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Hello everyone,

Long time follower of the site, first time posting. I have been considering travel therapy since before I graduated from PT school May of 2015, but felt gaining some experience right out of school was more important to me at the time. Now that I have become a bit more established as a clinician the bug to travel has come back in a bad way! My timeline to transition toward travel is early 2017 (Jan-March) and I have already begun to fill out license application of a few states I may want to venture to first. Since I had not seen a direct post about this topic, I was hoping to poll the community on this site for any location suggestions throughout the country to would be a great starting place to travel. Any suggestions or general discussion would be great!

Thanks,

Future Wayfaring Physio

Congrats on the choice to make the leap into traveling! I think you made a smart move getting a little experience in PT before setting out on the road - I think you'll find it will pay off in your ability to get quality assignments. More of what I think on New Grads going into traveling here: http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/new-gra ... d-dilemma/ #freshPT

Where to go first is so personal of a choice. Some people choose to stay fairly local to get their feet wet before really setting out. Other people jump right in with the most outlandish assignment first.

I'm going to give you three suggestions and later this month, I'll come back, elaborate, and turn this into a blog - good topic I think. So my top 3 winter assignments would be:

Snowy places - I love winter in skiing, so I do the opposite of the snow birds. I love living in the mountains with skiing out my front door in the winter. There's a lot of places to find jobs nearby skiing, but to actually live and work in a ski town, most hospitals in the Colorado Rockies hire directly (without staffing agencies) and you'll need to pick up the phone and call or go check the hospital's website for employment opportunities.

Southern CA - I always wanted to do an assignment in San Diego, but somewhere along the way it fell off my list of places to go live. It seems like it would be a great place to shake off the cold. I know lots of people who have taken assignments throughout Southern California and absolutely love it there. People I know who have worked in home care there have gotten really good pay rates if you're willing to try out that setting. The only thing about California is that getting a license there can take 4 to 6 months, so get started now if that's on your list.

Hawaii - I love my time in Hawaii, but am never here in the winter time. In the summer, the surf is more calm and better for swimming in the summer and there's less rain, but we miss seeing the whales, don't get to watch huge surfing, and miss out what is really considered prime season in Hawaii. If you're going to go to hawaii, you have to be flexible - a lot of people want to go there, so catching an assignment or getting your resume in ahead of other people can be really hit or miss.

Hope some of this helps. Just my 10 cents. Anyone else got winter favorites?

Thanks James,

I have looked more into it and have decided to begin traveling early next year around the Nashville area where I currently live just to get my feet wet and acquire the license or licenses I really want (aka California). I have done research and contacted some recruiters that I met at CSM 2015, but I was curious what companies you found have a good model and really support their travelers? I had seen on other posts that you like reaching out to users directly via email, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will include my email at the bottom of the reply. Thanks again. I am grateful for the input and everything you do here on the site. It has been a wealth of knowledge for others like myself that are trying to break into the awesome world of travel.

[email protected]

Payden

Hope you are finding success on the initial steps of finding your first assignment!

PS Here's the blog your question inspired: "Where should I work this Winter"
I wish I could go to all of the places... there's always more.

http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/uncateg ... is-winter/