finally doing travel nursing

[justme88]

hello everyone...i now have 2+ years of nursng experience and im now looking into travel nursing (ive been wanting to since i graduated). Im ready to go out of my comfort zone and learn something new. I just have several questions so i'll know what to ask for from the recruiters who are calling me. whats the salary range for california? do i need to have a lot of savings before i go for "in case" the salary doesnt come thru? for those who have travelled to california...which hospitals are tolerable? what should i know first before i sign anything?

any comment is really appreciated. thank you.

[AmandaWIRN]

California really varies- Northern Cali pays more than Southern Cali, but it also depends on what city, specialty, your experience, etc... When comparing CA pay rates, make sure recruiters are giving you the FLAT rate, not the BLENDED rate. Everything over 8 hrs is overtime in California, so the blended rate is the average over 12 hours of 8 reg & 4 OT hours.

It's a good idea to have savings, but for emergencies or unexpected expenses. You shouldn't have to worry about the salary "not coming through." Once you sign a contract with a guaranteed pay rate & guaranteed hours, they HAVE to pay you that much for hours you work... Just get everything that was agreed upon in writing.

[justme88]

Thank You. what can u tell me about cellphone when i travel? AT&T have nationwide coverage right? How about my car insurance how do i go about that? and should i change my address every time i move for bills and stuff? thank you so much.

[AmandaWIRN]

Originally Posted by justme88

Thank You. what can u tell me about cellphone when i travel? AT&T have nationwide coverage right? How about my car insurance how do i go about that? and should i change my address every time i move for bills and stuff? thank you so much.

I have AT&T- yes they have nationwide coverage- just make sure your plan is nationwide with no roaming fees. I have all my bills sent to my in-laws, and then they send our mail to us once a week- that way nothing gets lost trying to have things forwarded every 3 months.

As far as car insurance, when I started traveling, we called our insurance company to see what to do about changing our state every 3 months (we were trying to keep everything on the "up & up"), and they told us to go to a State Farm office in the city we'd be staying in once we got there. So, when we got to my first assignment location, we went into a State Farm office, and they told us that we could not insure our vehicle there since we would not be becoming legal residents there... THEN, they told us they were dropping us because we were no longer keeping our vehicle in our primary state for the majority of the year....

So, now we insure our vehicle through a national company, and they know nothing about us traveling.... As far as they are concerned, we live & keep our car in our "home" state. Hey, I tried to do things the "right" way, and got screwed.... We were recently in a very bad accident this past summer on our way from one assignment to another. All I told the insurance company when we filed a claim was that we were traveling out of state so I could do some short-term "contract work." Our brand new vehicle was totaled, and since the other driver was uninsured, our company paid the claim without any issues. My advice- don't tell your car insurance company anything- they could drop you...