Are you on the fence about whether or not you should become a travel PT? I get it. In the beginning, there are so many unanswered questions and what if’s. What if I don’t like my job? How do I know it will be right for me? What if I don’t like the area I’m in? How am I supposed to find housing on such short notice? These are all valid questions and questions that you definitely need to consider! BUT, I’m going to give you FIVE reasons why I think you should take the step forward and never look back!
Before fully convincing you that this is the road you should take, you should definitely check out some of these other posts to make sure that becoming a Travel PT is right for you!
- The FAQs About Travel Physical Therapy
- Is Travel Therapy Right for You?
- A Student’s Guide to Becoming a New Grad Travel Therapist
- Travel Therapy Recruiters: Choosing Whose Right for You
- Travel Therapy Housing Pros & Cons
#1 LIFE IS SHORT, TAKE THE LEAP!
It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you have been in the same job for 1 year or 10 years, it’s never too late to change gears. Becoming a travel PT lets you see the world in a way you can’t do over 2 week vacation periods in a normal job. You get to live in an area for months at a time and really explore every nook and cranny that place and surrounding places have to offer.
You can choose to live by the ocean, in the mountains, downtown in New York City, or anywhere your heart desires. That’s what is so AMAZING about becoming a travel PT! You can literally go anywhere you have dreamed and soon you’ll find out that this is your reality and it’s pretty incredible to be living your dream life!
#2 FORM GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS
The hardest part about being a travel PT is being away from family and friends from back home. Luckily, I travel with my wife. She’s my best friend and we have so much fun together every day, every weekend, all the time. But as much as I love my wife, it’s nice to have other friendships and relationships outside of my marriage. But how do you meet people and form those relationships if you are leaving in 3-6 months? By the time you finally get to know someone, you have to say bye to them. It was hard in the beginning until I changed my mindset.
It’s very easy to have the mindset that it’s okay to be alone or with your partner all the time. You love them, so why bother meeting new people if you’re leaving soon anyways? Well, that can get a little lonely even when traveling with your partner. But once you switch your mindset to allow yourself to be fully invested in someone else’s life because you know that you won’t get much time with them, you actually can form a deeper connection a lot faster than you think! Having that mindset has allowed me to form countless relationships with co-workers and patients of mine.
Once I made that shift, traveling got exponentially better! I put myself out there in hopes to attract like-minded people. I’ve gone to dinners, special events, birthday parties, etc with co-workers and friends because I truly valued our relationship and our time together. Becoming a travel PT I knew I would meet new people and hopefully make friends, but I didn’t know the impact that those people would have on my life. Even for a short period of time, knowing I may never see them again, I created genuine relationships with people that I will cherish forever. And I’ll be forever grateful for having met them on this journey.
#3 BRANCH OUT OF YOUR NORM
All grad programs are different, but mine consisted of having to take clinical rotations in multiple settings. So ideally you should know what you like and dislike about certain settings before you graduate. However, things change, your interests change, and that’s OK! Coming out of grad school, I knew I wanted to work in an outpatient orthopedic setting. My first three jobs though, mid-pandemic, were in skilled nursing facilities. Those were really the only jobs hiring at the time. At first, I was nervous, and yes I was still itching to get into outpatient. However, looking back it was kind of nice. This forced me out of my comfort zone and this is where the most growth as a person and clinician will take place.
Since then, I mainly work in outpatient settings, but I’ve also done home health. I’ve learned so much more about what I like and dislike about different settings, different companies, and different managerial styles. Not all jobs are created equal and I think that is something that has really played a huge part in a lot of my decisions. I’ve worked in multiple different clinics and seen how a great clinic can be run. So if you’re stuck at a job that you don’t particularly like, just know that your contract will end soon and you can change things up!
That’s another AWESOME thing about becoming a travel PT. If you’re not happy with where you’re at you don’t have to stress about finding another job right away. Your contract will end soon enough and you can change settings, clinics, and even STATES! Now you have even more questions to ask during an interview, things to look for when searching for your next job, etc. And hopefully, your next contract will be better!
#4 IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
Most contracts start off at 13 weeks long. What do you do when a contract ends? Whatever you want to do! If you’re ready to hop right on into the next contract, great! Do you want to fly home and visit family for a week, great! Or how about taking a month off and going backpacking through Europe, GREAT! The point is, you get to choose! You have complete control over your time off. Depending on what companies you work with, you may even have built up a few days for PTO.
We like to take at least one week off in between our contracts. Most of the time our commutes from one contract to another have been quite a journey anyways. So we take it slow and visit any National Parks, State Parks, popular destinations, or anything that piques our interest! That also then leaves a few days to get moved in and settled before starting work again. It’s just another added benefit that travel PT provides. An exceptional work/life balance that is strictly up to us!
#5 MAKE MORE $$$
Okay, the last one’s a no-brainer, you make more money! Who doesn’t love more money? Whether you are trying to pay off your student loans, save for a future home, or just simply want more money to spend more money, becoming a travel PT will help you do all of that!
A huge factor when it comes to pay is location. Depending on the area that you signed a contract can depend on how much you make. California pays pretty well, but housing will be more expensive there. Contracts in the middle of nowhere Kansas will pay well, but there won’t be anything to do. We try to go with medium pay and a highly rewarding location. Location is everything to us! We want to see as much as we can within a 4-6 hour driving range of an area. So, if that means we aren’t getting paid the most, that’s okay because it’s worth it! And even a lower-paying travel job is typically (not always) more than you’d be making as a permanent employee at that location. But one of these days we may just take a contract in the middle of nowhere, save up, and do nothing. Sounds kind of nice too.
DID I CONVINCE YOU??
I don’t know about you, but I just convinced myself to continue to keep doing travel PT for a few more years! In all seriousness though, there are a lot of things to consider about becoming a travel physical therapist. And hopefully, with the other posts I recommended, this one was the cherry on top for convincing you to take the leap and join us! I would love to help get you started and answer any more questions you might have! Contact me for any recommendations on travel PT or just travel in general! Good luck and have fun!!