Considering Travel...should I?

Hi all...just found this site last night and joined I liked it so much...here's the deal...I have been interested in travel nursing...heard a lot about how you could make a lot of money especially in Calif and NY...but on this site am hearing $30-35 hr...?

I've been RN 5 yrs, 1 yr ICU, 3 ER, 1 Flight nursing (plus 20yrs paramedic). I normally work weekend nights and with my diff will avg $40-46 hr. I am and OT freak! usually working all I can get 60-72 hr wks...would i do better traveling?

I hear (in CALI) things like OT after 8, dbl after 12 ect...do travel agencies pay diffs? more for wk end nights, every weekend, ect.

If i travel, do i get a local agency to do per diem or is it better to OT thru contact....

also am married w/ kids...stay home wife but will need family Health care...is it expensive...good...ect and will stuff like that kill my hr rate?....

I have heard other travelers at my hosp were making 10 to 12k take home per month in Calif....but never got the details...HELP...am going crazy....:eek:

As a traveler you usually will not get shift differential- it is just included in your flat hourly rate. In CA, working ER or ICU, you will probably make around $30-35/hr, sometimes a little more, plus free housing. Depending on your company, adding your family to your health insurance CAN kill your hourly rate. Most companies wanted to charge me $400+/mo just to add my husband (no kids), but my current company charges $250/mo to add him to my insurance- which is pretty cheap compared to other travel companies... Also, if your family plans on traveling with you, you will have to pay more for a larger apartment. If you are making $40-46/hr where you're at, you probably will not make much more as a traveler......

You would lose a lot of money if you traveled. Cali is reallly not very good with pay rate. Some places are as low as $28 as the blended rate, usually not more than $32. The ability to do overtime isnt so hot when you are a traveler because the hospital pay the company a lot of money for you already and to give overtime to a traveler is not financially respoonsible for a hospital ,so they shy away from it. you are not always guaranteed hours so if census drops, they can call you off once in a pay period, which means less money. Some companies will charge you like $400-$1000 for a 2 bedroom. They don't give 3 bedrooms. And with the insurance thing, you would definetly get charged... the insurance is awful, prescriptions are so expensive and pretty much nothing is covered. The whole myth about travelers making a lot just isnt right! Unless you are traveling with someone else and one takes the stipend and the other takes the housing, you could potentially make a little extra, but not enough to add up to what you are making already. Sorry for the buzz kill