Traveling NP

Sometimes my friends and family will ask if it gets lonely traveling around the country by myself. I always tell them no. I also have tons of readers ask me if it’s easy to meet new people on assignment. I always tell them yes.

Fortunately, I have friends or relatives that live in almost every state. So typically, I will reach out to them when I take an assignment and we will meet up at some point. If we are in the same city, we will hang out quite often. Even though we don’t have the chance to talk on a regular basis, meeting up in person allows us to rekindle our friendship.

In addition, I am lucky because some of my friends or family from home (Miami) will go out of their way to visit me while I am on assignment. For example, my mom visited me in Washington, my sister visited me in California, my friends visited me in Maine, California, Texas, and Virginia.

Even if I didn’t already have so many friends and family, I would say it is quite easy to meet people while traveling. I have found my co-workers to be very welcoming and friendly. They invite me to their homes for holidays, on hiking trips, on their boat, or out for a simple lunch. I end up keeping in touch with a lot of my co-workers after I leave.

I wouldn’t say I am the most gregarious person but I effortlessly meet people outside of work too. I became really good friends with my landlord in San Diego. He was around my age and we hit it off right away. I have also had neighbors befriend me, strangers that approach me at the gym or when taking a class.

The GroupMe app is a popular way to meet people with similar interests as you. You can meet up for group runs, dance classes, or even book clubs! I have some friends that use tinder to meet people in each city they travel to. Others I know will volunteer or join a local church and meet people that way.

So those of you that are afraid to start traveling ‘alone’, don’t let that hold you back. You can easily make friends wherever you go. Nowadays, there are so many different outlets to meet people.

I ending up moving forward with the job in Tallahassee, Florida. Sure the extra pay was sweet, but the main reason I selected this assignment was because of my brother.

He just graduated from Florida State University in December. He had studied computer science, but like most of us after graduation, was still figuring out what to do next. He applied for jobs, internships, and is considering graduate school as an option as well. He planned on staying in Tallahassee during spring while he figured out his next step.

1. What an opportunity to spend some quality time with my brother before he has to move away to who knows where and become a working robot.

2. I thought it would be nice to offer some support to him and guide him through the process of figuring out his next step.

And 3. I found a way to support him financially through my job!

Typically, as a traveling nurse practitioner, the agency will find a place for me to live. Prior to accepting this position, I asked if I could negotiate a housing stipend instead. Originally, I was told I would be given a housing stipend to that equal of a hotel stay for a month (so about $2000-$3000 per month). I knew that was too good to be true, especially in a cheap place like Tallahassee.

Apparently, it was the clinics first time using a locums and had a very tight budget. When it was time to sign the contract they tried offering me only $1000/month for housing. I was able to negotiate them up to $1500/month for housing. Even though it wasn’t as much as I had hoped for, it was still more than enough to support my plans.

My brother is currently renting out a 1 bed/1 bathroom apartment for $450/ month, utilities included (that college life). My plan is to move in with him and pay for his monthly rental. In addition, I would give him an extra $500/month for the inconvenience, and pocket the other $500 for myself (for the inconvenience).

Inconvenience meaning, I am used to living by myself but now I will have to share a place with someone else. But it may definitely be worth the extra $1500 profit. Inconvenience for my brother because I will be taking over his bedroom while he sleeps on a mattress in the living room.

It is definitely a win for my brother because he won’t have to focus on working enough to cover his rent (he works part time at a local supermarket, and my parents are no longer paying for his rent since he graduated). This will allow him ample time to continue applying for jobs and look into graduate school. It is also a win for him because he is profiting an extra $500/month from really doing nothing, which he can use to cover other living expenses or save for his future move.

I figured I would be happy no matter where I ended up in Florida. But at least this way I can help out someone close to me J The funny thing is I always thought of this as an option, for when my brother started the transitioning phase. How astonishing that everything actually fell into place!

After finishing in Virginia, I thought about where I wanted to go next. Unfortunately, winter was back already and I knew I needed to hibernate in my own way. This meant it was time for me to return to Florida.

Florida is a tough market for locum tenens because there is a saturation of nurse practitioners. I have been lucky to find an assignment in Florida for the past 2 winters though.

