During the pandemic, we loved to hear how Knack was used as an everyday backpack by so many frontline nurses and doctors. So we were recently excited that travel nurses Lindsay and Chase of the amazing Instagram account @wereoutnabout were able to try Knack for themselves.
Lindsay and Chase live full-time in their camper, and travel around the country working different hospital contracts. While they share lots of helpful and exciting content on their Instagram, we wanted to know more about their adventurous lives as location-independent travel nurses.
What has been your favorite travel nurse contract location so far, and what did you love about it?
“This is such a tough question because we always choose locations that we think we will have a blast exploring. I think our favorite was probably Tucson AZ. We traveled all around the state and explored the beauty of the state. And Sedona was one of our favorite places in Arizona - the red rocks and hiking was amazing!”
What tools do you use for staying organized - especially in a tiny space - on the road?
“We try to stay as organized as possible living in a tiny home. One of the things that helped the most was being very picky about what we take with us. We don’t have the space for useless items so we’re very selective on what we purchase or take with us on the road. We’ve learned to utilize all of the nooks and crannies in our RV for storage! We also try to keep our documents organized on apps so we don’t have to have a ton of paperwork and documents to carry around!”
Lindsay and Chase also mentioned that their Knack is an awesome tool for life on the road. “All the different compartments make it so unique and easy to stay organized; it’s definitely our favorite backpack.”
How do you unplug and relax in/around your camper after a long day working as travel nurses?
“We always choose resorts that have a pool/hot tub and some yard space so we can get outside. Aside from hanging out in the resort or at our campsite, we take our truck camper out on adventures around the state on our days off. We enjoy hiking, trying out breweries/local food, exploring NPs, kayaking, etc — pretty much anything outdoors related!”
Do you have any tips for staying connected with friends and family on the road?
“We have an endless data plan on our phones to make it easy to stay in touch and our RV resorts have wifi so that isn’t an issue. We also upload all of our adventure photos onto our social media and shared albums (google photos) so that our family can follow along!”
How does working as a travel nurse compare to a conventional nurse job? What are the greatest challenges?
“The job is pretty similar anywhere we travel. The biggest difference is only getting a few hours to a few days of orientation and then being expected to perform like every other member of the team. It has gotten easier to adapt for us the longer we’ve traveled! The hardest parts are learning the different charting system’s and the specific hospital policies/protocols to do a specific task.”
Hear more nurse stories here.
What’s your best advice for someone that would like to get into travel nursing?
“Do it!! We highly recommend gaining two years or more experience in your area of expertise and building your skill set + resume. Whenever you put in your time and feel confident and ready to travel — go for it! We recommend that you start researching now — and feel free to reach out to us @WereOutNAbout on Instagram with any questions. We share a lot of tips + tricks on our social media accounts!”
Lindsay and Chase were kind enough to share another wonderful nugget of advice:
“Don’t wait until you’re retired or for “someday” before you start traveling and chase your dreams!! Do it now! As ICU nurses, we have learned that you’re not always promised tomorrow or your health in the future. We made the decision to live our lives now while we’re young and have our health! A job and money will always be there waiting for you, but your health and time may not.”
Thank you, Lindsay and Chase, for sharing these great insights! Be sure to check out @wereoutnabout on Instagram.
Want to learn more about location-independent jobs? Check out this post on the One Bag Blog.
