We at Travel Therapy Mentor often get questions from prospective travel therapists about traveling as a pair, either with a partner/spouse or with a friend. We have traveled as a pair since we were new grads in 2015, and we know lots of other travelers who travel with a partner or friend! There are a lot of pros and cons to consider with traveling as a pair, and some specific logistics too! We’re excited to share this guest post from our friends and fellow travel couple, Hailey and T.R. Jamar, a travel OT/PT pair, about their experience traveling as a pair!
What’s better than getting to see the country, getting experience in multiple work settings, living in a variety of desirable locations, having flexible opportunities for as much time off as you want between contracts, all while experiencing countless adventures along the way?? — Doing it with someone you love! Whether it’s your spouse, significant other, or your best friend – traveling as a pair has such great opportunities and benefits!
We are Hailey (OT) & T.R. (PT) Jamar, also known as the Tie Dye Travelers. We have been doing travel therapy together since August 2021, and six out of six of our contracts together so far were not only in the same state, not only in the same town, but all six contracts were actually at the same facility with the same schedule! When we landed our very first contracts together, our recruiter was so excited and told us that this was a “unicorn” situation to be able to be at the same facility together. Little did we know that that unicorn situation wasn’t so rare after all, and we would be able to work the next five contracts together again at the same facility.
Being at the same facility together each time meant we were always able to carpool. We enjoyed sipping coffee together on the drive into work, getting ready for the day, and unwinding from the day’s events together on the drive home. This also opened our options for choosing housing locations. We didn’t mind living 30 minutes away if necessary for a better housing option since we knew we got to make the drive together.
We realize this amount of “together time” isn’t for everyone, but we have absolutely loved it. We also live in an RV (again, not for everyone) — so we get asked all the time “Don’t y’all get sick of each other?” No, turns out we love each other, and we enjoy spending as much time together as possible– that’s why we got married!
How Did We Get Started?
As soon as I learned in occupational therapy school that travel therapy was a thing, I knew that was the route I wanted to go eventually. Then as my husband was finishing physical therapy school two years later, we knew that would be our plan. So, we renovated an RV and prepared ourselves to start living life on the road! As soon as T.R. took his board exam, we loaded up the RV and headed out west without a job at the time, but excited for the adventures ahead and confident that something would work out along the way – and it did!
When we first began this journey, we didn’t really have a clue what exactly it would look like or how hard it would be to find travel therapy jobs close to each other. We assumed we would just try to find an OT job for myself (since the OT job market is a little more competitive/challenging than the PT job market) and then find a PT job for T.R. within a reasonable distance of each other, and live somewhere in the middle so that we could each commute easily.
The Job Search
When searching for a travel therapy contract there are three main factors to prioritize: location, setting, and pay. You’ll have to decide for yourself what is most important to you based on your goals with travel therapy. For us, the whole reason for doing travel therapy was not to make as much money as we could, but for the opportunity to get to live in lots of amazing places and experience as much as possible along the way. With this, our hope has been to be able to decide where we want to eventually “settle down” one of these days. So for us, location is always our top priority. We are willing to work in any setting and take any reasonable pay packages, because the opportunity to live somewhere appealing with ample outdoor opportunities all around is by far the most important thing to us. Additionally, we would always rather take lower paying jobs (if necessary) if it means we’d be at the same facility, vs. higher paying jobs in two separate locations. We haven’t had to make huge financial sacrifices in that regard, but it is something to consider as a pair.
A huge key to this whole process is having a recruiter who you trust, and who understands what your preferences are. We have primarily worked with the same recruiter throughout the entirety of our travel therapy career, and we love that consistency. We will usually just send her a list of states that are appealing to us for that timeframe, and she will send us all the jobs she has available for both OT and PT in those states. From there, we just start looking places up on the map, see what adventure opportunities are close by, and inquire further about ones that seem to be appealing.
