We have been traveling now for a year and as each assignment ends and the next begins that sense of excitement, mystery, and wanderlust builds exponentially. My next job starts in just three weeks, and I still have lots to do to prepare, both for work and my household. I hope sharing my experiences will help other medical travelers who may just be starting off or for those thinking about becoming a medical traveler. When I first started researching the field, I could find information about what basic steps are involved once you signed up with a travel company, but what I wanted to know was everybody's experiences, and I came up blank. It could just be that I did not look in the right places, but even so, the fact I could not find it easy means there may not be a lot of shared experiences out there on the internet. That is why I wanted to start this blog, to let others know what steps I have to go through and what steps we as a family go through for each assignment. 

This time around is a little different for me. My last three jobs I have been working with the same medical staffing company but this next assignment I partnered with a new company. Since I am going with a new agency, there are extra steps I need to do before I can start my job next month. Let me back up just a bit. It is easy peasy, to begin with a medical staffing company. They are always looking for recruits and in general are super helpful to get you into their system. You can just google your specialty field and add travel to the end, and a list of companies should populate. From there you need to do a little research. I like to pick out a few names that catch my eye or just sound appealing and look at their websites. If I have a hard time navigating around, I move on to the next. If I can not look at a list of job opportunities, I proceed to the next. I will google what reviews each company has gotten from their past or current employees. Also, I will log on Facebook and search to find other traveler's experiences with these enterprises. When you finally pick out one or two or three companies just log back onto their website and fill out an inquiry form. I guarantee you will receive a call the next day. There is no harm in signing with more than one staffing agency. In fact, most of the travelers I have spoken to have several companies in their pockets. This technique gives you a bigger pool of job opportunities to choose. Jobs one place may have, another may not. Staffing Agency A may have a job in Seattle, your dream destination, but Staffing Agency B only has jobs on the east coast. So, there is no harm in signing with multiple agencies, in fact, they expect it. What happens after a recruiter contacts you, I will leave for another blog post when I can go more into detail.

As for now, I am patiently waiting for emails or phone calls from my new recruiter.  There are always basic information, documents, and tests that must be obtained before you can begin a new job. I accepted a job offer with a little more than a month before I am to end my current assignment. In my past experiences, I have never had a job lined up that much in advance. It makes it a little nerve wrecking when the time is getting near the end, and there are no ideal prospects on the horizon but through whatever mysterious universal force that is out there a position always happens to pop up. I have so far in my short traveling career to have been lucky to acquire posts in my ideal locations, but I know there will come a time when I will just have to suck it up and take what is out there so that I will not be sitting at home being idle. 

Packing and unpacking a family of four also takes time and lots of planning. Our very first destination was Kalispell, Montana. We knew this state offered lots hiking, fishing, and beautiful nature, so we wanted to pack for every situation. Clothes went into suitcases and space bags. We had about five of those beyond fantastic, extra large, and blue Ikea bags packed full of pantry food items, pots, pans, and a couple of small kitchen appliances I swore I needed. Bath towels, blankets and down comforters were essential. And don't forget our fishing poles, tackle box and my husbands fishing waders. We left home with two cars jam packed with no wiggle room whatsoever. When it finally came time to leave Montana for home, I knew we needed to be smarter with our packing. These days we are more streamlined but not necessarily more efficient. Eight large bins fit exactly into my husbands SUV. The majority of our items fit into these containers, but we still have lots that do not. My goal this time around is to eliminate as many unnecessary things as possible. I know I know, this is always an impossible task. The urge to pack for what we may need is usually stronger than our willingness to pack only necessities. But, at some point I need to put my foot down and just do it, to just purge all the extras out and make this process simpler. That is my goal for the week. Priority items needing reviews are clothing, kitchenware, bedding, and every family members extra curricular items. It is hard to travel to a location and not acquire new items, especially so when you are living there for months at a time. I do believe purging will always be necessary no matter how hard we try to be minimalists but, I will try my hardest!