Travel Nursing Guides for Nurses who want Straight Answers
Start Here
The 5 guides that cover the whole picture, from what the job actually is to what it pays. Not sure where to start? Start here.
BEFORE YOU COMMIT
Is Travel Nursing For You?
Everything you need to start your travel nursing career, including requirements, licensing, pay packages, housing, benefits, and how to protect your privacy while searching for the perfect assignment.
What Is a Travel Nurse? Insider Guide for RNs
Thinking about travel nursing? Here's what a travel nurse actually is - how assignments, agencies, pay & specialties work, from 3 years of doing it.
Is Travel Nursing Worth It? A Data-Backed Verdict
Is travel nursing worth it? I ran the real numbers — actual pay after costs, the tax rules that set your take-home, and who should honestly skip it.
Travel Nurse Benefits: 7 Pros & 7 Cons I've Actually Lived
The real travel nurse benefits, the pay numbers, and the cons recruiters skip - everything I wish I'd known before I signed my first contract.
FROM RN TO TRAVEL CONTRACT
Getting Qualified and Landing Your First Contract
The requirements are shorter than most recruiters let on, and the paperwork isn't the hard part. The hard part is knowing which agency to trust, what to ask, and what to watch for in the contract before you sign it.
Travel Nurse Requirements: The Complete Checklist
The real travel nurse requirements are shorter than any recruiter lets on. Here's the core checklist, what's just padding, and which rules are pure myth.
How Much Experience Do You Need to Be a Travel Nurse?
Agencies love to quote 6 months, but how much experience to be a travel nurse really takes is a different number. Here's the real cutoff by specialty.
Travel Nurse Job Board: Which is the best?
I compared every travel nurse job board I could find on the 3 things that actually decide your paycheck — and yes, I built one of them.
GET CREDENTIALED AND HIRED
- Travel Nurse Education Requirements: ADN vs. BSN, Explained
- How Long Does It Take to Become a Travel Nurse? Timeline by Path
- How to Choose a Travel Nurse Agency (Without Getting Burned)
- Travel Nurse Interview Questions: What You'll Be Asked (and What to Ask Back)
- Travel Nurse Contract Checklist: Questions to Ask Before You Sign
KNOW WHAT YOU ACTUALLY KEEP
Pay, Packages and Taxes
Recruiter spam starts within 48 hours of your first application, and it never really stops on its own. Set up a free burner number and a private email before you message a single agency, then switch the whole thing off once you've signed.
How Much do Travel Nurses Make?
How much do travel nurses make? About $104,700 a year - and 29% more per hour than staff nurses. Here's what my pay data since 2019 actually shows.
Travel Nurse Pay Breakdown: Where the Money Actually Comes From
My travel nurse pay breakdown, line by line - bill rate, taxable base, tax-free stipends - so you'll know what to expect before you sign an offer.
Travel Nurse Taxes: How to File, What You Owe, and How to Stay Compliant
Travel nurse taxes come down to one thing: your tax home. Get it right and your stipends stay tax-free; get it wrong and every dollar turns taxable.
THE PART NOBODY PREPS YOU FOR
Life on Assignment
Finding housing in a city you've never seen, 13 weeks at a time. Building a life when everyone you know is 1,000 miles away. This is the side of travel nursing that decides whether you sign a second contract.
Travel Nurse Loneliness: 50+ Ways to Beat the Blues
Travel nurse loneliness gets all of us - I still get the blues. Here are the 50+ groups, apps, and resources I use to shake them and make friends. 💙
The Best Travel Nurse Blogs, Podcasts & Communities (No Agency Spin)
Most best travel nurse blogs lists are agency funnels in disguise. These are my actual bookmarks - the honest ones, no recruiter waiting at the end.
Travel Nurse Housing: How to Find It (Without Getting Scammed)
Agency housing or take the stipend? I'll show you how to find travel nurse housing that's actually good, and how to spot a listing that isn't.
JOB HUNT ON YOUR TERMS
Privacy and Recruiter Spam
Recruiter spam starts within hours of your first agency sign-up, and it never really stops on its own. Set up a free burner number and a private email before you message a single agency, then switch the whole thing off once you've signed.
How to get a Burner Phone Number for FREE
Agencies need a number to reach you - they don't need yours. Here's the free burner phone number I set up in 5 minutes, plus 2 catches nobody warns you about.
How your FREE Private StellarNurse Email Works
Agencies get a free @SNurseMail.com address, never your real inbox. Here's how my private email works, and the switch that kills the spam instantly.
How to Stop Spam Emails & Calls as a Travel Nurse
Sign up with a few agencies & the recruiter spam never quits. Here's how to stop spam emails and calls for good, and keep them off your real number.