Travel Nursing: Making the Most out of Your Day Off Adventure

In general, nurses take their job seriously. They are passionate about taking care of patients and living up to their fullest potential in the workplace. Travel nurses in particular are exceptional employees.  Their patients, superiors and coworkers expect nothing less. As such, because nurses work hard, they deserve to play just as hard.

Yet, many nurses don’t quite know what to do on their days off from work. Many travel nurses get option paralysis especially during their first couple of weeks in a new assignment. What to do? Sightsee. Sure, but which area should they do first? There are so many options. And then there’s the question of whether they should go alone or invite their new co-workers. When you find yourself stressing over the details of your mini-vacation, it’s best to take a step back and try to remember that the primary goal of a getaway is to relax and have a good time.

Relaxation is key here because you want to get back to work revitalized and healthy, both physically and mentally. So try not to strain yourself too much.

This means that if you’re going to drive, make sure that your target destination isn’t so far away that you feel more spent after your vacation and right before.

Carefully plan out your days. Try to pick out the places you’d want to pass through that are in the immediate area of your destination and list them down. Treat that list as tentative and not imperative so that if you miss a few detours, due to time constraint or you’re just too tired, you won’t feel like the trip was a failure.

Finally, try to head back early. Don’t feel like you need to squeeze every minute of your days off by lingering around on the last day. Make sure that you get enough sleep the night before you get back to work or all that revitalization you did would be for nothing.

Taking a vacation when you have three or four days off is a great way to recharge your battery and de-stress. If you’re on a travel nursing assignment, you are definitely encouraged to have mini-vacations on your days off. For one thing, exploring new places is one of the reasons why travel nursing is so great. To throw that opportunity away would be such a waste.