Sometimes recruiters can be so frustrating. My friend Claire and I are serious about wanting to go to Hawaii in the next month or so and my recruiter is not being helpful at all with planning for it. She says there aren’t that many jobs in Hawaii, but I hear all the time about people going there as a travel nurse. Plus, we both need new licenses and she keeps blowing me off for days at a time. I really love my current job and she did a great job finding it, but where is the great service now? Maybe I should ask for a new recruiter. Ugh, I’m just annoyed.

I told my sons that Im thinking about becoming a travel nurse and they are really happy for me. I think they are excited to come visit me in my future cities. HAHA! Having a supportive family really helps since Im making all of these career changes lately.  Travel nursing just feels like the right choice for me right now. My wife agrees that we need to get out of LA and see the country. I have been reading a lot of blogs online about travel nursing so I can learn about the best places. I thnk it means more coming from an actual nurse, than a recruiter…experience means so much more. Plus, these nurses are really honest in their blogs. Hopefully my blog will help someone else in the future once I get the process started and get going with my travel nurse career.

i still can’t believe how beautiful it is in san diego. today was the perfect beach day (yay for having the day off), so i packed up a little picnic and headed down to la jolla shores. i thought i could ride my bike there, but a fellow travel nurse at work who extended her assignment in san diego said that the ride would be fun on the way there, but torture on the way home. i’m glad i listened. the hill i drove down to get to downtown la jolla was HUGE! but it had a beautiful view of the water. i didn’t end up going to the sandy beach part, but instead set up camp in this little grassy area near some cliffs. there were seals hanging out on the beach. they were so cute, just laying in the sun and snuggling with each other. there was a woman in a booth nearby from some organization that helps protect the seals and other marine animals. she had a poster with the names and descriptions of each of the seals. it was so cool…just like an l&d unit in the hospital.

Driving with the windows down on the Interstate 5 with my dog Lucy riding shotgun, feeling the warm sun hit my skin, on my way to San Diego….it’s like out of a dream or something. But nope…it was my reality for the last couple days. And now I’m here in San Diego! It’s just as beautiful as I pictured it. It’s still so so cold in Tacoma, Washington (where I’m from), so it’s a dream come true that I’m living and working here as a travel nurse. After I interviewed, I got the call from my recruiter at Access Nurses that I was hired! Orientation doesn’t start til next Monday, but I decided to come out early and check out the area. I came down here once with I was little with my mom to visit family members, but I don’t really remember much. I got this great apartment in La Jolla near work. I’m gonna start unpacking so I can hit the beach!

I used to think that job dissatisfaction was just a part of being a working American. I realized how unhappy I was at my old job after talking to my friends who are nurses. They always seemed so fulfilled by their careers. They loved helping people and making a difference every day. I wanted that. So, after working in advertising for 17 years, I made the career change and my life has finally begun! I’m a nurse and I couldn’t be happier.

After working almost 7 months at Cedars now, I am thinking of hitting the road as a travel nurse in the near future. Traveling seems like such an awesome idea at this point in my life….The kids are done with school and there are some places that I’ve always wanted to experience. I want this blog to be a place where I can develop thoughts about traveling….the places I want to visit……the cultures and sights I want to see…and the things I want to do….

Its going to be an awesome ride….let the journey begin!

I am starting this blog with the intention that it will act as my little travel nurse diary, and I have been meaning to document my travels, so this is a perfect place to start.

Ok right now I’m on assignment 4. Currently, I work in Mount Sinai in Chicago. I’ve made some great friends so far, and the hospital staff has been so friendly to me. I live in an apartment in the heart of downtown that’s close to all of the city’s great restaurants, nightlife and museums. So far I’ve been to the Sears Tower…Millennium Park…and even took a little water taxi to drop me off by the Navy Pierr….

Claire, one of my oldest friends from nursing school (YAY U of M) also just joined me in Chicago. She works at a nearby hospital as a travel nurse. We meet up as often as we can throughout the week for dinner, movies, concerts and to just hang out. I love experiencing new cities as a travel nurse, but having a friend with me makes it just that much better (and a little less scary knowing you have someone you love nearby). She and I are already talking about where we want to go next. Maybe Hawaii!

I can’t believe graduation day is almost here. I’m a nursing student at UCSF and I graduate in a month. A MONTH! After sitting in classrooms, interning at hospitals and studying for over four years…I’m finally going to be able to call myself a nurse. This has been my dream since I was a little girl. My mom, my hero, is a nurse and she inspired me to go to nursing school. She started working as a travel nurse when I went away to college and she loves it. She’s been all over the country, from Maine to Florida to Missouri. She even took an assignment in San Francisco during my junior year. That was so great to have her close by. I already have a job lined up at a hospital where I interned this year…but I really want to start traveling with my mom as soon as I get my year of experience. Mom and daughter on the road together—It’s going to be amazing!