One of the biggest things we have learned throughout this process is that just because there is not a job posted, does not mean there is not a job available. While interviewing for our very first contract in Oregon, T.R. just mentioned in passing that his wife was an OT. Just like that, I was on board too with the facility manager excited to hear that and responding “Oh really? We have an OT need as well, we’ll take her too!” This has been the case multiple times, so even if we only see one job listed in a place that seems awesome, we still submit for that job and ask in the interview if there is a need for the other discipline as well by chance. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and it has worked out for us several times!
Perks of Traveling as a Pair
The benefits of traveling as a pair are endless.
You always have someone you know with you for exploring a new area. It can be intimidating to get out there and explore new places if you’re completely solo, but when you have a travel partner there are no limits! You have the support of your friend or partner when moving to an unknown place and coming into an unknown job environment. This can make a huge difference in your experience. Also, when traveling as a pair, you can often cut your housing costs in half, so there are financial benefits too.
When you’re able to work together at the same facility, there is a significant amount of money saved by carpooling each day (assuming your schedules are the same). Another perk when working in the same facility is that you have a built in co-worker who you know you love, which makes the work day so much better. It’s so nice after a busy morning of seeing patients to get to come together on our lunch break for a nice little reset. Additionally, it’s always reassuring to have someone you trust in the workplace to bounce ideas off of, or help to problem solve any difficult situation that arises. Sometimes we don’t know what kind of place we’re walking into as travelers- if we’re the only therapists there, if the place is a wreck, if management turnover is high, etc. But all of that is so much more bearable when you know you have a companion by your side.
Another factor that we usually always take advantage of is working on holidays. When we work in the same facility, we still get to spend the day together, we get to help make the day special for the patients, and we get paid time and a half to do it, so it’s a win all the way around.
Conclusion
Our personal opinion is that life is more fun when we get to do it together, so we have absolutely loved getting to share each of these contracts with each other and wouldn’t have it any other way! We would absolutely recommend traveling as a pair to anyone, as it has made our first 2.5 years of travel therapy so memorable. You may have to take into consideration some different challenges and logistics compared to traveling solo, but to us the benefits far outweigh any possible cons. We’ve been able to make it work out really well for us, even as an OT/PT pair.
However, our days of being travel therapy coworkers are on a temporary pause as we just welcomed our daughter Hatcher into the world a few months ago. We will continue doing travel therapy for the next several years as a family, but for now only one of us will be on contract at a time. Eventually, we hope to find some childcare options to be able to go back to work together again!
Related Articles:
- Navigating Travel Therapy as a Pair
- Travel Therapy with My Spouse & Kids
- Travel Healthcare with a Family
ABOUT HAILEY & T.R.
We are the Tie Dye Travelers! We are adventurers and nature lovers to the core, and we love all things involving movement in the outdoors. Moving our bodies in the simplistic beauty of nature is our happy place – whether that’s trail running, paddleboarding, fast packing, rock climbing, wakeboarding, or any variety of other outdoor activities. We have lived full time in an RV since 2017 and are travel therapists (Hailey- Occupational Therapist, T.R.- Physical Therapist) traveling to various states in this beautiful country, providing therapy to patients in a wide variety of settings, while having endless adventures all along the way. We love nature, we love each other, and we love squeezing as much adventure out of this life as possible! We recently added a tiny Tie Dye Traveler with the birth of our daughter Hatcher Rae (named after our favorite place to explore while on contract in Alaska, Hatcher Pass) and we are so thrilled to get to take her along for the adventure of this thing called life! Follow us on Instagram @tiedyetravelers as well as our (occasionally updated) YouTube channel to keep up with all of our adventures. One of these days we’ll be better about posting updated blogs on our website, but for now we’re just enjoying the ride! Feel free to reach out to us on Instagram or by email at hcblanchez@gmail.com with any questions!
If you’re looking for additional resources for your travel therapy career, check out Travel Therapy Mentor’s Traveler Resource Hub. If you’re ready to get started with travel therapy and want to connect with vetted travel therapy recruiters, fill out our Recruiter Recommendations Form. Feel free to message us with any questions!
