So You Travel As A Pair

“You’re so lucky, you get to travel with your wife”. “I wish I could do that”. Well if you are a traveling pair, you have probably heard this before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having the time of my life traveling with my wife, and there are countless reasons why. We both love seeing new places, love the unknown (as scary as it is) and taking on new adventures. But there are definite disadvantages to travelling as a pair.

Traveling Solo Is Easier?

I’m not saying traveling as a single traveler is easier, but some people are made for it! Traveling to new locations and making new friends every assignment or risk having 13 weeks alone, hoping family or friends visit can be a challenge. To me that sounds daunting, however I haven’t had to travel alone and feel very fortunate. But there is a greater freedom choosing locations for jobs and ability to pick up and leave, that is even easier as a solo traveler. This can be nice if a job is canceled or you can’t land a contract. Either way, solo or traveling as a pair, the opportunity to travel is amazing and comes highly recommended. As for us, initiating travel therapy approx 2 years ago, my wife and I knew the time would come when one of us would have a job and the other wouldn’t.

What Do You Do?

What do you do? Leave and find a job hours away? Or maybe a few states away. Does one of you not work and spend savings to stay a float? After all that hard work of saving or paying student loans just to take 13 weeks off and utilize that savings. That’s not exactly our plan, but it happens. So many questions and a difficult choice. I think its something we as traveling pairs don’t like to think about, but it is always a possibility with 14-30 day cancellations or the risk of signing a contract and the other person failing to find something close by.

Our Story “Houston We Have A Problem”

Well here is our story and a few solutions that have made what could have been a disaster into a minor road bump and what we would recommend on preparing for it if it happens to you.

1 year into our travel therapy journey we realized, we can do this. I mean we realized we can pay off our student loans without relying on the 20-25 year loan forgiveness program (I am always skeptical if they will truly forgive it). We decided we were going to start paying as much as we could to our loans while travelling, but we also make sure to budget a monthly savings that is for emergencies. If you follow Dave Ramsey you understand. Everything was smooth sailing, a 13 week CA job living with family, then a quick week off to drive to MA where we stayed 6 months and made great strides in savings and loan repayment. Then only another short week off to drive back to CA. We had the opportunity to stay with my sister-in-law and it made for great family time. We were also able to continue loan repayment through much of this year. Then as that assignment ended, the opportunity of a lifetime came for my wife. She had her dream job open up at a Pediatric Inpatient Rehab Hospital in Texas and we knew it would go fast. She applied and without a for sure job for me, we accepted.

Know The Risk!

We knew the risk, but we thought, “Hey in two years, we have always found jobs and we can make it work a couple weeks while I search”. Plus, it’s Texas, I mean it’s huge, there has to be another job. Well, 4 weeks into her job and there were absolutely no jobs in site other than 1 or 2 approx 2 1/2 hours way. It just didn’t make sense, in our situation, to be a 2 1/2 hour commute away and rent two places.

But we always have a backup… which leads me to a few tips/solutions for when/if this happens to you.

1) If at all possible, have a cash savings. I know loans are brutal, but with that travel money comes a responsibility to be prepared for the unexpected. We knew we could afford me not working for a few weeks while still paying the minimum on loans and having money for food and rent.

2) Make connections. I can’t stress this enough. Always have a backup plan. One reason why we accepted this job for Kari is that I have a good relationship with my first permanent employer and stay in contact with the option for PRN. It is right near my tax home, I can stay with family, and have the opportunity for PRN up to 40 hours per week. I know this isn’t always possible, and may not be in the future for me either, however it’s just a reminder to always work hard on assignment, make connections, and make lasting relationships whether it’s a travel gig or a permanent.

3) Have a very clear understanding of what each person wants. What I mean by that is, one person may not care if the other works a few states away. The other may be devastated by the distance. We had a very clear discussions about how long we were willing to wait without a job for me, how long we were willing for me to be away on assignment, and what the consequences of each was (i.e. less money, but still together, vs two contracts, but apart 5 days a week or more).

What Did We Do And What Are Our Recommendations

As for recommendations, to each there own. We have heard and read different stories of how some couples make a long commute work throughout the middle of the week or only visit on weekends . Others we know see each other a few times an assignment while they work 13 week contracts several states away. It is all so personal, and you have to decide what is right. But one thing is for certain, you should have a buffer of savings for when there is a lull in jobs and be prepared, because you can’t up and jump to another job quite as easily when you travel as a pair. As for us, we did a combination of the above listed recommendations.

For about 4 weeks, I was in Houston with my wife, professionally taking care of our dog Spencer (a 7# yorkie) and honestly he had the best time. Then we were able to plan for 3 weeks of me traveling to CA. It worked well, I visited family, made money, and even got to get some of those much needed tax home days accounted for. This is the job I mentioned earlier with a former employer who agreed to some PRN work. After returning to Houston, we were hoping to land a job for me and extend my wife’s contract and unfortunately, unable to do so, I ended up flying back to CA for another 2 week stint. Talk about a headache, trying to finalize two contracts for a traveling pair with our recruiters on eastern time zone, my wife on central time zone and me on pacific. Somehow we managed to secure our next location and yes, we both have a contract that is the same start date, same end date and within driving distance of each other. WHAT A RELIEF!

To Sum Up

Moral of the story is, as always, BE PREPARED, KEEP OPTIONS OPEN and always COMMUNICATE well as a travel couple. Not only do you have typical marriage or dating challenges, but there can be a lot of stress with not knowing where your next job is. But if you can make it through travel together, then you can make it through anything.

Trouble Shooting Travel Therapy As A Couple