I hope everyone had such a wonderful holiday with their families and friends. We were off for a few weeks between Nebraska and our next assignment. We spent time in NH and visited Maine. It was honestly incredible! We were able to able to spend time with both sides of the family, and also see some close friends. It’s always hard fitting everything in two weeks, we typically are very busy the entire time we are home, and still don’t have time to see everyone. Nick continued to work throughout these two weeks, he was even able to go into the office some days! We left for assignment number #7 last week! If you haven’t caught on we moved to Alaska for 13 weeks. One week in Alaska and I can tell you… we love it!
Before we headed to Alaska, we had a few things to figure out before arriving. The first step was booking our flights. We also needed to find a rental car, and a place to live. I thought I’d touch on how we go about these things, as a lot of people have asked.
As you read in my last blog, the flights were a little fiasco. Typically, it doesn’t go like that… You start booking your flights, and the company will reimburse a certain amount. My blog about breaking down pay goes into great detail about reimbursements. Every contract is different about how much they will give you to travel to, and from this location. Let’s break down our flights. We don’t book a return ticket, as we don’t know when we will be staying from and it’s typically not cheaper to book a round trip (I know this surprised me too!).
Our first step after booking flights was a car rental. There’s a few ways to go about this. Nick and I have always driven to our location, and haven’t had to rent a car. There are three options for car rentals. 1. There are a lot of travel Facebook groups that people post their cars, and rent to individuals privately, 2. Turo, 3. Car rental company (ie hertz, budget, and enterprise). We needed to rent an SUV in the winter time with all wheel drive, and good tires. Everyone’s most common question is, will the company pay for a car rental? In a way, yes they are paying for car rental, but the whole car rental won’t be covered. The company gives a stipend for meals and housing. You can choose to find a cheaper apartment, and account for the car rental. I tried to break it down in this example. For more information about pay and stipends, see my blog: breaking down travel nurse pay and finding a place to live/duplicating expenses:
Privately rented: We considered going through a private person through a travel group that rents their car privately. This is what the typical ad looks like. This is typically a cheaper option, but we decided against it because if something was wrong with the car, we’d have to return it and get a new rental. Wrong meaning mechanical issues. When it’s a private company, you have to go through the whole process of finding a new car. We ultimately decided against this option.
- Turo: I never heard of Turo until I started looking at Alaska, and Hawaii assignments. Turo is the largest car sharing market from peer to peer. This is definitely the cheapest option of the three. We did a lot of research on Turo, and reviews of Turo. This is a typical Turo ad. There are a few cons of Turo that we found in our research: 1. Hidden trip fees 2. Your personal insurance may not cover yourself in the rental from Turo. 3. Mileage limits. Pros of using turo: 1. The Turo owner is responsible for any mechanical issues. This is also a con as, if something is mechanically wrong, you have to return the car, get a refund, and find another rental on your own.
- Rental car companies (ie: hertz, enterprise, and budget): We all know that this is the most expensive option of them all. It’s also a very convenient option. Pros of choosing rental car companies. 1. If something was wrong with the vehicle, you make a phone call, and someone will get you a new rental car. There’s no additional work. 2. No mileage limit. 3. Your own insurance works with this option. Cons of choosing a rental car company: 1. Cost; this is definitely a major con. It’s more expensive than the two other options. Some companies also have discount codes with Costco, bjs, Sam’s club, and also your travel company (thanks aya!)
We were between Turo, and doing a rental car company. Ultimately, our decision was easier when we saw the car rental company was only $200 more a month. For convenience and ease of mind, we went with a three month rental from budget. We were able to use my discount code from Aya to save some money!
Okay we are done with flights and car rentals, our next final step before heading off was figuring out a place to live. In my earlier blogs, I talk about how travel nurses find housing and housing stipends. We have used furnish finders for six assignments. This has been a successful positive experience. There are multiple ways to find short term housing for travel nurses.
- Airbnb/vrbo: Airbnb is always a good option for short term, and long term rentals. This is definitely a more expensive option, as they charge a lot of hidden fees. We have stayed away from doing these options for long term rentals, as it ends up being more expensive. See below about an example of housing/hidden fees. We’ve used vrbo/Airbnb for short term rentals. It’s a great option for that!
- Furnished finders: In my previous blogs, I’ve talked a lot about housing and touched on furnished finder. Furnished finder is a website that has long and short term rentals geared towards travel nurses, and military folks. These apartments are rented by private individuals. This option is typically cheaper than other options, furnished, and includes utilities.
- Facebook market: People will privately post their rentals on the Facebook marketplace. This is another cheaper option, but there’s a bigger chance with scam as they aren’t audited beforehand like the furnished finder website.
We ended up renting with furnished finders again. It hasn’t failed us yet. Check out our new place in anchorage! Every place has pros and cons. At the end of our assignment, I’ll talk about those.
I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful new year. Have you decided what your new year’s resolutions are? Also, if anyone wanted to know… we saw a moose within an hour of being in Alaska. It’s now a goal and the secret word is SPOTTED. Moose count:3
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TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick 
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