We've been on the road now for over 6 years and even though we love our lifestyle, it seems a little naive to ignore the downsides of travel therapy. We work as traveling physical therapists but as a whole, any travel therapy position will come with its ups and downs.

Not to be too negative but be prepared for several downs or roadblocks as we like to call them. With any job, there are bound to be aspects you would change or at the very least "live without".

Don't let the frustrations or struggles completely turn you off to the idea of traveling therapy but instead use it to your advantage. Know what may lay ahead so you can better prepare and be ready to tackle anything.

Settling Down

When you sign on to be a travel therapist, you typically sign a 3-month contract in a location and then from there, move on to somewhere new. There are often chances to work with the company to "extend your stay" for a contract renewal but nothing in the travel therapy world lasts forever.

Technically you could sign on to be a permanent work at the end of your contract but if you're actually all-in of the travel therapy lifestyle you will at some point change job assignments. Travel is in the name after all.

For us, we love the nomad lifestyle so moving around was part of what drew us to traveling therapy in the first place. But we are now at the point where in order to get a semblance of "setting down" we have to take fewer assignments.

We have "settled down" in Portland but still only spend about half the year there as we typically take two 3-month assignments a year. Again, we love this setup and it works great for us but we know it's not for everyone.

Even when we traveled with a travel trailer bringing our belongings with us, it still never felt like that was our "forever spot". Every job is temporary in the travel therapy world so make yourself at home but know that at some point you are going to leave.

At different locations we have joined soccer leagues, made new friends, and found yoga classes but in the end, we know at some point we will move on. And that's okay because we love our new experiences as well.

Saying Goodbye

Hopefully, you've already caught on to the coming and going of travel therapy, but you might not realize that it comes with a lot of goodbyes. Not all goodbyes are bad but some are hard.

When a job is stressful it can almost be euphoric to say goodbye but leaving an assignment also means leaving everyone you met. We have met some amazing people over our past year's and those have been some hard goodbyes.

Well, they are hard for Kelsey, Phil isn't really affected by goodbyes and is probably happy he has fewer commitments to hang out with others. But it is always sad knowing someone and then realizing you will not see them nearly as much as you have been.

We're not saying the goodbyes are permanent. We've made so many lasting relationships and come to visit as often as time allows. But we travel for our jobs, travel for fun, and want time at home so you are working with a limited visiting schedule.

Visits to Medical Facilities

Before every new job assignment, we get an email from our travel company's compliance department. They make sure everything is ready to go according to what the next job requires for our medical records.

If something is missing from your medical record, they are nice enough to set you up at some medical facility nearby. It's typically a one-stop shop where you can get all of the required services in one go but it can be a long appointment, up to 3 hours sometimes.

You also have to do this for every assignment and each one may require something different. Then when you add in changing companies, you might be getting double services if you don't have the records from your last job.

Just in 2021, we got 2 physicals within a 5-month time frame because only our previous company had the records so the new company had to set up a new one for their records. We've also found that therapy offices are way more diligent when it comes to their travelers than their permanent staff.

Ever since we started out as traveling hospital therapists we have been fit tested for the correct N95 mask yearly. Allegedly this is something every employee needs but we can't tell you how many coworkers told us they just got fit tested for the first time...ever...because the pandemic hit.

It's nice knowing we are held to a high standard but it results in a visit to a medical facility before every single assignment. It quickly adds up to a lot of time spent in a waiting room.

Variety of Onboarding

Oh, orientation...what even is orientation? We have a friend also in healthcare who just started a new job and she was telling us about her 2-week orientation.

There is also a lot of variety in what training we actually get...

This sounded entirely foreign to us as we will probably never have this in our entire time as traveling therapists. There is also a lot of variety in what training we actually get when we start an assignment.

In our very first job because we were new grads we got a few days of orientation and then the remainder of the week they tried to stagger patients as much as possible. In a recent job, we didn't even get a day.

At this point, it's almost crazier if we don't have a least some patient to see the very first day. We like to think we are quick learners so as long as we get a working log-in to the documentation system, we can make anything work.

Most of the time, we don't even have a working login at first and it takes all day for HR to work their magic. We typically go in and just do what we know (which is physical therapy) and go from there.

Uncertainty

When you go from new place to new place, you almost never know what you're going to get. There is so much uncertainty that comes with the travel therapy territory.

Even though we interview, it's typically a quick over-the-phone mostly about when can you start. We ask a decent amount of questions but there is still just so much you won't know until you get there.

With every assignment, we know we can be walking into anything really. Traveling together obviously helps with this because we at least have someone at our side facing the same situation.

Luckily, this is where travel companies are a huge help. If something is completely different from what was discussed, your company should have your back.

Therapy State Licensure

When we graduated as physical therapists, we had to sit for our national board exam. You'd think once we passed the national exam, we would then be good to work nationally but no.

Each state you want to work in comes with its own set of guidelines for getting licensed to practice there. Some states have joined a compact agreement to make it easier but there are still several steps to take.

Getting a state license for physical therapy isn't a huge deal but it does add time and money. Most companies will reimburse as long as you take an assignment with them.

There are sometimes a lot of random tasks though. Some states are more time-consuming than others.

Then you need to decide if you want to renew which typically happens every two years. Again, the process is mostly just time and money but if you want to maintain several states at a time it can be a lot.

Money Management

Travel therapy comes with a better paycheck. And when we're working, we typically get paid weekly which is also very nice.

But you need to remember, you are not always working. We take time in between assignments which is awesome but it also means we are not getting a paycheck those weeks (or months).

We end up making the same in 6 months of traveling therapy as we would for a year of a permanent job but the money comes in waves. It's up to you to be really good with money management.

Or you could also just work all the time but that's not our style. We're more of the work, life balance type.

Benefits

In the travel therapy world, you may or may not get benefits such as paid time off, retirement, and health insurance. Some companies cover it but with stipulations for how long you've worked with them.

Even if you get day-one benefits, you will often lose them the moment your assignment ends or if you switch travel companies. Again, this isn't a huge problem but does put more responsibility on you.

...does put more responsibility on you.

We have our own health insurance, our own retirement plan, and just plan for vacations without pay. Even with all of these expenses, we come out way ahead of a normal therapy salary but if it wasn't was for Phil and his money management, there's no telling where we would be.

Taxes

It would be an injustice to write a whole post about the travel therapy cons without hitting a major pain in the butt...taxes. When you work as a contract worker, your due diligence with taxes is extra important.

We have a permanent tax home that we have not abandoned and we duplicate expenses (IRS lingo) in one state and then work in at least one other state a year, sometimes more. This makes for an interesting tex return, to say the least.

In our house, we have what we call "a healthy fear" of the IRS. The last thing we want is to owe money all because we misunderstood an aspect of an already confusing system working between states.

Phil saves the day once again and puts a lot of time into our taxes to make sure everything is where it needs to be. But if your patience and knowledge with taxes are low, we highly suggest finding an accountant who specializes in travel therapy. (shout out to Travel Tax).

Dealing with the Cons of Travel Therapy

As with any job, there will be some pros and cons so obviously traveling therapy is in the same boat. The difference here though is that oftentimes, things are not something you'll find at a permanent job.

But with everything, there is a give and take. Yea you'll have to deal with random roadblocks as a traveling therapist but you get a lot back as well.

It's all about finding balance and finding what aspects are most important to you. For us, the downsides of travel therapy are more than worth it.

That's why we've been traveling for years with no plans to change that any time soon. But we're also realists and would never be over here saying "travel therapy is perfect, everyone should do it".

It might not be a great fit for everyone but we think it's something everyone could at least try.

---