was a legitimate compliance issue, the way Aya communicated and handled it was shockingly careless. I would be very cautious using them for any placement involving visa or immigration issues if you can avoid it at all.

how common is being tripled as an icu traveler in your experience? i’m at a new facility and this unit seems to triple constantly. i guess the perk to this is there’s no floating since staffing is an issue, but is this the norm for most facilities you’ve traveled at? TIA!

My current tax home and mortgage is in California. I’ve been thinking about buying a second home in a relatively less expensive state and establish residency while continuing to travel in California. What do I need to know? Do I need to document that I’m renting out my California home? Do I even need to buy in another state or should I just rent? Since it’s cheap I was thinking of just buying. I already know I need to be visiting my tax home every so often to maintain it as my tax home. I already have a consultation with travel tax scheduled tomorrow, I’m just thinking of ideas to bring up.

remove if this is not allowed sorry in advance

-----

I need help lol please bare with me. Backstory:

-I was a travel nurse originally from Florida working in California from 2021 to 2024, with breaks in between where I was not working in CA for a full year

-shipped my FL car to California and have been using that for transportation here. Currently have FL Insurance and registration

-Officially moved into a California apartment 2024 and got a full-time RN job

-I have not updated my DL/Registration/Insurance to CA yet. Irresponsible on my end I admit.

-Tragic events happened to my FL home and therefore I need to update my car registration due to FL home not being there anymore (expires 11/2026). Since I need to update my car registration, I have to update my DL and Car insurance.

-Im still under car insurance with my mom/dad back home in FL, who have moved to a different home in FL (idk if this info is necessary). Car insurance expires in September and parents want to remove me from their insurance because my DL doesn't match their new FL home.

-Did research and I read I need to have a SMOG test on my car (Toyota RAV4 2019), I did that during my routine car inspection here in CA but it was done in January 2026.

Ok so now I applied online for a DL and set up an appointment next week. I already uploaded the information they asked online (Passport, Utility bills, Paystub). Im prepping for the DMV test to take in person.

Now my question is really the Car insurance/registration and any penalties I should expect:

-Should I get a CA Insurance first and then get my car registered? or vice versa?

-If the first step is getting my car registered - will they asked if I'm CA Insured or it doesn't matter for now

-Do I get the same insurance company from my FL insurance or get a completely different company for CA insurance? What's the best steps to approach this because I read that I can get severe penalties if I cancel my FL insurance first or tell my current FL insurance that Im already in California and ask to switch to CA insurance

-Will my SMOG test done in 1/2026 be qualified or do I need to repeat another SMOG test?

-How much should I expect to pay in fines/penalties for waiting this long? Is there any way to avoid it (ie not telling the DMV how long I was really staying here)

thanks so much for your help and I understand how irresponsible it is to wait this long but Im owning up to it and I just want to know what to expect with everything

Thank you!

I’m new to the travel nurse world. I know other healthcare pros open their own businesses when they start traveling.

Hello, I am an experienced nurse of 15 years and did ER travel nursing previously. I have since transitioned into the OR and have been an OR circulator for 5 years, but I was never cross trained to scrub. It was always the intention, but I have yet to be at a facility that will train me. I want to get back into travel nursing, but for the OR. Do you fellow travel nurses in the OR find that facilites expect you to scrub and circulate? I’m just wondering if I will even be qualified to travel as an OR nurse if I do not scrub. Appreciate any advice and feedback! I would really love to go to Chicago but see a bunch of postings with scrub requirements.

Additional question- what travel companies do you guys use? Does anybody absolutely love their recruiter? Love some recommendations and happy to wish anyone helpful as a referral but I won’t be applying probably until spring.

Has anyone else disliked an assignment so much they still wanted to quit with only 5 weeks left? Basically bit more than halfway but 5 weeks still feels so long. Many shifts feel long & exhausting.

My housing situation is just so/so which plays into my overall experience but really it's mostly the hospital I don't like. 2 other travelers have quit this contract early since I've been here.

Trying to stick it out despite the dread and anxiety before work and also make the most of my days off.

Hello! I have been travelling for a year and a half and my current contract ends this week. I have not secured anything! A game keeps happening where I apply, my recruiters say the facility wants to schedule an interview, I give my availability, then they never call but the job shows as on hold and then closes. This has happened the 4 times in the last 2 weeks with hospitals in different states. I am not sure what to do. I am working with multiple apps and recruiters that I have worked with before. The most recent, a hospital closed a job I applied to but then told my recruiter that the person that was going to take the job decided not to and really wanted me based off my resume. My recruiter set up a time and then the facility stopped replying.

Hello, healthcare family! 

After 10 years in the travel healthcare industry, along with my MHA background, I’m looking to transition into healthcare recruitment. If anyone has any leads, recommendations, or connections, I’d truly appreciate you sharing them with me!

This industry is all about building relationships and connecting with the right people. Thank you in advance for your support! 💙

Hi everyone!
I’m looking for a suitable female only/family/independent accommodation near Albany Medical Center for 2 weeks from August 22nd onwards.
Any leads would be appreciated.
Thank you!

I’ve been looking into Charlotte and Atlanta so far but there is quite literally NOTHING for Charlotte. Looking for any other contact suggestions. I’m 31, 6 years in the OR, recently out of a break and want to get out of the cold winters and be able to do activities outside other than drinking and eating. At this point I’m wondering if I should just apply for a staff job in Charlotte and do furnished finder and if I like it I’ll stay and if not I’ll leave.

With travel rates staying pretty flat lately (especially once you factor in duplicate housing costs), it feels like staying local and juggling per diem app shifts or hospital pools makes way more sense right now.

no travel stress, sleeping in your own bed, and picking up when rates are high. for those who used to travel, have you fully transitioned back to local PRN or are you still taking contracts?

For those who’ve taken an assignment in Richmond, VA, what did you think of it? Curious about the overall experience, both at work and around Richmond.

Like the title says I'm new to travel. I've signed a contract for California my initial contract got canceled but was reassigned to a close hospital a day signed the contract for that. But I've been reached out to by the same company for a strike contract there isn't a strike notice yet tho. Would it be smart to just stick with the contracted assignment or go for the strike. Is it even an option to tell my recruiter I'd want to cancel my contract for the strike if given a strike notice.

i have been speaking with a recruiter for MS and came here to see what my peers opinions on Medical Solutions is. The only threads I could find was from 4 years ago. So all....what is the opinion on Medical Solutions? this will be my forst travel nurse contract and I'm a bit nervous and don't want a disapointing experience with a crap company.

Hey everyone! I am from Arkansas and new to traveling (just started my second contract).

Okay, so like I mentioned I am from Arkansas, and my first contract was in Missouri. On all of my paystubs I was paying Missouris state income tax.

I just started this new contract in Florida (no state income tax). I checked my paystubs and it is taking out state income tax from Arkansas.

Just checking to see if this is normal when traveling to a state that has no state income tax, or if it’s wrong and something I need to get on top of?

TYIA!!