Nine Reasons Why We Love the Travel Physical Therapy Life
Checking out the views on Nusa Penida Island on our nine-week honeymoon – a life-changing trip made possible by the travel physical therapy life.
Ever since we took a leap of faith into the travel physical therapy life, we get asked questions like, “So what’s the end goal?”; “When are you going to settle down and have kids?”; or “Are you trying to decide where you want to live?”
We didn’t have an end goal in mind when we moved to California for my first travel physical therapy assignment. But we knew something needed to change, so we sold all our furniture and my car, packed up our belongings and headed west.
Thank God we did! This travel journey has been life-changing for us.
Two years later, we still don’t have an end goal in mind. But one thing is for sure — nothing has ever felt so right.
Here are nine reasons why we love the travel physical therapy life.
1. More travel = growth
We’ve grown so much both individually and in our relationship since hitting the road.
Traveling has pushed us to have growth mindsets whereas we used to have fixed mindsets.
We now know we have the potential to grow every day. We now take time to get to know our true selves and recognize the value of self-care. We’re no longer afraid to be our most authentic selves.
We’ve become obsessed with personal growth and we now set our goals sky high because this journey has shown us we are capable of anything if we want it badly enough.
The travel physical therapy life is full of uncertainty.
The unknown used to trigger fear, but now it triggers excitement. We’ve grown to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and now look at the great unknown as an endless opportunity for growth.
As nomads, we’ve learned to DO IT AFRAID.
2. The travel physical therapy life broadens our skillsets
Beyond personal growth, we’ve gained many new professional skills from this travel life.
My professors had only negative things to say about travel physical therapy while in PT school.
The director of my PT program told me to my face that it “wasn’t the best career move” when I told her I was going to travel.
After 2+ years of working as a travel PT, I’d argue the exact opposite.
As a traveling physical therapist, I’m expected to hit the ground running when I start a new contract. This means I learn a new system, building, electronic medical record, etc. within the first couple of days of work.
Many facilities expect you to work up to a full caseload within the first week. Some may even expect you to on the first day. But I’ve learned the right questions to ask to avoid these nightmare facilities out during the interview. You can grab a copy of out my guide to travel therapy interviews here.
Does this sound stressful? Well, it is, but only for the first couple of assignments. You grow to be adaptable and flexible as a traveler, which makes you more employable in the long run.
Travel therapy also allows you to try out different settings, which is a good way to avoid burnout and develop your clinical skills.
I’ve worked in outpatient, acute care, and acute rehab settings as a traveler. I’ve seen patients all along the rehab spectrum less than three years out of PT school. If / when I decide to go perm, I’ll have a wide variety of experiences which is invaluable as a PT.
Even right at this moment, we’re developing new skills like website design, copywriting, and photo/video editing as we get this blog up and running. We love to learn, and leaving our 9-5s has given us more time to chase these passions.
3. We’ve learned to live more intentionally
When we were in the 9-5 routine, we felt like we were going through the motions and living for our days off.
We were surviving, but nowhere near thriving.
Life on the road has led to us to live more intentionally in all aspects of life.
We are more thoughtful about our belongings, mindsets, health & wellness, friendships, finances, and our carbon footprint.
For example, we only buy groceries and clothing that we know we will use.
We prioritize financial check-ins, set goals, and stick to a budget.
We think twice before buying anything nonessential as space is limited. We used to only travel with what could fit in our one car, and now with what can fit in our self-built Promaster campervan.
We’re learning the most effective ways to recycle and are on a path to eliminating all single-use products, replacing them with reusable products. #MillennialHippies
People think that the travel physical therapy life must make the day-to-day so much more complicated. But our lives have been simplified since hitting the road.
Moving from one assignment to the next in our Toyota Camry (what we drove before we lived in our campervan)
4. The travel physical therapy life offers more freedom and flexibility
During my first year as a permanent (“perm”) PT, I worked Friday – Monday and Jazz worked a typical Monday – Friday schedule. With opposite schedules and only about 11 PTO days a year, we didn’t get to travel at all. Our nomadic, free spirits were at an all-time low.
The travel physical therapy lifestyle is way more flexible than the perm PT life.
Contracts are typically 13 weeks (about 3 months) in length. You are free to take off as much time off as you please between contracts, and you can request certain days off when you submit to a contract (e.g. if you need a long weekend off to attend a wedding or other event).
This time freedom has allowed us to explore new areas every weekend, take a nine-week honeymoon in Southeast Asia, spend extended periods of time off at home with family in between assignments, and build our own tiny home on wheels.
Any time off as a traveler is unpaid, but having the freedom to do what we want when we want is something that cannot be bought with any amount of money.
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.”
