I have put up two galleries from Arizona, two galleries from Colorado (July and August), and a gallery from our trip to Vancouver that we took way back in May. Sadly, there weren't any other galleries to put up, but the heat in Tucson prevented that.

Click on the pictures or links below to check out the galleries:

Trip To Vancouver

Looking For Wildflowers At Brainard Lake, Colorado

Hiking In The Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park, Colorado

Summer Monsoon Storms In Tucson, AZ

Saguaro East Nat'l Park, Tucson, AZ

Until next time, be safe.

At any rate, we headed out from Tucson earlier this week, having finished up our shifts by last weekend. It was a pretty bittersweet week for us, because seven months in Tucson, despite the furnace blast temperatures of the last two months, brought us some great friends and surprising attachments to our hospitals. We spent the entire week not only finishing up business and preparing for our journey to Colorado, but trying to spend every possibly moment with friends we've made in Tucson.

My unit even bought pizza on what should have been my last night there (I received a call requesting that I come in for an extra shift the next night, which I awkwardly did). That actually really meant a lot to me. In my staff position at the Big D, all I got when I left was the worst eval I hope to ever get and a foot pushing me out the door. They didn't even get me a card there. My unit in Tucson probably didn't think much about buying pizza for me, but it made me feel like I had become a part of the unit in the past six months and not just a warm body, and that was a good feeling. I was actually a little bummed to leave, I've been working in a pretty good unit these six months.

Leaving Tucson itself was a little sad as well. Of course, the last couple of months have been hard, with the temperatures consistently between 105 and 110 every day. It's been hard not being able to do anything outside during the day hours, and all of my hard work running all spring into June have gone to waste as I haven't been able to really get much jogging in. Still, Tucson was good to us. We had a great social scene there, and there is always the environment that has appealed to both of us as well. Jess's parents came earlier in July, and we realized (sadly for the first time) that the best time to be outside was in the early mornings and late evenings. During the few days they spent in Tucson, they saw an amazing number of creatures that I have unsuccessfully looked for, including scorpions, tarantulas, and even a couple of rattlesnakes.

Since their visit, we've been trying to get out and check out the wildlife in the dusk hours, as have our friends Scott and Lindsay, who managed to score a major find, the gila monster, which is a very reclusive and rarely seen lizard. I even went out my last night, at midnight, to try to find some creatures, particularly a rattlesnake. I went into the Sabino Canyon Recreational Area, in the pitch dark, armed with my camera, a flashlight, and a big stick that had been leaning against a sign at the entrance that stated, "Active Mountain Lion Area: Enter At Your Own Risk." I wasn't terribly worried about the lions, most people in Tucson never see one, even those who hike regularly. Still, I hiked for more than an hour, slowly walking up the road peering off into the dark to see some critter, at which I was highly unsuccessful. At some point, I saw movement in the bushes off the road, and became pretty excited until I saw that my quarry was a skunk, which not only do we have in Colorado, but aren't that great of a find anywhere or anytime. Then, up ahead in the hills, I heard a sound that resembled a woman's scream with undertones of a cat sound. I've never heard a mountain lion before, but I've read of the sound they make, and all the descriptions quite accurately fit this particular sound. At any rate, that was pretty much the end of my hike, I turned around and walked as slowly as my eroding courage would allow back to the car. I never did see a rattlesnake in Tucson, which I find to be a tragedy. I also didn't see a mountain lion, which is less of a tragedy.

So, we've left behind Tucson, with its traffic and its mountains, its heat and its unique landscape, and our friends and our hospitals. We're looking at this point to returning to Tucson next February, our vaunted return to the world of employment. So, we didn't feel like our exit was anything permanent, just a spell of time somewhere else doing other things. In a sense, that could be said about our relationship with travel nursing. It's not that we are finished with it, we are just doing something else for awhile.

Keep track of us via our Seven Continent Trip Blog. It's looking to be a good time.

Until next time, be safe.]]> tag:worldtravelercreations.com,2009:/blog2//1.81 2009-07-08T11:09:58Z 2009-07-08T11:09:58Z

So, I ran the numbers. Up to that point, I had been more or less estimating the costs of our trip, on relative budgets and assumed charges. I needed a more definitive estimate, though, so I sat down one evening - at work, of course - and looked up the average daily budgets for all of the countries we plan on visiting. I priced the costs of transportation (i.e. flight costs), and added up our expenses that we'll continue to have here in the US while we are traveling (such as our car payment). Once I added up all the costs, I was fairly dismayed. Suffice to say, the total was considerably higher than I had wanted it to be.

