Official Nursing Blog

Travel nursing presents RNs with 50 states worth of opportunity and innumerable adventures–both en route to the destination and in those first few weeks acclimating to a new home. You want to make sure you’re organized well in advance of Moving Day, relaxed and eager to report for duty. It starts with a great list!

Travel Nurse Packing List

With decades of experience under our belts helping travel nurses settle in, we’ve found that breaking your list into categories works best.

• Clothing & accessories
• Important documentation (ie. driver’s license, Social Security card and birth certificate. The medical facility where you will be working may need a copy of your credentials or your professional services agreement)
• Prescriptions & hard to replace personal items like contacts, eye glasses
• All your tech savvy devices (i.e. cell phone, laptop, camera)
• Kitchenware (pots, pans, dishes and cutlery)
• Towels & bedding
• Recreational equipment, (i.e. roller blades, hiking or ski gear)
• Books & media you can’t live without

Notice we left off travel nurse job location. The same goes for stuff like hangers and health & beauty supplies that come cheap no matter where you are.Your personal consultant, who helps coordinate your travel nurse housing, will advise on what to jot down for each packing category. Your consultant narrows down personal “must haves” during the travel nurse assignment by helping you decide if you want a turn-key apartment or standard furnished unit.For assignments under 8 weeks, a turn-key, corporate hotel or month-to-moth studio pre-equipped with kitchenware is the most ideal—this way, you head off for your travel nurse destination without the extra luggage. For those longer assignments, a private apartment is more likely. No worries about basic furniture, we provide a furnished apartment.  All you have to do is bring your own sheets and dishes. Still, it’s important to fully discuss with your Consultant upon accepting a travel nursing job what you will require for your housing needs, particularly if you plan on traveling with a significant other or a furry friend.

Remember that, when it comes to recreational gear and clothing, your packing choices really depend on where it is you’re going! Every state in the U.S. has something unique to offer its travelers, be they mountains to climb, bunny slopes to master or oceans to snorkel in. If museum touring and air-conditioned sight seeing is more your thing than the great outdoors, you still want to be comfortable and blend in with the locals. In the month leading up to Day 1 of the travel nurse assignment, check the local forecasts from week to week and see what the standard is; will it require sweaters, slacks and coats or casual wear that breathes in the heat? Some the 50 States Staffing past travel nurse newsletter offers great tips as well and it will get your packing juices flowing; our registered nurse jobs are in destinations tourists dream about, all over the United States!

If you’re still hoping to land that perfect travel nurse assignment and are scouring various travel nurse career resources to find nurse interview tips and reasons to feel GREAT about becoming a highly paid traveling nurse, read our myth buster post. In the meantime, happy trails, travel nurses!