5. Connecting with like-minded people / spirits
When we first started traveling, we missed our family and friends back home. Life on the road can be lonely, even when you travel as a couple. It’s not always easy connecting with people when you move every 3 months.
One of the biggest game-changers for us was attending the Travelers Conference in 2018 (AKA TravCon), about 2 months after starting our travel journey. TravCon is a conference for healthcare travelers held every September in Las Vegas. The conference is value-packed with speakers, networking, meet-ups, free meals and happy hours, dance parties, pool parties and party buses 💃🏾🕺🏼.
But the best part of the conference is the other travelers you meet. We met a group of friends at our first TravCon that became our traveler fam-bam instantly. These hooligans are our spirit animals; our brothas/sistas from anotha mothas/mistas; OUR PEOPLE.
PRO TIP: If you are a new or veteran traveler, you have to go to TravCon! Seriously. You will leave with a newfound community of travelers that feel like family, which helps the road feel a lot less lonely. Be sure to check out the TravCon website for more info because we would love to meet you there next year!
We’ve also met many lifelong friends while on assignment, several of which made the long trip to our wedding in smalltown, Kansas!
How fun is it that even after we’re done traveling, we’ll have a network of friends to visit all over the U.S.?!
Our First Travelers Conference in 2018 where we met most of our travel community. You MUST go next year! Learn more about TravCon out here.
6. We live for new experiences
We were about as landlocked as it gets growing up in Kansas. We love visiting friends and family back home, but traveling to new places and having new experiences was our original motivation to start traveling.
Jasmyn and I have both always been drawn to sunshine, the beach, and the ocean. So over the last two years, we’ve spent most of our time (six of seven travel PT contracts) all over California and one contract in Hawaii.
Traveling has allowed us to experience all kinds of things we never could have back home like:
Learning to surf
Whale and dolphin watching
Beachin’ most days of the week
Swimming with manta rays and sea turtles
Living next to Golden Gate Park (so awesome!) in San Fran
Watching an Iron Man World Championship on the Big Island in Hawaii
Playing in oceanside 2v2 beach volleyball tournaments
Watching the AVP Manhattan Beach Open (the Superbowl of beach volleyball)
Enjoying brunch with an ocean view every weekend
And so much more!
We live for new experiences. What better way is there to continue having them than to always be living somewhere new?!
7. Making more money and paying off debt #FinancialFreedom
Some people travel for new experiences while others do it to pay off student loans. As a traveling physical therapist, I earn a significantly higher wage than I did as a permanent PT.
To put it into perspective — on average, I make about the same amount of money weekly as a traveler that I used to make bi-weekly during my permanent job. (Update 1/23/2022): I’ve made anywhere from $1,725 to $2,650 weekly take-home pay as a travel PT.
Keep in mind that I take a lot more time off than I did as a perm PT, so I’m by no means getting paid year-round. But since I’m making a higher wage, I have the freedom to take more time off.
Within my first year as a travel physical therapist, I was able to pay off my student loan debt, save for a 9-week honeymoon, and put away an emergency fund and it felt damn good. All while traveling the U.S. — How awesome is that?!
8. Escaping the 9-5 and living in the moment
We used to waste a lot of time dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. Traveling teaches you to live in the present.
The present moment is where life happens.
Don’t know what state we are going to be living next week? Oh well – we’ll figure it out.
Don’t have a job right now? Oh well, one will pop up soon.
And if not, we’ll just head back to California where the travel therapy jobs are always abundant. We love it there anyway. 🙂
It’s hard NOT to live in the moment when traveling exposes you to all kinds of beautiful moments.
Escaping the 9-5 has helped us feel alive again.
The uncertainty keeps life interesting and exciting and keeps us from going through the motions.
Our first time in San Francisco during Skip’s first travel PT assignment (in Santa Cruz, CA)
9. Because it makes us happy!
Above all, we travel because it makes us happy. And our happiness is our number one priority.
We won’t travel full-time forever. But right now, it’s what sets our souls on fire. (Update 1/23/2022 I’m LOL’ing reading this now because WE MIGHT TRAVEL FOREVER).
We’ve only got so many trips around the sun, and we plan on making the most of every moment.
To sum it up… we love this travel physical therapy life because it’s helping us become the best version of ourselves.
When the going gets tough, we stop and think about all of these reasons why we travel. After almost two years, we still don’t have all the answers (not even close!) and we run into hassles and inconveniences all the time.
It’s not always easy and glorious like social media may suggest, but it’s always worth it.
After all,
“Comfort zones are where dreams go to die.” — Regina King
So whatever path you’re on, travel-related or not, we challenge you to do it afraid.
Great things will come of it.
Interested in travel therapy? Don’t know where to start? Book a FREE coaching call or let us know how we can help you get started on your travel journey below. ↡
↡ Follow our daily updates on our social channels. ↡