Thus began the painful process of trimming the trip to fit our budget. We need to have a budget, it's absolutely essential when traveling in as many as 18 or more countries for up to five months, all the while unemployed. More importantly, we need to keep to our budget, which will be difficult given all the temptations of visiting all the places we have planned. It wouldn't do to be well above our budget even before we start out on our trip.

Most glaring in the expenses department was the Trans-Siberian segment of the trip. This part added an additional $3000 to our costs, at least. There were flights up to Finland from Spain, train tickets (Finland to Russia, then the TSR), visa costs (Russia and China), and flights down to SE Asia. Of course, it's was very exciting segment of the trip, so much that it could even be a trip all by itself. That ended up being what convinced us to cut the TSR from our itinerary. It isn't that we don't expect to actually make that trip, it's just that it can't be part of the Seven Continent Trip. 

Actually, we are thinking of making the TSR trip next fall. That way, we can spend more time with my family in Finland, and then more time exploring Beijing and Xi'an in China. It will be an amazing three week trip to take. The TSR is considered one of essential traveler journeys that the world offers.

 It's a little disappointing not to be taking the TSR this time around the world, but it will also take a little pressure off of our pre-trip preparations (we don't need visas now), and we will also have more time to spend exploring in Spain, Morocco, and in SE Asia. In addition to cutting the TSR, we will likely have to limit our time in Spain and Australia (the estimated daily budget in those countries is $100-125, in comparison to $20 in a country like Thailand). I am also hoping that by waiting for good prices on airline tickets, I can bring down costs even more, since most of our flight costs are estimated at this poing (we only have tickets to Spain). Regardless, we currently are within our budget limits at this point.

So, barring donations towards our TSR segment, it looks like China and Russia won't be countries we'll add onto our itinerary this time. On the other hand, that gives us our next trip to look forward to. Of course, donations would be most welcome...(click below)

Until next time, be safe.

That in itself is a pretty amazing experience. Apparently, we are just at the cusp of the monsoon season, however, so for the next month these monsoon rains will be a regular event.

I was in Phoenix earlier this week for a night, so I missed the first monsoon rain. I didn't have to wait long for the next event, though. The day I arrived back in Tucson, it was brilliantly sunny outside, quite hot of course. There was a strange sensation in the air, something called....humidity, I think. I hadn't experienced that for some time now. According to the local news, these monsoon rains need those hot temperatures and sunny, cloudless days to develop the incredibly powerful storms. Cloudy mornings spell a dry afternoon around here.

So, about six in the evening, ominous clouds began building east of Tucson. Darkly bruised and laced with lightning, they came up very quickly, even as the sun continued to shine brightly. By seven, the rain started, and it was very powerful. I wouldn't have expected that sort of rainfall in the desert, it just came in waves, accompanied by wind and lightning.

When it started to let up a little, my friends Scott and Lindsay jumped in my Rav4 and we headed out to check the damaged. Since arriving here, we've noticed the large number of gullies that roads pass through, most containing the warning, "Do Not Enter If Flooded." The sandy washes seem fairly innocuous when empty, so we wanted to see what they looked like with water running through them.

We were impressed. From what we've heard, the half hour of rainfall was a relatively short storm, so potentially the amount of rain one of these storms produces could be quite impressive, as well as considerably more than what was dropped in this particular storm. Still, it was enough to fill the gullies and arroyos, and to go spilling across the roads, giving good reason for the warning signs to exist. Of course, we had to plunge through a few of the flows, although the ones we did were notably low and quite safe, with just enough water to cause some spray.

It should be noted that we are aware of the existence of the Arizona law, the Stupid Motorist Law, which basically dictates that people who deliberately drive through these gullies when there is flowing water, only to be washed off the road, are responsible for the costs of the emergency folks who come to save them. Did this stop us from spraying water around? Hardly.

Until next time, be safe. 

The idea really started to make sense while we were in the midst of a week-long trip to Vancouver in early May. We were hanging out in a place very close to where we had planned on spending our summer - Seattle - and we were starting to see that there wasn't a great chance that we'd be spending any time there this year at all. Job prospects were slim, and we didn't know what we'd do next.

On the other hand, we had been talking about taking a long trip late in the year, probably starting after the assignment that would have followed our present contract. Somewhere during our trip in Vancouver we had a thought about the Trans-Siberian Railway, and suddenly we were thinking, "Why not take the trip now? After all, September or October is the perfect time to take a trip on the TSR."

And so the idea came to be.

