Short Version: I spent 277 nights in a hotel working in 5 different states this year, and it was wild.

It’s January 1st, 2022.

The last year has been one of the wildest adventures of my life and the adventure is only now getting interesting. I sacrificed many things, took many risks and ended up finding myself coming out ahead and in a much different place than I would have envisioned when I finished Residency in July of 2020. If you would have told me a few years ago that I would have become a wandering Nomadic Traveling Pediatrician, I would have laughed it off; but now, I am having a hard time settling down and going back to anything else. On that front, I’ve been offered a few potential Permanent jobs… But my thirst for Love, Adventure and Family have left me in constant vacillation on this front.

Taking an unconventional route has led to some of the most exhilarating experiences, taught me so much about myself and the world and fostered the growth I’ve been looking for as a brand new Doctor. Alas, I have dealt with the brunt of COVID as a doctor that has been largely WITHOUT WORK. Many people ask my thoughts on ‘opening’ or ‘closing’ work and the country, assuming that as a Doctor, I have a very specific view. I stick to evidence, science and my profession for my opinions, personal and professional, but let’s put it this way: I lived paycheck to paycheck for 8 months after residency because work in the locum tenens market for Pediatrics was so slim.

I thought about giving up so many times but didn’t and these are the stats for my last 365 days, not to brag as much as to capitalize on not taking the road most taken:

• Work Things
  • Number of State Medical Licenses = 8 (NM, TX, ME, CA, ND, MO, PA, WI)
  • Number of DEA Numbers = 4
  • Number of States Worked In = 5 (TX, ME, MO, ND, NM)
  • Tentative 2022 Plans = Maine, Missouri, California… Maybe Utah?

• Location Things
  • Hotel Nights = 277 (Hilton x 209; Marriot x 68)
  • AirBnb/Tiny Home Nights = 40 (Nola x 3; Maine x 2 Airbnb, x 12 BnB, x 35 in the Tiny House)
  • HOME (My apartment, mom’s, friends’) NIGHTS = 48

• Saved Things
  • No apartment rent/utilities (~$20,000)
  • No car payments
  • Not many new things in general (eg: clothes, furniture, art, etc.)
  • My loans are 30% paid off!

• Gained Things
  • Hilton Honors Points = >1.7 Million
  • Marriott Points = >120,000
  • Airline Miles/Rental Rewards like crazy

• Personal Things
  • New friends ALL over the place
  • My Spanish has become closer to fluency than I ever imagined after working 45 minutes from the Mexico border
  • Meeting hundreds of new babies from all over the place
  • Growing my own autonomy, decision-making skills and team building/leading traits
  • One of my favorite Texas OBGYN’s who I look up to as a father figure taught me how to do Circumcisions and now I do some of the (in my opinion) best looking “California Cuts” outside of Texas!
  • Started doing Blog Posts for one of my agencies! (CompHealth)

Here are just a FEW of my favorite pictures from the adventures, stay tuned for 2022!