Travel Nursing: Turn Every Assignment Housing into a Home

If it’s your first time to travel, then you really don’t know what to expect with regard to travel nurse housing. True, your travel nurse staffing company can send you pictures of your temporary dwelling if you ask and you can do extensive research online to find out more about the neighborhood. In this day and age, there’s no reason why you can’t find out information about a particular location, how safe it is, how far it is from the nearest shopping center, etc.

But until you’re really there, until you’ve stepped inside the house itself, you just can’t be sure of anything.

As a travel nurse you get to live in a different city with every new assignment that comes your way. It’s great, sure, and exciting. But it can also be a little frightening, especially if you’re not used to moving. Every new place tends to feel strange and cold. It’s a house but not a home. Even if your housing has all the amenities and space you need, making it feel like home is up to you.

Of course, there are some things that more experienced travel nurses do to make their stay at their new housing cozier.

The first thing you probably want to do after the long drive or flight to your new city is to hit the sack. Travel nursing staffing companies typically provide housing that comes with pillows and blankets but many travel nurses bring their own. You should too. Personal pillows and blankets will almost instantly make your new bed that much more inviting and cozy. Even if you’re the type of person who can’t sleep on a strange bed, your pillows and blankets will convince your body that this is your bed, not some stranger’s.

Adding accessories to the rest of the house will also help liven up your space. A small rug, some throw pillows or maybe even a tablecloth or two can help add color to your temporary house.

Not everything needs to be packed and brought from home. Once you have rested, go out shopping for small houseplants and flowers to decorate your new home with. Perhaps look around for some scented candles to help create ambiance in your housing.

Consider all the things you can live with and you can’t live without then try to compromise with yourself. Obviously travel nurses can’t make any permanent changes in the housing unit. You can’t, for instance, repaint the walls with your favorite color. But you can bring keepsakes like photos of your loved ones and display them prominently in the living area. You can’t buy new furniture but you can move stuff around to suit your preference.Some travel nurses also bring their own utensils with them. These little details help travel nurses feel more comfortable in their new environment.

Finally, even if you don’t plan to do much cooking while you’re on an assignment, stock up the fridge anyway. If you think about it, thirteen weeks—which is the average length of an assignment—isn’t a long time but it is a while. You may as well get comfortable.