Traveling NP

This isn’t travel related but a lot of you have been following my journey since I started this blog more than 10 years ago. So, I like to give some personal updates time to time.

As a quick summary, I met my husband 4 years ago while I was on a sabbatical in Barcelona, Spain. He moved to Miami, FL 1.5 years ago and soon after we eloped. My mom immediately pressured me into having a wedding, but at that time I was more focused on our 3-month trip abroad once he received his green card.

I knew I didn’t want a big wedding. Ideally, I would have loved to have gotten married in Europe in a French Chateau, but my grandparents wouldn’t have been able to travel that far. And it was more important for them to be there than to have a location of my choice. I had lost my other grandmother the year before, so that’s why I decided to have a celebration as soon as possible.

When we returned from our trip abroad (in September), I figured if we were going to have a wedding in Miami, it would have to be that upcoming January. January is the only month in Miami that has good weather and does not rain. Since I was forced to have it in Miami, I at least wanted it to be outdoors to take advantage of the scenery.

I originally wanted something small – a Happy Ever After party – instead of a formal wedding. I looked into several restaurants to get a quote. Unfortunately, Miami being Miami, a quote for a dinner for 80 people was going to be $50,000. I figured I might as well have a real wedding for that price. This was the lowest amount of people I could possibly have between immediate family and close friends.

Luckily my sister loves planning parties so she volunteered to be my wedding planner. We only had 4 months to plan everything. We quickly found a location on the water with views of the Miami skyline. Fortunately, the hotel took care of the food and tables/chairs, so there was less on our plate. We sent last minute save the dates. And my sister honestly handled the rest: DJ, cake, flowers, invites, photographer.

She threw me an amazing bridal shower with the help of my family. It was Japanese themed and of course had my favorite food: sushi. My favorite part were the games about who knew me best (the answers were hilarious). It was perfect timing too because we had just moved into our new place and needed all of the household items from our registry, since we were nomads prior.

January came and it was beautiful weather all month. Except of course, the day of the wedding. It rained a lot, was humid, and gray. I knew it would stop raining by the time it was the party, but the staff was unable to set up so we had to decide quickly if we would move the wedding inside. That was a bummer since the whole point of that place was being outside.

However, the venue offered us their large ballroom for free (typically an extra $10k), and we still held the cocktail hour at the original outdoor location. It ended up being a blessing in disguise because I really didn’t know what 80 people looked like, and I think we were way more comfortable in that ballroom than we would have been outside in a tighter space. We were still able to get some amazing pictures during cocktail hour outside.

Ironically, the cost of the wedding ended up being way less than we were quoted at the restaurants. I have to admit that it was definitely money well spent. We had such an amazing time! I only wanted to have a happily ever after party because I heard from other people, that it is the only time in your life you will have almost everyone you care about in one place. It was worth the last-minute stress of planning.

I was amazed at how many people went out of their way to make it to the party last minute. Most of my friends live out of town and recently had newborns, but they still found a way to come. When we entered the room during cocktail hour and everyone was so excited to see us  – I honestly felt like I was a singer on stage at a concert, and everyone was cheering for us! What a high!

It was wonderful to see everyone and feel the love. Of course, the time goes by so fast and you don’t have much time to talk to everyone. My cousin performed a live belly dancing show which was a nice surprise for my friends and family. I believe it was husbands first time seeing one too. Then we danced the night away to all of our favorite songs – music from the early 2000’s, Miami reggaetón, Arabic music, Haitian music etc.

We are planning to go to Bora Bora for our honeymoon, but likely not until the end of the year or next year. I need time to find my love for travel agan 😉

I collaborated with LocumTenens.com to create this NP Planning Checklist. This will be helpful for those of you about to begin your first locum tenens assignment. It’s a quick checklist to prepare for credentialing, licensing, and travel prior to your first assignment. I will add this under the “1st Assignment Checklist” tab on my home page for easy access.

Check out this article I wrote for NPschools.com on student loan access changes for NP students thanks to the one big beautiful bill act and the department of education no longer recognizing nursing as a professional degree:

How Has Access to Nursing Student Loans Changed in 2026?

I know I have been MIA in the last several months. I think it is time to give a life update. Once I returned from my European/Moroccan travels last summer, I ended up having to return to Europe several more times for personal reasons. This meant flying roundtrip to Europe twice after already spending 3 months of full-time travel. As a result, by the time I returned to Miami at the end of October, I was exhausted from all of the travel. For the first time in my life, I could honestly say I did not want to travel in the near future.

Since we agreed to settle down in Miami for 1 year, we had to search for a place to live. I was surprised by the high cost of rent. It was easily more than $3000 for a 1-bedroom apartment. Most of them seemed too small for me for 2 people to live in. I am fine living in small places such as in Europe temporarily. But as a permanent place, I wanted it to be spacious and have enough closet and kitchen space. We explored different areas but eventually decided on a place that is close to my family but conveniently by the metro, for my husband to have easy access to downtown. We got a more affordable price since we moved in during December which is off-season. It took additional time to get the place furnished as well.

