OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Just starting out as a traveler? Traveling questions or experiences to share? Here's the place.
Stevefell1983
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OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Stevefell1983 » Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:18 pm

What's up everyone! I was curious if anyone has had experience traveling as a team (Husband/Wife OT/PT)? We both have 2 years experience and our ready for a adventure and knocking out student loans. Any insight would be appreciated!! Thanks again!

Hobohealth
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Hobohealth » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:15 am

Steve,

Glad you wrote here.

My wife and I have been traveling together for 6 years now as PTs. We typically set a place we'd like to live and then a 45-60 minute commute radius around it and don't typically have trouble finding jobs. We work in the same facility sometimes (which is fine, but not optimal), or for the same hospital system but not directly together, or it's best for us when we find two totally separate jobs in the same area.

I think right now, we are seeing a little dip in the market for travelers in some localized areas. So, while people needing one job are fairly well able to go where they want with a little patience, travel teams looking for two jobs are having a little harder time in localized areas. But, I do have to stress that I think these areas are localized and there are many great travel positions out there around most major cities, in very rural areas, and certain regions of the country (I think the Northwest travel market has stayed pretty strong).

I say go for it!!! My wife and I love it and can't picture doing anything else with our lives at this point. I definitely recommend getting into it if you have any urge.

Feel free to write more questions on here. I know a few other travel couples that I'll try to push towards this post to see if we can get some more perspectives.

James

ehudgin1
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Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:37 pm

Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by ehudgin1 » Tue Jun 18, 2013 9:04 pm

My girlfriend is currently in OT school and I am in PT. I have a year left, and she has a year and a half. We have discussed doing travel for a while as well to start off, so I am very interested also in hearing any advice or comments.

Stevefell1983
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Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:14 pm

Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Stevefell1983 » Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:59 am

James,

Thanks brother! I appreciate your insight for sure. If possible could we be in touch via email to discuss further? My email is [email protected]. Thanks again!

RoguePT
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Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 1:38 pm

Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by RoguePT » Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:14 am

My girlfriend and I are currently in our second contract as traveling therapists. We worked for about a year and half before traveling and we are very happy we did. Traveling therapy has been very rewarding so far. The obvious reasons such as the adventure and pay stand out. But another area I really value from this experience is meeting a lot of other therapists and getting an idea for different treatment styles and rehab systems. To this point the full-time therapists have received us very well and we have made some good friendships. The downside of traveling for us has been finding housing and we really hate having to move in and out of a place every couple of months. Another downside (and upside) is starting a new job and picking it up quickly. I feel a little bit of pressure to be very productive and a quality therapist while meeting expectations since I'm getting such a good wage as a traveler. This is where I think it can be difficult if you are a new grad or new to a setting. Overall, I would really recommend traveling therapy. We don't plan to stop any time soon :)
As was mentioned earlier, if you are traveling as a couple you may have to sacrifice a little. We were able to get both of our assignments in the same city/town and around the start date we wanted but we had to be flexible on the location and therapy setting. We know another traveling couple that are more picky about there settings and location and have had to wait 1-2 months to find jobs that satisfied them. Good Luck! Hope this helps.

By the way, I think this website is very helpful for travelers. The more of us we can get on here sharing the tricks of the trade the better equipped we will all be to land traveling positions that we want. Keep passing on the information!

Gav215
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Gav215 » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:07 pm

How do you guys get from location to location. Do you drive in the same car and each bring your own?

Hobohealth
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Hobohealth » Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:57 am

We absolutely despise long road trips in separate cars, so we do a lot to try and travel in one car. Our main move is buying and selling cars on Craigslist: http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/tag/craigslist/

We'll typically drive one car and buy one on Craigslist when we get where we're going. There's a lot of solid cars between $3,000 and $5,000 that you can sometimes sell for a profit at the end of the assignment if you put a little TLC into it. There is some stress with the buying/selling thing, but it's worth it to us.

I have friends who have shipped a car cross country... I seem to remember that they were able to do CA to FL for $800, I have never been able to find rates that cheap.

Jonson
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PT/OT Traveling Together and other misc questions...

Unread post by Jonson » Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:32 pm

My wife and I are thinking about traveling and have a few questions.

