Courtesy of Louie Chan
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Louie Chan, a 30-year-old nurse in the Bay Area. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
When I went to college in 2012, I couldn't decide what to major in. My Filipino parents emphasized the importance of a stable job because it would bring freedom. This was important to them because we didn't have much money growing up.
I decided to pursue nursing, a career path common among Filipinos. It turned out to be a perfect fit for me. When I graduated from nursing school in 2017, I took my first job as a telemetry nurse in southern California, earning $37 an hour.
After two years of working at that same hospital, I grew my wages to $45 an hour, which was below the average hourly rate for nurses in California. We didn't have a nursing union at that hospital to ask for better wages and got very small yearly raises.
Courtesy of Louie Chan
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I heard there was a bigger need than usual for travel nurses. I decided to take a leap of faith, leave my family behind, and move to Texas for my first gig as a travel nurse. The agency I signed up to work for placed me in Texas. I didn't have a say in where I went for that first assignment.
I was motivated to sign up because the pay was extraordinary. I worked six days a week and did 12-to-14-hour shifts. While this was more than my usual schedule, I was making almost triple my former amount — I went from earning $45 an hour to around $121 an hour.
I worked at that job for a couple of months and then returned to California to rest for a few weeks. After that, I spent two years working as a travel nurse at different hospitals. I doubled my salary, grew my career, and regained my passion for the job.
Hospitals bring in travel nurses because they're short-staffed. Most travel nursing opportunities are for 13 weeks at a specific location. After that, you can extend your contract for another 13 weeks or longer, depending on the hospital's needs.
I found open positions through travel-nursing agencies. When I returned from working in Texas, I worked at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. As COVID-19 got worse, my pay as a travel nurse got higher. I made anywhere from $6,000 to $9,000 a week.
Usually, I worked six days on and eight days off. I liked the travel nursing schedule because it improved my work-life balance. I used my free time to travel around the cities I lived in and start a side hustle as a content creator.
Because travel nurses live away from home, we're given a tax-free stipend that covers housing and meals. I'd usually find an inexpensive hotel or rent a short-term apartment near the hospital.
As a travel nurse, you must be a fast learner because you enter a new hospital and start working almost immediately. It's a job for people who love being independent and can quickly pick up on the hospital's work culture and policies.
I loved the flexibility. I'd work at one hospital for 13 weeks and then take a month off to rest or travel before starting a new job elsewhere.
There are travel nursing jobs all over the world. I've always been interested in living in another country like Japan or Australia and would consider taking a travel nursing job abroad. If you're a nurse who wants a change of scenery, this is a dream opportunity, but there are some downsides.
When working in a new place, you might not have the time to get to know people or make friends. When my shifts were done, I'd usually explore the city on my own, and every now and then, I'd make friends at work who I'd hang out with during my stay.
Some other nurses weren't nice to travel nurses because they knew we were making more money than them. I remember getting the worst patient assignments because I wasn't part of the core staff. There were also times when a group of nurses ordered food and invited everyone on the floor except the travel nurses. I didn't let their attitudes or comments bother me.
In other hospitals, the nurses were so grateful to have help because they were overworked and overwhelmed by the number of patients. In those jobs, I felt like I was making a difference.
People get into travel nursing and think they can give up their apartment, pack a suitcase, and live on the road. Travel nurses get tax-free stipends because the IRS assumes they're duplicating their expenses by paying for housing at home and where they live for the job.
Before committing to being a travel nurse, speak with a CPA or tax advisor to understand how to keep those tax-free stipends so you don't accidentally commit tax fraud. While I was a travel nurse, I was still making monthly payments on a house in California.
I'm now a full-time nurse coordinator in the Bay Area and enjoy working at my current hospital. I don't see myself pursuing travel nursing in the US again because I made over $200,000 last year and it's a healthy working environment. I also still make content on the side and may one day focus on that.
My experience as a travel nurse taught me that I have more nursing knowledge and critical care skills than I thought. It also taught me that I can live independently away from home.
Regardless of your career, you can't wait around and hope for a raise. Sometimes, you need to be the one to take bold actions and get paid what you deserve.
