Hi friends! I’m Kylee, an avid traveler, NICU nurse, and creator of the “8 Day Vacay”. My goal is to reach nurses everywhere and advocate for the prevention of nurse burnout by traveling. I act as a resource for nurses who are looking to spend time away from the bedside and experience the thrill of traveling to both near and far destinations. Whether you have one day or eight, I encourage you to take advantage of our unique career, one that offers an abundance of time off from work.
Only one year into my career as a nurse I began to feel burned out. Still loving my job and not wanting to quit, I would oftentimes dread going to work. Wondering how some nurses stayed in the profession for 30+ years, I realized that there HAS to be more.
Two years after I became a NICU nurse I quit my permanent staff job in Kansas City and took my first assignment as a travel nurse in Omaha, NE. While I was feeling less burned out, I still knew that there was something else out there. Finally, in 2017 I took a break from travel nursing as I had landed a volunteer position with Project Hope working in the NICU in Skopje, North Macedonia. That’s when Passports and Preemies was born.
I spent eight weeks in North Macedonia working alongside bedside nurses, educating them on best practices for taking care of sick and premature babies. On the weekends I traversed across Europe, solo, visiting a total of five new countries. What I found most interesting is that while I was working more hours at the hospital I felt less burned out. I realized that by traveling and taking care of myself outside of work… I began to thrive at work.
My passion for travel took off in 2017 and I haven’t looked back since! I’ve currently been a travel nurse for 4+ years, using each new assignment to see different parts of the United States. I’m a true believer that to travel doesn’t mean you have to cross oceans… it just means you have to be willing to explore your own back yard, a neighboring state, or a nearby city. But don’t let that fool you! I’m also passionate and focused on seeing the rest of the world. Since my journey began I’ve had the privilege of visiting 35/195 countries, 3/7 continents, 31/50 states, I’ve lived in 11 cities, and have taken 12 travel nurse assignments from coast to coast across the USA.
From the bedside and beyond, I’m here to share real experiences of travel and nursing.
So what’s unique about Passports and Preemies? As I stated earlier, my biggest passion is to travel and inspire others to travel! I aim to give the appropriate tools to nurses to get out of the hospital, away from the bedside, and see the world. Unique to my website, I offer the “8 Day Vacay“. The “8 Day Vacay” is an eight-day itinerary written specifically for nurses so that he/she doesn’t need to use any PTO to travel. The expectation is that you will work the first three days of week one and the last three days of week two, thus giving you eight days off in between.
I also offer 1:1 mentoring for nurses who wish to take the leap into travel nursing! Don’t make the mistakes I have (my mistakes led me to miss out on $10,000) and let me guide you through the process of becoming a travel nurse. For more information and why you should want to work with me, read this article.
And the last thing that is unique to Passports and Preemies is that I share my space with other nurses to tell their stories about nurse burnout. Interested in sharing yours? Don’t hesitate to reach out!
Are you a brand or business? Contact me at passportsandpreemies@gmail.com and I’ll happily send you my media kit.
Are you a nurse looking to be a part of a community? For more travel and nursing resources in an intimate group setting, consider joining my Facebook community
