Quit holding out you guys!! lol! I have the exact same question and would love to get some advice.

Travel nursing isn't for everyone. I love it though. I have worked now for 3 different companies. Nightingale (stay away from them) Access (they are pretty good) World Health (very good pay). You can go just about anywhere in the country that you would be interested in going. If you like big cities, small towns, rural area there are always hospitals looking for someone to come there. You will have to fill out your area of expertise with each company you work with, but if you have experience in an area let them know. If you want to start out on a med/surg floor go for it. Most assignments are for 13 weeks. You can do anything for 13 weeks, even if the assignment isn't great. Once you hit the halfway point it goes quick. Take the opportunity to explore the area you are in. It's not like a weeks vacation you will have 3 months to get to see and do a lot in the area you go to. Take your pet with you, just let them know you have one. You can get fully furnished places to live, so all you have to take is the clothes you'll need. All said and done, if you don't like it you are only out 13 weeks. If you like it, you may just have started a life long adventure and a great way to see the country on someone else's dime. Sure you have to work, but you also will be in some very exciting places that you may not have the opportunity to see. Relax, take a deep breath and go for it.

Thank you Ron for you input!! Your opinion is greatly appreciated. I like the idea of travel nursing a lot, but I haven't taken my first assignment yet.

I had a phone interview from a facility. I was RN Nurse Supervisor at a nursing home and quit for the exact same reason the RN before me did. I worked there for a year. I said that I left over poor working conditions. She wanted to know what I felt poor working conditions were. How much time do you have lady? That's all she wanted to talk about and ignored my questions about the job and facility I would be working for. She hung up telling me that she had two other applicants to talk to.

Would you feel too good about this interview? I didn't. I told my recruiter, by e-mail since it was after business hours, about this. I said that I would not get a CA license or pay for plane tickets when I don't feel comfortable that I actually have a job to go to and just how this interview went.

My nursing recruiter called me back, looking for another job for me. She sent part of my e-mail to someone over her head, I am guessing, to describe just how bad this interview was. The woman that interview me didn't know what a CMA was. I had to explain that to her.

Is a Certified Medical Assistant unknown to the rest of the planet or is KY the only state that uses them? Yes, I am from Kentucky, but we all aren't ignorant hillbillies, just a bunch of rednecks. lol! Are people from California really so arrogant? Am I going to have a problem working there because I'm some Kentucky hillbilly that talks straight, without being afraid of PC?

Much to my surprise and my recruiter, I got the job. They felt that I was the strongest candidate. What?? That interview was horrible! The job even came with an apology, saying she was busy and stressed out. Someone must have told her that I felt the interview was nothing short of awful, not bothering to answer my questions at all, and hanging up on me, ignoring my questions. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief that I got the job, out of other candidates qualified for it.

I don't trust people that act like jerks and make apologies later. I am wondering if this is a place that I want to work. My daughter wants to go to California, with bragging rights when she gets home. She likes vagrancy, calling it freedom. My recruiter says take a job offered now. She says they go quick, if you don't jump on it. It isn't forever and my daughter wants to go.

She is probably right, but I'm not so sure that I can live through anything for three months. This is going to be my first assignment and I am scared to death, even though I really want to do travel nursing.

I like my recruiter. She seems to be willing to work with me. She understands my teen daughter, mortgage, divorce, and dog issues. She is ok with it and seems to be a very decent person. She was not thrilled about what I said about that interview and sent a portion of it to someone else, questioning the facility. I don't think most people would do that.

I am very scared and nervous, despite travel is my choice. This prolonged divorce issue is really getting to me. I hate living in this big house, filled with memories, good and bad. My mother is so upset, thinking I will like CA so much, we will never come home. Not possible! I have a mortgage on the house seven houses away.

My 91 year old Granny is telling my mother what a horrible parent she is because she isn't taking us in. She thinks we are being sold into, get this, White Slavery. Now, that is pretty funny, anyone has to admit. While I am busy telling friends that my daughter and I are being sold into White Slavery because my grandma of 91 says so, my family sees no humor in this at all.

As you can see, I am getting no family support at all, but they don't pay my bills either. My husband's Mommy might just hire a lawyer, if they even notice us gone at all, which is doubtful. I don't know whether or not to tell him that I am taking our daughter and screw you. He doesn't contribute to bills either. I feel that I should be able to do what I want and very sick of living how life is dictated to me by others.

