How would you like a career that allows you to spend January soaking up the sun at the beach in Miami, hitting the slopes at Vail in March and set sail in July for a month-long cruise of the Alaskan coast? Are you looking for variety in your life as well as your job? Are you happiest when you're immersed in new adventures? Are you a nurse, or thinking of becoming one? Then you just may find that travel nursing is the ideal career choice for you.

Travel nursing is the hottest trend to hit the profession in years. The nursing shortage has hit the nation hard, forcing medical facilities to get creative to fill positions in their staff rosters. For many of them, the real challenge is in finding a nurse who can take on a temporary position to fill in for a valued worker on medical or maternity leave, or to help set up a new clinic. What do you do when there are barely enough local nurses to fill the permanent positions? For many hospitals, the solution is turning to a staffing agency that places travel nurses - which are credentialed nurses who are willing to relocate for periods ranging from a month to a year.

If just the travel is sounding good to you, take a look at the rest of the package. Here's what traveling nursing professionals can expect when they sign up with a placement agency that specializes in travel nursing.

- Generous pay scale

The hourly rate for travel nursing assignments varies from locale to locale, but you can expect $24-$48 hourly rates with a guarantee of 36-40 hours per week.

- Housing provided

Most agencies will provide you with a free one bedroom private apartment, with basic utilities paid for the length of your stay in the assignment. All the arrangements will be made for you before you arrive. If you choose to live in an apartment that you find yourself, the placement agency will add a generous housing allowance to your pay package. In most cases, your only residence expenses will be for things like telephone and cable television.

- Health and Dental insuranc

In most cases, your health and dental insurance package will be completely paid for by the placement agency. Many also include basic life insurance.

- Free travel

Your travel expenses will be paid or reimbursed – in most cases tax-free.

- Varied assignments all over the country

There are thousands of medical facilities around the country that regularly employ travel nurses for their nursing needs. Most assignments run from 13 to 26 weeks, and many can be extended for more than one assignment period. You'll work with the placement agency to choose where you want to work and the kind of work you want to do. From small-town and rural settings to the glittering lights of the big city, from chronic care retirement communities to the most renowned research facilities in the world, you'll have your choice of workplaces and specialties.

- Flexible Schedule

Since you choose your assignments, you always have the flexibility to take some time off, or schedule an assignment close to home if you want some family time. The medical world has always depended on temp staffing to help fill slots. Travel nursing is the logical extension. You can work three months and take three months off, or choose to stay in one city for a year or more. The choice is ultimately up to you.

- Career Advancement

Travel nursing offers almost unlimited opportunities to expand your resume and add to your professional experience. Spend six months working in a major teaching hospital while attending classes in surgical nursing (paid for by the agency, of course!), then bolster that with three months on the pediatric rotation at a busy trauma center. You can take on assignments in a rural setting where you'll handle nearly all routine health care, or choose maternity in a hospital that offers the latest in alternative birthing methods to move you on your way toward a nurse midwife's degree.

Travel nursing may be the best way to expand your professional experiences—and your personal ones as well. If you think that you have what it takes to travel the country practicing your profession, what are you waiting for? The world is waiting for you!