I originally had 2 options in Florida. The first option was in Port St. Lucie, FL, 2 hours north of Miami. I thought that was convenient because I could easily go home for the weekend whenever I felt like it. The site was a clinic I had worked at previously, so I knew what to expect. That was definitely a plus.

My second option was in Tallahassee, Florida. This is in Northern Florida and where I went for my BSN (Florida State University). My brother currently lives in Tallahassee, so I was interested in going back there to spend time with him – along with some of my previous professors/mentors and friends. TI would be covering a maternity leave for 3 months. The physician in charge was pretty friendly and the patient per day ratio was fair (14-16 per day).

Am I the only person that really hates making decisions? Especially when my options are both equally as good.

When I thought things through, I wondered realistically how often I would actually go down to Miami if I lived in Port St. Lucie. A 2-hour drive could easily turn into 3-4hours during rush hour. Which is realistically when I would head down; right after work.

The Tallahassee position was initially paying $5/hour more than the Port St. Lucie job. I didn’t think that was a deal breaker, because after 12 weeks that only ends up being an extra ~$2000. Yet, once I mentioned I had another offer, the Tallahassee job increased their offer. So now they were offering me an extra $10/hour more than the Port St. Lucie job. After 3 months that’s an extra ~$5000.

Are you wondering which position I ended up choosing? I’ll explain which job I choose and the main reason I selected them in my next post.

As a locum tenens nurse practitioner, you should be making more income than your peers working as a permanent employee. Take advantage of this time so save up for your future. Whether it’s for retirement, starting your own practice, or preparing for your new family.

Each year I am surprised to hear how many of my peers both nurse practitioners and physicians that do not take advantage of company provided retirement benefits. Here are some basic recommendations to get you started in the world of investing:

• 401k- If you work with a W2 agency (such as Comp Health) even for a few months, take advantage of that time and set up a 401k with them. They will even match 50 cents to the dollar up to 6% of your income with them. Even if you take a break from them and work with another agency, that money will still be in your account (and growing) until you are able to work with them again and continue contributing to the account. How much should you contribute? The recommendation for most is to contribute 10-15% of your income pre-tax. Your income might as well go to future you instead of uncle sam. If you can’t contribute that much, try to at least put in 6% of your income to maximize the match from your employer.

• IRA – If you work with a 1099 agency, I recommend opening up a self-employed IRA. You can contribute up to 20% of your income or maximum of $55,000 each year. You can contribute monthly or at the end of the year, whatever makes your life easier. A SEP-IRA is similar to a traditional IRA, whereas you won’t be taxed until you withdraw.

• Stocks – If you have maxed at your 401k and IRA, you can look into investing in stocks. Try vanguard or fidelity to open a brokerage account.

• Real estate – Can be personal or commercial real estate. May be tricky if you are traveling and not home to keep an eye on the place. In that case you can hire a property management company to manage your property for you.  I personally like owning multiple properties because when I choose to retire, these places should be paid off and will be a nice source of income.

There is no better time to start investing than today 🙂

One of my good friends worked as a traveling nurse practitioner for 2 years. Eventually she missed home and wanted to move back to Florida. Fortunately, her last locums assignment was flexible allowing her to keep on extending as she searched for a permanent job.

Being a locum tenens nurse practitioner for the past 2 years, she was accustomed to a quick turnaround when applying for jobs. You could find a job, interview, and accept a position in a matter of days. Then you could start your job within a week or so.

Fast forward to searching for a permanent position. This was the complete opposite of working locum tenens. She applied for several jobs, and it took 1-2 months to hear back for an interview. After the interview it took 1-2 months to be given an offer. After accepting the offer, it took ANOTHER 1-2 months before she was able to start working.

My friend noted how crazy the difference was in applying for a locums position vs a permanent position. She states that the permanent job process took forever, for no real reason. It’s not like she had to go through multiple interviews or in front of a board of directors.

The other issue was the huge pay cut she was taking after transitioning from locums to perm. As a traveling nurse practitioner she was making $140,000 per year (including her unpaid time off). Originally the permanent position only offered her $90,000 per year. Considering her amount of experience, I thought the offer was substantially low and recommended my friend negotiate with them. Keeping in mind that Florida is a state that doesn’t pay nurse practitioners well (due to the abundancy of NPs), my friend ultimately was able to get them to go up to $100,000.