Encouragement needed!!!

Are people from California really so arrogant? Am I going to have a problem working there because I'm some Kentucky hillbilly that talks straight, without being afraid of PC?


Where was this Supervisor from? Which hospital I mean?

The answer to your question is no- not all people from Ca,ifornia are arrogant. That is quite a generalization that quite frankly is rather offensive.

The best advise I can give you about California though is keep personal stuff personal and work stuff at work. I was born in California, moved to the deep south and am now back in California d/t family stuff. California is not the south, people are generally pleasant but not all that patient and do not want to know everyones family history. That was a big adjustment for me.

Also, California is big on PC. This is the state of lawsuits. People sue for any and all reasons. PC at work is a big deal here.

That being said- Ca. has a lot of great things to offer. Come on out, take a deep breath and enjoy it. Good luck.

I honestly did not mean to be offensive. Please read on and accept my sincere apology. I am from southern CA and moved to KY as a kid. I already know all the hillbilly jokes about KY. Us KY people are the first ones to be a fan of another Jeff Foxworthy joke. No one gets offended over a joke, given in the right spirit. Laughing at yourself is a pretty good laugh, just don't be hurtful to others is all we all really ask.

I think most places have some sort of reputation or stereotype. KY people don't go to the dentist, marry relatives, and drink moonshine. CA people are superficial, snobby, and arrogant. NY has the rudest people on the face of the earth, but I didn't see it that way when I went there. Just talk to people standing in one spot. They are nice, but I have never seen people walk on the street to what I consider jogging and wouldn't bother them for directions. FL is full of old people that can't drive anything but a golf cart, which is kinda true. They really do drive golf carts to the grocery store. That's what makes it funny, that little grain of truth. Oh, I could go on, but we all know the jokes and they are funny, if you aren't hurting another with them.

You honesty in pointing that out to me is appreciated and has definitely opened my mind to the fact it is no different here, from the advice you gave me. I would tell someone new to this area, in nursing, exactly what you told me. It isn't a different planet after all. You are right and please accept my apology. I am saying words of ignorance because I am afraid of what I have heard because I was too young for interest in culture when my parents left CA.

I did get an apology from the woman who interviewed me. She said she was pressed for time and very stressed out. I know how that feels. Sometimes you just aren't yourself under pressure and don't have a lot of patience. I, of all people, know how that feels.

She is probably understaffed, trying hard to find someone that is flexible with skills needed for a position she desperately needs filled or other nurses quit. Why else would anyone pay a fortune for agency nursing? I pop out stating poor working conditions as why I left my last job probably sent some signal that I am picky and not flexible, which isn't true at all.

That interview went so bad that I honestly thought that this woman was being a CA snob because she had my resume and knew where I was from. Geez! It's a good thing it didn't state my public school education. This is funny! I went to Turkeyfoot Jr. High. I went to Dixie Heights High School. How much more redneck can you get than that? I laugh at that one all the time. It isn't exactly something I jump to tell anyone thought and you can probably understand why, but it really is funny.

Thanks for setting me straight Paigerizme! At least I don't feel like I'm going to a different planet!!

Most likely you are not going to work for the person that actually interviewed you.

I've worked in NM, CA, AZ, FL, TX, MI and NY. Every place has it's good points and bad, but it is the areas that get me interested. I usually look at assignments as a vacation interrupted by work. Find out what there is to do in every place you go to. I have got to see a lot of interesting places. Even in a little town called Benson AZ I was able to travel to Tuscon, Tombstone, Sierra Vista, Nogales and saw so many great places. In NM I was in Roswell so I got to see all the alien things, but there is much more in the area. Lincoln where the Lincoln county wars were fought. I got to go to El Capitan where Smokey the Bear came from. Bakersfield CA I was able to go to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks as well as Red Rock Canyon. So research the area you are going to and you'll find that there is a lot to do besides work.

I've been to several assignments I'd like to go back to, but there is so much more of the country to see.

Good luck in CA, relax, you'll enjoy it especially if you have family to go with you. I travel with my Yorkie Terrier for company.

Trust me, 13 weeks goes by quick and you'll wonder where the time went. Of course I'm an old (52) man now and time flies quicker every day but I wouldn't give up a chance to visit everywhere. Who knows maybe someday I'll run into the cute little redhaired girl to keep me company on my assignmets.

Hey Ron, just wondering...did you find your little red-haired girl yet?