So, after coming home, we continued to nurture the idea. We monitored the job situation as well, but probably not as seriously as we had before. By the first part of June, we'd pretty much settled on traveling instead of working. We told our parents about the trip a week ago, and yesterday I told my recruiter that I wouldn't be needing a job come August. We've sent in an application for Jess's new passport (she filled her other one), and as soon as it comes back, we'll be purchasing visas for Russia and China, the two countries we need them for. With that investment, it will be a done deal - we're hittin' the road!

At this point, our plan has sort of congealed into a Round-The-World trip, perhaps even a Seven-Continent Trip, if we manage to find a way to get to Antartica. Our itinerary as it stands at this point:

We'll spend most of August with family, first in Colorado, then South Carolina. We'll fly out of Charlotte around the 25th of August, to Madrid, Spain. We'll wonder around the southern part of Spain for a week or two before heading across by ferry to Morocco, where we'll spend a week. Crossing back to Spain and Madrid, we're thinking of taking an overnight train to Lisbon for a few days in Portugal before flying out of either Lisbon or Madrid to Helsinki, Finland. From there we will take a train in St. Petersburg and then Moscow to catch the TSR. We'll pass through Mongolia on our way to Beijing on this week-long trip. From either Xi'an or Shanghai, we'll fly to Bangkok, Thailand, from which we will embark on a two or three week tour of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia). We'll likely fly from Bangkok to Sydney, and then spend a week or so in eastern Australia. Finally, we'll fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina. From there, we'll head down the coast of Argentina to the southernmost point in Patagonia, where there is a possibility of going to Antartica. We'll head up the other coast by ferry to Chile, where we will visit friends before continuing on to Peru. We'll head back southeast from there, through Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and possibly a bit of Brazil on our way back to BA. Then we'll head back to Denver.

There, nothing to it. That's the plan, anyhow.

So, we'll see how it all turns out. It sounds better than working, at any rate.

Until next time, be safe.

Essentially, a very bad little 4-year old decided to "wash" his dirty puppy - in the toilet. Perhaps he figured that they puppy needed the full spa effect, including the power wash, and flushed the toilet. Unfortunately for the puppy, down it went into the sewer. While it survived the experience, it spent the next four hours laying in a river of poo.

Eventually, after firefighters failed to save the dog, a plumber pushed it along to the next manhole, where it was saved. It was thoroughly washed, I assume, and the firefighters, cops, and the plumber all went home. That's when that little monster got his bum warmed by his father, who was probably pissed at the $5000 bill that likely showed up in his mailbox within a couple of days for services of the firefighters and the plumber. The articles don't exactly confirm that, but it goes without saying, really.

At any rate, in case you need pictures to flesh out the mental picture, I downloaded some. They are really what makes this a great story.

In case you want to see the little brat, here is a photo of him. He is apparently either a hobbit or a very evil little child. The perhaps is the precursor of a serial killer. Check out those eyes, and that expression of disdain for society and its rules.

Until next time, be safe.

Officially I am in my fourth contract now. There wasn't a distinguishable moment as there has been in the past between this contract and the last. My last day of the previous contract was the 25th of April, so I'm actually even done now with a full week of this contract since I'm "working" right now. It's strange knowing that we are officially in a different contract without having to change hospitals and units. I've been here for fourteen weeks now and feel almost like staff.

I have to say, I've enjoyed my time as a seasonal worker here in Tucson. I like the unit here a lot, and the people are very easy to get along with. Since I've now been here for more than three months, I actually know a lot of them by name and have gotten to know a little about them. It really does make me feel like staff, to have a relationship with my coworkers, rather than a passing knowledge of their name and perhaps a little bit about their work ethic. Don't get me wrong, though, I still steer clear of the politics and that sort of thing that hospitals are rife with. Even after spending half a year here, I don't need that.

I've even spent a little time outside of work with some of my coworkers, as well as Jess's. She is more social, of course, so she actually has befriended several coworkers with whom she spends some time with. My traveler friend Scott here, who also signed another contract through the summer, lives about four doors down, so often I hang out with him, although we went to a little bar near the hospital the other day with some other coworkers. Technically those coworkers were seasonal staff who'd converted from travelers, as travelers don't have job opportunities in this town (or country) much any more. So, they weren't necessarily core staff, although we all work directly for the hospital itself now.

