Welcome To My Travel Nurse Blog! I’m Ashly, the creator of The Travel Nurse Life

My name is Ashly and I am the owner/slave to this website. I am just an average person who has always felt that I was meant for more, and so this is my way of obtaining that through running my own site and helping others looking for a guide on the life of a travel nurse.

About Me

I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA, and lived there until I was 17 when my dad moved us up to the Oregon Coast.

At that time I was still a senior in high school so I got REALLY into Nirvana (cue teenage angst).

After I graduated high school I decided to go to the University of Oregon and got my Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies (I also lived in South Africa for a bit, working at a refugee center).

After graduation, I moved to Portland, OR because it was the next logical choice. I might add that I graduated college in 2009 which is when the economy went to shit.

So…I became a bartender and lived the food industry party life for the next 8 years. (Can you blame me? I worked on the hottest street making boat-loads of money and partying every night — every twenty-something’s dream).

I then decided that I couldn’t live like this forever and needed a new career path.

After some exploring (and lots of unnecessary student loan bills while I was figuring it out) I decided that I would become an RN.

Here is where it gets crazy

I worked my ass off to get into the best nursing school in Portland, got in, and then one month before Covid, the school announced it was closing due to “financial issues”. The school had been around for over 100 years!

Anyways, the next month, COVID hit and since our school was closing and I still had one year to go, we were given the option to either stay in Portland and finish school 100% online, doing our clinicals on teddy bears, or move to Milwaukee, WI and finish in-person, and in-hospital at a sister school.

Needless to say, I opted for the move. 

So here I was, in the middle of a pandemic, my work of 8 years had closed, I had broken up with my boyfriend, and I moved across the country with myself and 7 others who decided to do the same.

It was an interesting time, to say the least.

So I graduated (with honors), got a job at a busy inter-urban emergency department in downtown Milwaukee, got my ass kicked for a year as a new RN, and then said, “F*ck this. I’m getting out of here and I’m doing it through travel nursing”.

And so I did. With only one year of experience, I hustled my way into a travel nurse job in Aberdeen, WA, and never looked back.

Why Start This Website?

Present day, I have a pretty good life. I make excellent money, I can pretty much do anything I want since I am so mobile…but I wanted more. I wanted to start and grow my empire which would be my online business.

So I started this website. 

My goal for this blog is to showcase and help others explore the modern travel nurse life.

I have searched and searched, and I cannot find any other resource out there for people like me who are living the nomad life, not in a digital way, since I work in the physical world.

I want to give advice and tips and share my story of what it is like to move every 4 months — and to do it with two cats.

Who Is This Blog For?

This blog is not just for travel nurses, but for anyone who has a job that requires them to travel: flight attendants, pilots, train conductors, cruise ship workers, people who teach English abroad, nannies, scientists, photographers, entertainers, truck drivers, insurance adjusters, salesmen, and even digital nomads such as bloggers, social media strategist, and the list goes on.

Do I Have to Be A Nomad To Benefit From This Site?

Hell to the no!

You could be someone looking for packing tips, how to become a travel nurse, how to find short-term housing, or even someone interested in starting their own blog (like me!). 

So please, read my articles, watch my YouTube videos, check out my Amazon Storefront for packing essentials, and take a look at my Pinterest if you’re really bored. 

If you have any questions or are interested in working together or maybe you have a similar business, please feel free to reach out!

I look forward to sharing my and my two babies, Luna and Charlie, lives with you!