Let the Travel Nursing Begin!

So I’ve been in California exactly six weeks. It’s been a little over two months since I quit my job in DC, sold all my furniture, and loaded everything into the Highlander (with one canvas rooftop bag for good measure). I said I’d start bloging again when I started traveling but hey, a month and a half late is better than never.

I think the best place to start is how did I get from Washington, DC to Los Angeles?

First, I decided I wanted to try travel nursing. There are few jobs that I know of where you can say, hey, I’d like to try living somewhere completely different for three months. And while you’re at it, can you pay me a little more than I get paid now? K’thanks.

To prepare for this new phase in my career I got two new certifications that are in demand, TNCC (for trauma) and PALS (a pediatric certification). I also started applying for nursing licenses in states I thought I might want to work in. (I could write an entire post about this insane process, but we'll save that for another time.) After interrogating every travel nurse I came across at WHC, I spoke to a couple different travel nursing agencies and eventually got an offer for a job just north of LA from American Mobile. I had a little harder time finding a job because while I have been a nurse for more than two years, I only had a year and a half experience in the ER and the majority of jobs require two years experience in your specific field. So if you’re thinking about traveling, things will be a lot easier if you have two years under your belt in your particular specialty.

After finally getting an offer, I spent a few weeks in Atlanta catching up with friends, spending QT with the family, did a quick LA scouting trip with my mom, attended a good friend’s wedding, and then headed west!

I tried to get someone to accompany me on my 2200 mile road trip but everyone seemed to have this stupid thing called a “job” that they had to show up to. I was really anxious about doing the trip by myself. I wasn’t scared about being by myself on the road but was nervous I would be lonely or not enjoy any of the sites along the way if I had to see them by myself. And yes, I was a little lonely at times but I am unbelievably glad I went ahead and did it on my own. After arriving on the other side of the country, I felt like if I could make it 2200 miles on my own, I could handle pretty much anything. Okay, clearly I cannot handle anything (I tend to burst into tears if you look at me wrong), but you know what I mean. I have even been a little hesitant to fly home at all because I feel like I worked so hard to get out here and flying back would be cheating.

Preparing for the road trip was pretty simple. I used google maps to plan a route where I would only have to drive eight to nine hours a day. Since I was by myself, late night driving alone while exhausted seemed like a bad idea. My mom went by AAA when she added me to their coverage and they printed out a custom booklet with step by step directions for my route. And I already owned a trusty US road atlas. I also bought an iphone holder for my dashboard since that was going to be my GPS and holding the phone in my hand for that long seemed like it would get annoying. I had the oil changed and Eddie the mechanic seemed to think the 2003 Highlander with 170,000 miles on it would make it. He seemed more convinced than my dad, anyway. I also had jumper cables and a little spare gas can. Oh, and a box of Baked Lays snack sized chips form Costco and a mini cooler full of diet cokes. You know, the essentials.

As for my belongings, I picked up some clear plastic containers from Target and chose what I thought would be an LA in the winter appropriate wardrobe. The only appliance/kitchen item I brought was my Keurig. If you know me at all, you know about my deep and abiding love for my Keurig. As you can see, everything fit quite nicely in the Highlander.

Next post: I sit you down on the couch and force you to watch a long slide show of my cross country road trip – with commentary.