Additionally, after 7 years of not having a car, I went car shopping. I have always been a car enthusiast and had my eye on the Porsche Macan SUV. After test driving the different versions of the Macan (Sport, GTS, regular), I was very disappointed. The car didn’t drive that great for the price tag. In fact, the Mercedes AMG was way faster and sportier for significantly less. I don’t like big SUVs. I really enjoyed the Mercedes glc300 AMG. It was a perfect size and speed for me. However, I would be sharing the car with my husband since I work remotely and don’t need a car every day. Since my husband is a new driver (they walk/take public transportation in Europe), I didn’t feel comfortable getting the AMG because it is too powerful of a car for a new driver. Especially with the crazy driving of Miami.

So we ended up getting the Mercedes GLC300 (without the AMG), silver verde 2026. I brought my dad and husband to negotiate for me, but turns out I am the better negotiator. I guess all of those years negotiating locum tenens contracts benefited me. My mind was still on pre-covid car prices so my dad kept reminding me that the price I had in mind was too low. But I got the price lower than anyone expected J

After not working for 3-4 months, I jumped back into telemedicine. December was extremely busy, since everyone across the country had influenza. My job kept giving incentive bonuses to work and I think I worked 50 hours each week. I even worked on Christmas eve and new years eve which is a first for me, just because the incentives were so worth it. I ended up making the most I have ever made in one month which was a whopping $50k! That’s how busy it was at work that month and I was definitely burned out by the end.

Hence, those are the reasons I have been MIA. Not to mention we decided to have a Happily Ever After Party to celebrate our marriage last minute. More on that in the next post. Update me on your lives as well!

I have worked as a locum NP with LocumTenens.com and they have been a partner of travelingnp.com for many years. Their website has a lot of resources that can be beneficial to both new and experienced locum providers. Here are some of my favorite resources from LocumTenens.com.

Job Board and App

LT makes it easy to search for available locum tenens positions in your chosen state or specialty. They have a job board that is easy to navigate and can help you apply for jobs within minutes. They even list the recruiter you will be in contact with regarding that specific position.

Additionally, they have an app you can download on apple or google that provides all necessary information while on assignment, including location, schedule, and travel arrangements. Clinicians can even submit their timesheet via the app. This is convenient in today’s modern technology age.

Know Better Blog

LT has their own blog in which they offer interesting posts related to working locum tenens. One of my favorite posts of 2025 was Moms in Medicine: How locum tenens work helped me find balance because many of my readers have asked how they can do locums while raising children. This blog post supports my belief that mothers can find flexibility in their career through locum tenens. They can find a happy medium between being a stay at home mom and providing temporary coverage for healthcare facilities in need.

I also like this older article 5 Reasons to Work Government-Contracted Locum Tenens Assignments that is still relevant today.  It discusses the benefits of working government contracts such as being able to utilize any state license to start work immediately. It also details how there is more liability protection working these contracts due to the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Resources

Through the LT website you can find various resources under their “Resources” tab. I like their recent survey report What to know about the clinician workforce today. It illustrates where clinicians are working and what factors are important in choosing an employer. Although compensation is important, clinicians are placing greater emphasis on work flexibility.

The clinician resources are great for those getting started in locums, because it has information about credentialing and working as a self-employed contractor. For instance, Practical Tips for Managing Expenses gives examples on how to track expenses while on assignment, for both reimbursement and tax purposes. I like this resource because it can be overwhelming at first for new locums NPs to organize their budget.

In previous posts I have written about transitioning from locum tenens to working telemedicine full-time. Check out this article I wrote for locumstory about how being a locums prepared me for telemedicine:

https://locumstory.com/spotlight/locum-tenens-experience-telemedicine-success

Check out this article I wrote for CHG’s blog about how working locum tenens can help you retire early:

https://comphealth.com/resources/retire-early-with-locums

Check out this article I wrote for LocumStory about how locum tenens has evolved over the last 10 years:

https://locumstory.com/spotlight/locum-tenens-np-improvements

Thank you to readers that submitted questions to ask a recruiter! I have partnered with LocumTenens.com to have the questions answered by one of their amazing recruiters. I have personally had a great experience working with LT.com and recruiter, Elizabeth Prater. Check out the article below for the answers to your questions:

https://www.locumtenens.com/news-and-insights/blog/a-look-into-locums-top-questions-from-travelingnpcom-answered-by-a-recruiter

Check out this article I wrote for Comp Health‘s blog about negotiating locum tenens contracts as a nurse practitioner:

https://comphealth.com/resources/how-to-negotiate-np-contracts