Alaska

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adlapierre
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:59 pm

Alaska

Unread post by adlapierre » Mon Jan 16, 2017 6:57 pm

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are taking the plunge into the travel world after a couple of years of egging on from several good friends already on the road. One of our desirable locations is Alaska.

Has anyone worked as a traveler up in the great north?
What should we negotiate as far as travel reimbursement (flights, etc.)?
Has anyone negotiated a rental car into their contract?

Any advice would be greatly welcomed.

Cheers,
Austin

Hobohealth
Site Admin
Posts: 141
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:32 pm
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Re: Alaska

Unread post by Hobohealth » Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:51 am

Austin,

I'll include some links to some of my blogs from my Alaska time. They aren't necessarily all my best work, but hopefully they can give you some idea about travel PT and also about doing an assignment in Alaska.

I did an assignment up there in 2012. At that time, my wife and I did not get contracts through agency, but found them on our own by calling around and with the help of a PT friend in Wasilla. I'd start with an agency, but if you strike out, go the independent route.
http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/profess ... ob-search/

I would guess that a solid travel reimbursement for relocation would be somewhere between $1000 and $2000 (it's typical to just get a chunk of money for relocation). Alaska does pay pretty well, so if you are offered a job, negotiate and aim higher than what I would consider typical. I was paid $1800/week (I can't remember if any of that was tax free, I tend to think a portion of that was tax free for housing). The clinic my wife worked for had an extra car that they included in her compensation package. In the past, we have rented a car through Priceline which worked well - name your rate 30 days at a time and the accept or deny your proposed rate. The downside with Priceline is you may get a great rate one month, but it can change the next. Typically, for our far away assignments, we buy a cheapo car and try to sell it at the end.

If it appeals to you, drive up to Alaska. We drove to Alaska and returned on the Marine State Highway (a series of car ferries). The trip up to Alaska and back down are two of my favorite memories from 10 years of traveling.
The trip up: http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/travel-2/the-journey/
The trip back down: http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/roadtri ... erry-trip/

About housing in AK: http://hobohealth.com/wordpress/travel-2/the-housing/

I hope this helps,definitely write with more questions if you have them!

James

COTAtraveler
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:47 pm

Re: Alaska

Unread post by COTAtraveler » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:52 pm

Hey!

I'm a COTA and I did an assignment in Alaska for 6 months in a pediatric outpatient clinic. I was compensated enough, I allowed them to find my housing and they also paid for a rental car and arranged my flights up there. I haven't had much experience yet with finding my own housing, so I figured it was easier for the company to set it up. It ended up being a furnished apartment of a friend of the owner of the clinic I worked at, so I'm sure she made sure they didn't pay as much. My pay package was decent, even with everything they paid for.

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