Making $100,000 a year is pretty decent but losing $40,000 a year from being a locums is the equivalent to another person’s salary. In addition to making less salary wise, my friend was also going to have more expenses being a permanent employee. She no longer would receive free housing each month. Instead she has to cover the $1500/month it costs to rent out her new place. So that brings her to a total lost of $58,000/year working as a permanent employee.

I understand that being a traveling nurse practitioner forever isn’t realistic for everyone. But I was really interested in watching her transition back to a permanent role. Luckily, my friend is enjoying her new position and the patient load is light. She is happy with the trade off – being back home and close to family, having all of her “things in one place”, and working at a job she likes. After all, money isn’t everything.

I think I made it clear this time that I would not be extending this assignment. I thought working briefly for 3 months, would prevent me from getting attached to patients again. I forgot that with this sick geriatric population, you can see some patients almost a dozen times within 3 months.

I did form some relationships, and those patients were sad when it was time for me to leave. Some of them passed by to say bye on my last day, while others went out of their way to call my supervisor and let her know how much they appreciated me. I sincerely enjoyed establishing connections with patients again.

It was bittersweet to leave. I know the process works; I witnessed it again while the patient panel I built remained well taken care of and did not end up in the hospital. On the other hand, I was looking forward to working at a place where I could focus on my scheduled patients and not be constantly bombarded with walk-ins.

It was nice catching up with some previous co-workers and friends. I also established new friendships while I was there. I was even able to participate in the annual holiday party for the 3^rd year in a row. Remember last year when they flew me up just for the party?

Instead of saying bye – I told everyone “see you later”. As you never know what the future entails.

I mentioned back when I was working in Maine that I was considering giving up my personal car. I was over driving more than 8 hours per assignment, and half of the time my car just sat at home in Miami. It was an expensive car too. The audi s5 convertible cost about $800/month + $200/month for car insurance.

When my lease was up I decided to return my car without getting a new one. While working, I am provided with a rental car and car insurance. I kept my own private insurance just in case for $15/month as a backup. I thought I would rent a car when I am home for the week, but luckily I haven’t needed to as of yet. I can usually borrow one of my relatives car or have my friends pick me up.

Besides the $1000/month I am saving on car payments and car insurance, I am also saving money on avoiding paying for premium gas. I am also saving money on car maintenance and repairs.

Although I miss having my sports car, I am happy with my decision to give up my car. It helps me live a minimalist lifestyle and save as much as possible for the future.

Without having a car to pack up all my stuff, I am more limited to what I can bring on assignment. This has been a fun challenge because I get to practice being a minimalist. However, I usually go home at least once in the middle of an assignment, so I am able to switch out some of my clothes.

I also like having a rental car because when I need to get to the airport I can just return the car there. I don’t have to worry about who will take me to the airport or spending $30-40 on uber. I have also been upgraded to luxury vehicles for free, several times. I have gotten upgraded to a cadillac sedan, cadillac suv, and camaro.

This is just another example how you can save so much money by being a traveling nurse practitioner.

As a teenager you think being 30 years old is, well – old. In your late 20’s you realizing turning 30 is actually not so bad afterall. Especially these days people are living until their 90’s+. It’s crazy to think I’ve only lived 1/3 of my life – which feels like forever.

Upon my return from Egypt and Morocco, my sister threw me a surprise 30^th birthday party. It was a women’s only tea party, where I was able to share afternoon tea with my family and friends. I was shocked she was able to pull this off. As I am typically a very observant person and I know my sister so well, that I know when she is lying to me. I honestly thought we were just celebrating my birthday on our trip. Little did I know she had a big party waiting for me.

During my tea party, I was coronated as Queen Sophia. My family and friends joke that I was probably a Queen in a previous life because I always expect the best and have an indestructible confidence. I think I was a bit awkward during the spotlight. As an introvert I don’t like that much attention…

I am extremely grateful for the surprise and being able to celebrate with close family and friends. In fact, I am still on a high from the party that I feel like I can tackle any obstacle at this time.

This milestone has allowed me to reflect on my life and I feel extremely blessed. I have a career that I love; family and friends that are always there for me; I am comfortable financially; and I am happy to be able to continue to discover and learn new things. There seriously isn’t one thing I would change about my life right now.

