No Regrets

Welcome to my travel blog! Many of you have asked that I start a blog. Even though I'm not very good with words or writing I'll give it a try! So here it goes...

Even before I began my nursing career I had big dreams to travel and see the world, but I always believed they were just that...dreams. I always wanted to believe that I would have the courage to pick up one day and travel the country, but I think deep down I knew I would never do it. I was scared. I mean, I love my home, I love my family, and I love my friends. Everything I needed was at my fingertips. How could I possibly want to leave everything I love? But I finally came to a point in my life where I decided I wanted more for myself than staying in the same city that I'd spent the last 29 years in. I wanted to live a life I could be proud of, with no regrets. I was stuck in a routine that seemed never-ending...work, sleep, eat, occasionally see family and friends. I started thinking to myself that there had to be more...that somehow, somewhere life had more planned for me. I couldn't just sit around waiting for things to happen in my life, I had to go out and make them happen for myself. So, I decided after 5 years in my nursing career to become a travel nurse. It was something I had always thought about doing in nursing school. I had spent the first 3.5 years of my nursing career doing neurosurgical nursing, and to feel comfortable traveling I knew I would need a broader range of experience. So I transferred departments and spent the past 1.5 years doing post anesthesia care in order to prep myself to become a travel nurse. Now what?

Well, I was sitting on the couch one day surfing the Internet, and decided to request "more info" on a travel nurse website. I thought it couldn't hurt to talk to someone and see what my options were. Well, to my surprise I received 2 phone calls, from 2 different companies within 45 mins of submitting my information. After that, the whole process became a whirlwind!

So here I am. I left home on March 6, 2012 and arrived in Los Angeles, California on March 10, 2012. These first 2 weeks have been hectic...driving across country (with two cats!), moving into a new apartment, orientation for work, and navigating Los Angeles, which is crazy confusing!! But it's been fun! I already feel refreshed and like there's new life inside of me! Here are a few pictures from the road...

Texas is crazy flat....nothing as far as the eye can see

Ran into a little snow storm in NM

Beautiful

Loved the drive through Arizona

Arizona open road

That can't be good...watch out!

Arizona is amazing!

After 4 days of driving....I finally arrived!!!!!

I was surprised by each state I drove through...they were all different from what I had imagined in my head. For example....Texas was enormous and insanely FLAT! I would be driving and there would be nothing in site for miles! Then out of nowhere, a town would pop up. It reminded me of a Miranda Lambert song in which she sings..."and the Texas sky is the biggest one I've seen" She was completely right! And my favorite part of the drive was going through the mountains in Arizona....so breathtakingly beautiful...I'm surprised I didn't drive myself off a cliff while looking around! But finally, after 10 hours a day of driving and over 2,200 miles I made it to my destination. It was definitely an interesting and exhausting trip, but one I'm sure to remember for the rest of my life!

I'll end with a quote I found about 2 years ago that I believe inspired me to do all of this in the first place...

      "The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur

 when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. 

For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that

 we are likely to step out of our ruts."    ~M.Scott Peck