Travel Nursing While Married: From A Married Travel Nurse

We’ve been asked about Travel Nursing while married more times than we can count. We’re chatting with a married travel nurse, Marcie Burton, an ICU nurse in California for the last 16 years. Who better to ask about Travel Nursing while Married than Marcie? She’s been traveling with her husband, Tom, for almost a year in their Vintage 1984 22′ Winnebago named Chief.

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What do you love about travel nursing while married?

We love being at the beach together all summer, parked right on the sand every day. We took surf lessons and kayaked, rode our bikes. People pay millions for a house with the view we had for free together.”

What do you love about travel nursing?

“We love traveling in Chief. Everything I could possibly need is with me. It’s difficult sometimes though, finding a place to park is not easy. Our best assignment, in Ventura, was the hardest when it came to a place to live. Ventura is an amazing beach town, but pretty snooty about RVs and there is a large homeless population living in RVs there also. None of the RV parks would take us long-term because our rig is over 10 years old. We were moving daily, staying in parking lots at night and showering at Planet Fitness because we didn’t have a reliable source of water. After our bicycle seats were stolen while we slept, the hospital let us sleep in their parking lot on the nights I worked but we had to move in the morning. It all worked out though.

What is the hardest part of travel nursing?

“The hardest part of travel nursing is leaving your comfort zone. That is an achievement in itself when you’ve been somewhere for so long. I gave up the best work BFFs a girl could ask for to embark on this adventure. My 27-year-old, autistic son, Brody, is with my Mom and Dad and my 22-year-old daughter, Bailey, is in nursing school right now and this is how we will get her started in life without huge debt.”

Anything else you’d like to add?

“We are going to keep traveling, saving money where we can to pay Bailey’s tuition. It’ll be nice to use Wanderly to help us see the best pay packages without talking to so many recruiters. Sometimes it feels like you’re trying to buy a car. Bailey will graduate in October 2019 then we would like to get a bigger motorhome so we can take Brody with us on some adventures. Next stop: El Centro, Ca on the border with Mexico. It’ll be interesting and fun. We’re taking my daughter’s Jeep for some fun in the desert and the dunes of So Cal.”

What’s your go-to coffee order?

I don’t drink coffee anymore, but I’m addicted to the saltine crackers at the hospitals. They just don’t taste the same at home. 😉

Thanks to Marcie for sharing her life and adventures as a travel nurse on this week’s Nurse Talk. We wish you the best of luck with everything!

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