What is one awesome perk of being a travel nurse? The downtime you get for yourself between work assignments. The real question is what are you going to do with all that time off? It is these gaps that allow you to appreciate life and makes plans so you don’t miss anything. Consider five ways you can make your downtime matter.

1. Improve Yourself

That can mean just about anything. Take stock of the things that are important to you and how you might go about making them better.

• Enhanced fitness routines

• A full makeover

• Redoing your home

For nurses, this could include taking classes towards a higher degree or specialty certification. Working as a travel nurse means you can study online and do your clinics during the weeks between assignments. Advancing your education opens up new opportunities for you as a nurse.

2. Rest Up

The combination of travel and long shifts will take their toll on your body. Make the most of the in-between time and get some much-needed rest. That doesn’t mean you do nothing but sleep.

• Meditation

• Relaxing exercises like yoga

• Read a few good books or write your own

• Catch up on the soaps

Do whatever you do to relax and power up for the next job.

3. See the Sites

You can use your free time between work assignments to see the world.

• Take a cruise

• Go sightseeing in Europe

• Visit one interesting thing in each of the 50 states

You hear a lot in the media about your bucket list. The truth is there is no reason for anyone to have unfulfilled projects, especially a travel nurse. This life allows you to earn money doing something you love and still have time for the rest of it. Go ahead and make your bucket list, but work through one item with each break. If you always wanted to see the Great Reef in Australia or go fishing in Alaska, then that is what you do during your off time.

4. Do Some Good

The gaps between jobs is a bonus for travel nurses because it gives you time to do some good. Use your medical training to help others. For example, join the community of nurses that support the American Red Cross and answer the call should they need in you a disaster. Through the Red Cross, you can teach CPR, manage a blood drive or promote wellness in your community.

Take your expertise overseas working for EveryNurse.org and see the world while you help fight AIDS in Africa or teach impoverished regions how to create clean drinking water.

You can answer the call locally, too, if you prefer. Go into low income areas of your city or state and do wellness checks. You have a skill that can improve the lives of so many. What are you going to do with it?

Volunteer work will look good on your resume, too. It opens the doors to future career opportunities.

5. Just Live Your Life

There are a lot of benefits to working as a travel nurse, but one of the downsides is that it can take you away from the people you love. That break between jobs is when you make up the time you’ve missed with parents, siblings, and friends.

Most assignments are just a few weeks, so the free time allows you to enjoy as normal of a life as possible. Your family and friends need you just as much as you need them. Take advantage of this time and keep those relationships strong.

Living the life of a travel nurse may sound hectic, but it allows you more freedom than you realize. The time between jobs is one of the biggest perks! Spend it meeting your personal goals and enjoying a life without the stagnation of a permanent nursing job.