May 2025 marks a decade since Whitney and I embarked on our first travel physical therapy contracts. What started as a five-year plan to pay off student loans and explore the country has evolved into ten years of incredible experiences, unexpected turns, and a deep dive into the travel therapy industry.
In our 10 years as travel therapists, we’ve worked in five different states, practiced in several different physical therapy settings, visited all 50 U.S. states and all 63 U.S. National Parks via trips during and between contracts, as well as traveled to over 55 countries and all 7 continents for fun in our free time! Throughout this journey, we achieved financial independence and semi-retired before the age of 30!
Along the way, we created Travel Therapy Mentor to educate and inspire current and aspiring travel therapists. Over the years in this role as mentors, we’ve worked closely with travel therapy companies, recruiters, and thousands of fellow travelers. This unique perspective as travelers ourselves and leaders within the industry has given us invaluable insights.
Whether you’re a seasoned travel therapist, new to the game, or just curious about this dynamic career path, here are 10 crucial lessons we’ve learned over the past ten years:
1. Your Plans WILL Change (and That’s Okay!)
We started with a five-year plan: pay off student loans, get into real estate investing, and slowly traverse the country in our RV from coast to coast, before settling down into perm jobs. Needless to say things didn’t go exactly as we planned! We stayed on the East Coast for longer, taking back to back contracts while focusing on savings rate and prioritizing our goal of achieving financial independence. We decided not to pay off our loans in favor of investing and utilizing income driven repayment plans. We then semi-retired and started traveling all over the world while working only 1-2 contracts per year. Our five years turned into ten, and we never took permanent jobs as originally planned. We unexpectedly became entrepreneurs and built a thriving mentorship business. We now have a family but continue to live a flexible lifestyle where we don’t work full time.
As a travel therapist, we learned it’s important to be flexible, embrace the unexpected, and allow life to open up opportunities you never envisioned.
2. There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Company
This is perhaps our most important lesson for aspiring travel therapists to help you have the best experience overall with your job searches. With over a hundred travel therapy companies out there, there’s no single “best” one. Each company has its pros, cons, and specializations. Which company is best for you depends on your discipline, preferred setting, desired locations, and what benefits you value. Working with the wrong company can lead to a frustrating experience, making you believe travel therapy isn’t for you, when in reality, you just haven’t found the right fit.
Your wants and needs dictate the best company for you.
3. Recruiters Change Over Time – And So Should Your Approach
Just like companies, travel therapy recruiters aren’t static. A fantastic recruiter today might become overwhelmed, change their focus, or have life circumstances that impact their responsiveness down the line. A recruiter who’s great for an experienced traveler who knows exactly what they want might not be the best fit for a new traveler needing more guidance.
Don’t be afraid to explore new recruiters or work with multiple ones as your needs and their circumstances evolve.
If you’d like help getting connected with travel therapy recruiters and companies that align with your own personal goals, you can fill out our Recruiter Recommendations form here and we will help point you in the right direction!
4. Housing is Never Perfect
We bought a fifth wheel thinking RVing would solve all our housing problems – easier moves, cheaper living. While there were some benefits, it wasn’t the “perfect solution” we imagined. We eventually sold it and have done short-term housing options for more recent contracts. Both housing options have their headaches. Overall, finding travel therapy housing options can be challenging no matter which route you go.
The “best” housing option for you depends entirely on your situation (i.e. traveling with pets/partner/family and your travel style). You’ll have to choose the “lesser of evils” that best aligns with your lifestyle.
5. Moderate Pay in Low Cost-of-Living Areas Can Be More Lucrative
It’s tempting to chase the highest-paying travel therapy contracts, but often these are in expensive metropolitan areas where your housing, food, and daily expenses will eat significantly into your take-home pay. We learned that taking a moderately-paying contract in a rural or lower cost-of-living area often allows you to save and keep more of your money at the end of the day.
When choosing contracts, always consider the net income after expenses, not just the gross pay package.
6. Traveling with Kids is Harder Than We Thought
Before having our daughter, we envisioned continuing our travel lifestyle with kids. Now, with a six-month-old who doesn’t consistently sleep through the night, we’ve had a humbling reality check. The logistics of finding suitable housing, childcare away from family support, and managing sleep deprivation on the road are immense. Not to mention packing and all the extra things you need!
While many families successfully travel with children, it’s a far greater challenge than we anticipated. You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of travel with a family if you’re considering it.
7. Job Boards Give a Skewed View of the Market
When we started, travel therapy job boards didn’t even exist. Now, they’re everywhere, and while they seem convenient, they don’t always represent the full reality of the market. Often, they highlight only the highest-paying jobs, which can be misleading regarding realistic take-home pay for most travel jobs. They also don’t show the full spectrum of available positions or the unique requirements of each. Relying solely on job boards can give you an inaccurate picture of opportunities, often overstating average pay or listing jobs that are no longer available.
Your recruiter is often a more reliable source for accurate, up-to-the-minute job information, which is why we recommend having solid relationships with 2-3 recruiters at different companies.
8. Working Internationally Doesn’t Make Sense for Most
The allure of working abroad as a travel therapist is strong, but we discovered it’s often not practical for most. International therapy jobs typically pay significantly less (50-70% of U.S. rates), come with complex visa and licensing hurdles, and lack the comprehensive staffing agencies found in the U.S. This is why we’ve never worked abroad as physical therapists. We only work in the U.S., then we use the flexibility of travel therapy careers to take time off and travel internationally for fun.
Our advice? Work in the U.S. as a travel therapist for 9 months, save aggressively, then take 3 months off to travel internationally for fun. This approach often yields more money and significantly less hassle, allowing you to see the world on your terms.
9. Be Selective to Avoid Bad Contracts
Travel therapy sometimes gets a bad rap, often from uninformed travelers. Some assume they must take whatever job a single recruiter offers, sometimes leading to miserable experiences in high-volume clinics or demanding settings. This is completely avoidable! You have to be selective. Research the ins and outs of travel therapy before starting, ask thorough interview questions, and have multiple options from different companies and recruiters.
By doing your homework, you can largely mitigate the risk of bad travel therapy contracts and genuinely enjoy your travel therapy career.
10. Your Ability to Negotiate Depends on the Job Market (and Your Leverage)
There’s a misconception that travel therapists can always demand top dollar. The reality is, your ability to negotiate pay and terms depends heavily on the current job market and your unique situation. If you’re a single traveler open to any setting in any location, your leverage is high. However, if you have specific criteria for setting and location, your options might be limited, reducing your negotiating power.
Negotiation isn’t about magic words; it’s about being in a position of strength. If a facility desperately needs your specific skills or immediate availability, and you have other attractive offers, you have leverage. If they have many qualified applicants and you have no other options, your power diminishes. Always work with multiple recruiters to create competitive offers and understand the dynamics of the situation.
Our journey as travel therapists has been full of learning, growth, and incredible experiences. While it’s not without its challenges, the freedom and opportunities that we’ve enjoyed from our travel therapy careers is unmatched. We hope that our insights have been helpful for you!
If you want help getting started as a travel therapist, check out the resources we have on our website and social media channels. You can start here with our Travel Therapy 101 Series and our Travel Therapy Recruiter Recommendations. Send us a message if you have any questions!
Additional Resources:
- How to Become a Travel Therapist
- Travel Physical Therapy (Travel PT)- The Ultimate Guide
- Debunking Travel Therapy Myths
Written by Jared Casazza, PT, DPT – Jared has been a traveling physical therapist since 2015. He has become an expert in the field of travel healthcare through his experience, research, and networking over nearly a decade.