I always thought that once I became 30 I would finally feel the desire to settle down. However, in actuality I feel like my zest for exploration has grown even more! I don’t have any expectations for the next chapter of my life, but I do know one thing – it is going to be remarkable!

I just celebrated my 30^th birthday last month. I wanted to go somewhere exotic and decided to plan a trip to Egypt. Since Morocco is on the way, that became part of the itinerary as well.

We spent a few days in Marrakech and Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco reminded me of the movie Aladdin. The people were friendly but always quick to ask for a tip, weather by giving you directions or offering to take your picture. I enjoyed the mixture of French and Arabic. I was able to practice my French while enjoying Moroccan crepes.

I have heard that it may be uncomfortable traveling to Morocco as a woman. I quickly learned why. My sister and I couldn’t walk on the streets or in the bazaar for even one minute without a man coming up to us to chat. “Where are you from?” “Wow you are so beautiful!” “What is your name?” “What language do you speak” etc. We were honestly greeted by hundreds of men all day with “hello”, even some passing by on their moped would whisper “nice!” in our ear as they drove by.

It got to a point that we hired a guide just to pretty much be our body guard.

My favorite part of Morocco was staying at this gorgeous Riad in Marrakech. A Riad in an Andalusian home where there is a courtyard in the middle.

My second favorite part was visiting the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca. It was absolutely breath taking!

Prior to going to Egypt, a lot of people asked me if I was afraid. I answered no because these days it’s even scary living in the USA. Plus, I learned that what you see on TV isn’t necessary true. I am so glad I didn’t allow fear to prevent me from visiting Egypt because it was such an amazing experience!

Our first day we visited the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We rode on camels and explored the majestic world wonder in awe. We visited the Egyptian Museum where we were able to see King Tut’s treasures and royal mummies.

We also traveled to Abu Simbel to see the gorgeous temple and were mesmerized by the hieroglyphics inside. We then went to Luxor which was my favorite city in Egypt. Our hotel was on the Nile River and we visited the Valley of Kings, where there were dozens of tombs we got to explore.

I loved learning about ancient Egypt and seeing the relics in real life. It was really fascinating.

Interestingly, all of the Egyptians we spoke to made it clear that they would love to live in the USA if they had the opportunity to. It seemed that a lot of the Egyptians are struggling financially, especially those in the tourism industry. I honestly felt safe the entire time I was there, and hope that this post will inspire others to visit Egypt as well.

 

Being a minimalist means you practice an intentional life and freedom from the passion to possess. Americans are known to be consumers and spending the majority of their lives working to buy things. Being a traveling nurse practitioner has put a lot of things into perspective. Since I cannot travel with all of my belongings, it keeps me from purchasing items on a regular basis. It also has led to me declutter both my home and life.

Before when I would travel abroad, I was that person that had to buy dozens of souvenirs. These souvenirs end up just sitting as decorations and collect dust in my home. Now when I travel, I have to remind myself that there is no point in buying souvenirs (or more than 1 item hehe) because the best part of traveling are the memories created – not the things purchased.

I used to have 3 tall bookshelves full of books. I have always loved to read and like owning books, and holding them in my hand. I later realized there is no point in keeping a library at home. It just becomes more things that collect dust and you need to pack up every time you move. I ended up donating or selling the majority of my books, of course keeping some of my favorite ones. Now when I purchase a new book, after I finish reading it I will just give it to a friend to share the love.

My other guilty pleasure is clothes. I have always enjoyed having a full closet, with many options – so when the time comes for a special occasion, I am already prepared. Luckily, I discovered the app “Poshmark”. This is an app where people sell their used clothes. I have made hundreds of dollars selling my old clothes on this app. This allows me to get rid of clothes on a regular basis. I now have a rule that whenever I buy new clothes, I have to get rid of the same amount of old clothing items.

Growing up 1 of 4 children, I lived in big houses. Thus, I always thought I wanted to own a big house when I was older. The more I travel for work, the more I realize I would actually prefer to have a smaller home. A bigger house means more items you need to fill it up, more time spent cleaning, and more money wasted.

How has being a traveling nurse practitioner enabled you to become a minimalist?