Relief work can turn a job into an extended vacation somewhere you have always wanted to spend a season, according to Cindy Trice, DVM, founder of Relief Rover (now part of Hound), who spent a summer covering a maternity leave in Lake Tahoe instead of just visiting it.
The message popped up on my LinkedIn notifications. Would I be interested in coming to Lake Tahoe, California to cover maternity leave at a single doctor practice? Although I was living in Florida, as a UC Davis graduate I was very familiar with the beauty of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada Mountains. Since I had no firm plans for the summer and love an adventure, I decided to entertain the idea. After a phone conversation with the practice owner, I found myself planning a cross country trip with my husband and two dogs to spend a summer in Tahoe.
Now, I have the kind of life that allows that type of spontaneity. I am a full time relief vet who is married to a freelance photographer, and we have no children. Making temporary moves to different parts of the country for work and pleasure is a lifestyle we love and actively cultivate.
Making a Working Vacation Happen
There are all sorts of ways that being a relief vet can support a vacation, even without that exact setup. Maybe you have kids and want to spend an extended time at grandma's house over the summer. Maybe you have a friend or sibling who lives in a great part of the country and you could turn that into a working visit. Some relief vets take this further still, spending a season traveling the country in an RV and picking up shifts at practices along the way.
Sometimes veterinary practices will offer housing or subsidize a place to stay, and they may even cover some travel costs depending on the situation. Even if you do not see these perks in the offer, it never hurts to ask. Practices may be willing and able to negotiate some additional incentives to get coverage for their practice, and this can turn out to be a big win for everyone. Practices writing a relief job post in a place people actually want to visit have their own reasons to lead with that, not just the equipment list and staff credentials.
My summer in Tahoe was incredible for so many reasons. The practice I worked for was wonderful. I had the challenge of a slightly different case load and patient population from what is typical for my area of Florida. I received more large breed dogs and injuries than I am used to seeing, because these dogs were out enjoying the same trails I was hiking on my time off. Every evening we would take our dogs for a stroll in the forest behind our rental house. Every weekend we hiked, biked, swam, or kayaked. This extended vacation in Tahoe was made possible by the flexibility of relief work.