For one I am a PT and she is an OT, in terms of finding opportunities that may suit us in our desired locales, would that give us any leg up or hurt us?

Also, we are in the process of narrowing down what seems like hundreds of travel staffing companies, could you share any personal recommendations on companies and recruiters (email is [email protected]).

Thanks

Hobohealth
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Re: PT/OT Traveling Together and other misc questions...

Unread post by Hobohealth » Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:38 pm

Honestly it probably hurts you to be an OT and PT because you have to find 2 jobs in a small geographic area... on the other hand, if there's a hospital where you want to go that needs a PT and an OT, then you are in like Flynn.

There are lots of traveling couples out there that have a fine time finding two jobs for two people, you just need to be a little flexible if you run into a situation where one PT job and one OT job aren't available - be willing to flex on practice setting and location.

hamann84
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Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 3:15 pm

Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by hamann84 » Sun May 24, 2015 3:29 pm

Hello!

I am an OT with over 5 years of experience and my husband just graduated from PT school. I really want to work in peds if we decide to travel and I think I found the perfect company to fit my needs, but it looks like the company has the majority of its jobs in peds, and my husband wants an outpatient clinic ( adults).

Thoughts on if we should try to stay with one company for both of us? What are the benefits or downfalls of us being having two different contracts with two different companies? It kind of scares me to think about us working for two different companies.

Help and thank you!

Hobohealth
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Hobohealth » Tue May 26, 2015 5:37 pm

I don't think it matters whether you guys work for the same company or not - in fact I would encourage you to have him look with a couple companies. In my mind there's really no benefit to you two working for the same company, because you're going to be on separate contracts anyways. Expand your horizons, have him look wih a couple different recruiters, and see what the strengths and weaknesses of a couple different companies are.

I'm curious if your assignment will likely be in a school system or would it be a typical 3 month contract? I have close friends who are a PT/SLP couple and were able to travel for a few years on the school-year schedule where they would stay in one location for 9 months at a time while she worked a contract for the school year, and then they would move along to another place for the next year.

James

hamann84
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by hamann84 » Tue May 26, 2015 6:47 pm

Hi James,

Thank you for answering me! I would most likely be in a school contract ( 9 month) type setting and most likely ( or should I say preferably), he would be in an outpatient or inpatient adult setting. I am guessing that would be a typical 12 week contract. I wasn't sure if having two different companies would make things more complicated or not.

Thanks!
Heather

Robertso010
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Robertso010 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:51 pm

I wanted to get some of your opinions I realize this question is conditional.

When traveling with a significant other(We are PT/PT) is it common to have separate start and end dates?

Is your income taking a hit with excessive time off with no pay while your spouse may be finishing up their contract? What do you do to supplement your income while not contracted?

Is it common to be off from work for extended periods between contracts?

Roberts
Last edited by Robertso010 on Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hobohealth
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Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by Hobohealth » Tue Aug 04, 2015 6:53 am

We are usually able to negotiate start dates pretty close to each other. Or if one person can't start until a week or two later, negotiate either a shorter contract for them or a longer contract for the other. I think most recruiters are open to working with you to create start/end dates that work with your schedule.

You're right, extra time in between does affect your yearly income. We used to take a lot of time between assignments for different reasons - either just vacation or not finding the jobs we wanted right away or even getting to the assignment, but having to wait several days for a delayed license to come through. In recent years, we have gotten better at planning ahead and making sure we have licenses and that sort of thing set way ahead of time - we've managed to pretty effectively trim down that time in between assignments.

Organizing two assignments instead of just one when traveling as a couple adds a little extra challenge, but we're typically able to go where we want and find jobs that work out with our schedule.

Hope this info helps!

tweetytina3
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Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 6:13 pm

Re: OT/PT couple interested in traveling

Unread post by tweetytina3 » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:52 am

I'm a PT and my husband is an RN. I've been traveling for over a year but starting in the summer we'll be both doing travel work. I've usually found my own housing but was curious with us both having travel assignments if it's worth one of us taking the housing option from our company and the other the stipend, or is it still better to find our own housing and we both take the stipend?

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