The number one question that comes up when I’m sharing my current career as a travel nurse is: which assignment has been your favorite? My typical response to that inquiry, is that all five places that I have had the privilege of calling my temporary home have had good qualities and some that I did not care for. Nothing is perfect, right? Regardless of non-perfection, all have been amazing adventures I enjoyed experiencing so much that I continue to embrace my travel nursing career. Would I want to live permanently at any of the five places? That would be a hard no.
When I received the offer for my sixth assignment, my heart skipped a beat. What was different about this location than the others? It checked off all the positive aspects for me to include geographical location, environmental temperature, work environment and it was near the water.
Where was this exciting place? Drum roll please…..San Diego, California.
I immediately started my search for housing on my usual website, Furnished Finder. The website is my favorite because it is specifically for travel medical personnel. Knock on wood, I've had good luck with not being scammed using it (I thought that I had been when I moved to my Burbank, CA gig. I'll write the story about that at another time).
I snagged a rental that was about $800 more than I usually spent a month, but it was only a 0.4 mile walk to the beach. That beach wasn’t just any beach, it was Dog Beach. I was so excited about this aspect because Ninja loves to swim and water is good for my mental well-being for some reason. Hence, we both would have a blast. The following is from the website oceanbeachsandiego.com:
The Original Dog Beach in San Diego, CA is nationally famous and one of the first official leash-free beaches in the United States. It is a landmark in the community of Ocean Beach at the end of I-8 at the mouth of the San Diego River. Dog Beach is a special place where people and pets, beach lovers and surfers celebrate the spirit of Ocean Beach, one of Southern California's last true beach towns.
The housing rental had a comfy bed for me, a futon and a loft area with another bed. That set up was wonderful because who doesn't want to visit someone who is in San Diego. Now I had a place for some of my peeps to stay.
A mandatory check box item for this travel nurse is having a washer/dryer on the rental site, preferably without a fee. This place had both aspects, boom!
There was no oven. If I'm being honest, in the three years I've traveled I've probably used an oven four times. So I won't miss that at all. For cooking purposes there was an induction stove top built into the counter. That will work perfectly for all my cooking needs.
The gym is my stress relief. I was able to find one 2 miles away, which has all the things I enjoy.
The only “meh” aspect was the 12 mile drive to and from my workplace in La Jolla. I typically prefer a closer commute to work, but I was able to shift my schedule a bit to arrive at work earlier so that the traffic likely won’t be as congested. Driving home will take 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the traffic. Not a deal breaker.
I was so excited for this travel nurse living adventure, I was already hopeful to extend there before I even started. Will see how it goes.
I enjoyed your post. I travel for work, also. Not 6 month assignments, I’m usually out 3-4 weeks and home for 1 or 2. It’s always “fun” to learn the new places. Thank you for writing this, I am sure I will garner a few tips for the life of a traveler. I just subscribed.
Yes! We lived in Pacific Beach and loved it so much that when we moved, we moved only 6 doors down.
We loved the loop that we'd walk daily: 1 mile to the Pacific Ocean, and then cut back via Sail Bay.
Beautiful. 😍