Speaking of little bars open at 8 in the morning, there are two that we know of. Scott and I usually go to one called Bambi, as it's on the way back across town towards our apartment. (By usually, I'm not saying this is a frequent event, usually only if we happen to carpool on the last day of a long stretch and need to celebrate). The Bambi is a darkly lit place, with crusty, slightly pervish old guys who come in every morning to drink their breakfast. The staff is friendly, though, those old guys tell dirty jokes, and they make good Bloody Marys there, so we've grown to appreciate the place. The other joint, which is called The Buffet and Crockpot (because they have a single old crockpot from which they serve cheap hot dogs in the morning), is a more brightly lit facility and upon first glance perhaps a bit more clean, which is to say not a nasty of a dive as the Bambi. However, from our one experience there, I would say that there are more characters in that place than I would have expected. Generally, by calling them "characters," I mean that they are homeless or close to it. Literally, one fellow put his bed (a sleeping bag) under the bar as he sidled up for a drink. We went with the forementioned group of seasonal staff, and one girl was repeatedly hit on by a man who probably was 50 but looked 75 and had no more than three teeth in his head. He even bought our group of six a full round of drinks in order to cully some of her good graces, which is surprising, as he appeared to not be able to afford the facilities to bathe on a regular basis. It was like sitting in the backroom of a carnival tent. I can see how initially it is amusing, but I imagine the charm wears off quickly.

At any rate, our work situation seems to be fairly stable at this point. Jess will convert from a traveler status to a seasonal worker at her hospital the first week in May. She is a little worried that she will be called off frequently when things start to slow down for the summer. I'm not so worried about myself. My hospital is getting a little to the point of desperation, as they are in a hiring freeze and are stuck with the staffing situation as it is. Scott managed to work two overtime shifts on his unit this week, each landing him about $800. I'm considering trying to work some overtime myself, especially if Jess doesn't get to work as much this summer. I'm having a hard motivating myself to do that right now, but when the temperature starts to head north of 100F, that will probably change quickly.

Our plan for August? Good question, because there currently aren't any positions that have opened up. Here's to hoping that the situation improves by then.

Until next time, be safe.

At any rate, it has been a packed year. I tallied up the states that I have visited since March 30th. Last year at this time, I took a flight to Memphis, TN, to visit my sister. That was the first trip of the year, as by that point I had resigned from my position at the Big D. Since that trip, which also took me into Mississippi, Jess and I have visited 30 states. She has a couple more than that, actually, because she took trips to Florida and Nevada, trips that I wasn't invited on.

So, thirty states in twelve months. That seems pretty impressive to me. And, we managed to slip in a backpacking trip to China during that year period as well.

It's hard to estimate the miles that we traveled, but we did purchase a new car in May, 2008, and we already have over 21,000 miles on it. Those miles don't include the 2000+ mile Southwestern US trip we made in a rented car, or other instances where we drove other vehicles.

We managed to live in three different states this last year, not including our time here in Arizona. We survived the scary first assignment, and now, watching the approach of the end of our third assignment by the May, the idea of traveling seems much less intimidating. There is still that unsettled feeling walking into a unit you've never visited before to start working, as well as that bittersweet sensation of leaving an assignment and a location that you've grown to appreciate, and friends you've had lots of good times with over that remarkably short period of three months. But our confidence in ourselves has grown greatly in the last year.

And then there's that great traveler idea, the idea of Three Months. Anything can be tolerated for three months, that is the mantra you understand when you take a position. By the end of that period of time, you find yourself thinking, "Wow, that went by quickly," and even regretting the short span of time that you have to spend in a place. But that is the essence of traveling, that if you don't continue to move on, if you become comfortable and settle in to a place, then you've ceased to work for the sense of adventure, of newness, of challenge that brought you into this odd choice of a career in the first place.

We've seen now that traveling isn't for everyone. We've met travelers who couldn't handle the loneliness, who couldn't keep their issues at bay enough to hang onto jobs, or who just didn't like it. We have seen travelers start and travelers stop. For us, so far at least, staff positions are for the birds. If you can handle the lifestyle, then there is nothing better than the money you make doing this, or the freedom from the politics and the anchors that come with most or all of staff jobs. There's nothing like the idea that you can live anywhere in the States, and be paid to do so. It'd be hard to give up this lifestyle.

So, happy anniversary to Jess and I as travelers! Here's to hoping to continue this lifestyle until we find something better, something that makes us happier.

Until next time, be safe.

More interesting to me was the nearby Antelope Canyon. This is a little slot canyon that lies on the Navajo Nation land, where you can walk right into the canyon and enjoy the light as it penetrates down along the walls from above in a wide gradient of beautiful colors. It is especially nice for photographers, for although Jess seemed content to just look, she kept wanting to grab my camera and take shots. It was a beautiful place, well worth the four hour trip north from Phoenix. Here is the photo gallery from that shoot, and below is a small slideshow of those photos.