Meet Landing’s Travel Nurses: Angeline Grimm

By Landing | May 6, 2022

Happy Nurse’s Week! We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share the stories of the traveling nurses who are currently living with Landing and taking advantage of the freedom our furnished apartments and flexible leases afford them as they travel from contract to contract.

Angeline was kind enough to sit down with us to talk about how she became a nurse, her experiences living with Landing, and why she always recommends committing to Landing’s six-month Explorer option.

Tell us about yourself!

My name is Angeline, and I’ve been a nurse for about seven years now. I grew up in healthcare—my mom worked at a hospital, and I was very comfortable in that environment. As a child, she told me, “Oh, you need to be a nurse,” and I thought she was insane. I didn’t want to touch strangers! I didn’t know what was wrong with her.

Then, when I was 20 or so, a friend of mine ended up in the hospital. I stayed with her for three days straight because she didn’t have anyone to be there with her and she was terrified. And it just lit this fire. I was like, “Oh, maybe my mom was right!” I subsequently went to nursing school and graduated.

I’ve been doing travel nursing for five years now. Before COVID, I would only travel to contracts that were just a few hours from my home in Indiana, but once the pandemic hit, I actually left and went to Texas. That’s when I started using Landing. We travel as a little family, with my husband, our two cats, and usually at least one dog. We kind of have a little petting zoo at our homestead, so Landing’s pet-friendly apartments are perfect for our situation. It’s so easy—I just submitted a picture and their name, and that’s it.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Truthfully, work causes a lot of anxiety for me at this point, post-COVID. My off days are my preferred days! Our animals are a huge part of our life. When we were living in Phoenix, we spent a lot of time outside taking our animals on walks. We also have a riverwalk near our home in Indiana that we visit with the animals.

My husband and I are also big foodies. We like to eat, and he likes to cook! We do a lot of taste testing and try out a lot of new restaurants. I also just love to nap and just hang out at home and watch TV. I used to be really into bicycling, but it was too hot in Arizona for that.

What has your experience been like so far living with Landing?

During my Texas contract, we lived in a Landing in Sherman, a city just north of Dallas. The hospital I was working at was maybe 20 minutes away. We also stayed in a Landing outside of Phoenix in Sun City. We also went on a post-COVID vacation to Charleston for about a month and a half with Landing, which was fantastic. I had time left on my six-month Explorer stay and didn’t want to take another contract, so I just said, “Where do you want to take a vacation?” The complex and the unit there were immaculate.

I used to rely on hotels for my housing, which saved me some money, but have mercy, for three months? No. There are also some Facebook housing groups where you can privately rent from people, but that causes me a lot of personal stress. A lot of what I like about Landing is the detachment of actually being involved with the owner of the home and dealing with them hovering over you.

How do you decide which cities you want to work in?

We like to go to new places, so we always start with picking somewhere we haven’t been. I have specific things I like to have in my apartment complexes, such as pet-friendly apartments and a hot tub. If given the option, I like to be closer to downtown since there are more things to do, but a lot of it has to do with where I’m working. We just pick places I’ve wanted to go to and am now fortunate enough to have that opportunity.

We’re planning on moving to Colorado—probably Denver or Boulder—at the beginning of June. Then, after that, I want to do Vermont in the fall. You get to know a network of hundreds of people across the country, and I know multiple friends I’ve worked with who were in Vermont last year, and the pictures were amazing.

What advice would you give other travel nurses thinking about living with Landing?

I know one thing a lot of travel nurses are concerned about is contract cancellation. We sign a contract with a hospital—and I use that term loosely—but it could be canceled anytime. We might be already committed to housing in one fashion or another. This is why I recommend that other travel nurses use the Landing Explorer option. You have to commit to the six months, but it gives you so much flexibility.

If you get canceled in Phoenix, you can give two weeks’ notice and find somewhere else for a contract. There are a lot of people who have lost money because they commit to housing and can’t get out of it once they’ve paid for it.

Landing Explorer gave us the flexibility to just go haul off to Charleston! That’s what I’ve told people in groups—yes, there’s a membership fee and you have to sign a six-month commitment, but you have to look at the bigger picture. But you should probably do that anyway! If you commit to it, it offers you so much flexibility.

Landing’s two weeks’ notice is also awesome. That checks the box for me. It takes roughly two weeks anyway to decide where you want to go, find a contact, figure out where you’re going to stay, and do all the preliminary testing and physicals—not to mention if you have to drive across the country! It’s a huge benefit for travel nurses.

Looking for travel nurse housing?

If you’re a travel nurse looking for somewhere to live during your contract, Landing offers fully furnished apartments in over 375 cities throughout the U.S., all with flexible lease terms that start at 30-day stays. Two weeks’ notice is all you need to move to your new home within the Landing network. Learn more about what a Landing membership can do for you, and browse our apartments today!

Interested in learning more about the other travel nurses living with Landing? Check out their stories here!

Landing

Ted may be the world's slowest typist and struggle to hold a pen, but he has mastered how to pursue a more flexible lifestyle throughout his airborne adventures around the U.S. Whether you're looking for more information before migrating to a new city or want to find an easier way to rent a nest—erm, apartment—Ted will always be here to share his best advice for where to live and how to thrive.