Nurse who commutes 5,000 miles from Sweden to US for work breaks down difference in pay from both countries
Commuting is often one of the worst parts of our jobs but the vast majority of people's journeys will look minuscule compared to this woman who commutes over 5,000 miles from Sweden to San Francisco for her shifts.
While UK commuters have to deal with pretty terrible behaviours such as 'bare beating' when travelling by bus, train or tube, at least we don't have to think about remembering our passport each morning or checking to see if our suitcase is the correct colour.
The idea of travelling to work by plane seems like an expensive and environmentally unfriendly method, but for American nurse Courtney El Refai, the paycheck waiting for her back in the US is well worth the seemingly scandalous commute from Scandinavia.
After moving to the country in northern Europe with her Swedish husband Rami, 39, and their two-year-old daughter in 2022, Courtney decided to split her time between the two countries after securing a role as a NICU nurse at a hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area during the summer of 2024.
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The 31-year-old earns a staggering $116 an hour, meaning just one 12-hour shift is enough to cover her rent back in Sweden. Mamma Mia!
She said: "If I work weekends, I get extra, and if I'm training other nurses too, we get paid 25 percent more than normal staff.
"My work life balance is so much better now, I'm so far away I don't feel the urge or obligation to pick up extra shifts.
"It feels like a mini vacation flying away to work because I'm flying away from my obligations at home and can catch up with my friends in the US.
"The downsides are the time difference; it's nine hours, and it's hard to chat to my daughter and be away from my family for 10 days."
Courtney flies back home to the US just once a month, and stays with one of her nursing friends while keeping her uniform in her car, working just four eight-hour shifts before taking the Money Money Money back home.
Since committing to the lengthy commute back in December 2024, Courtney says she's racked up over 50,000 miles and spends just $500 on return flights each time, while taking home roughly $5,000 from her work stateside.
The mother-of-one also explained exactly why she doesn't simply work as a nurse in Sweden, rather than undergoing the mammoth journey each month.
She added: "I don't have a license to work as a nurse in Sweden and, to be honest, I'm not quite sure if I'll pursue that, the pay is quite a drastic difference.
"In the US, nurses are paid differently; in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have the highest-paid nurses in the country, and we have a nurses' union, which a lot of other countries don't have.
"It feels financially not worth it. From what I've looked at it's the high end of $30 per hour to work as a nurse in Sweden.
"The cost of living is so different here from the US, especially in San Francisco. Here my rent is $1,350 per month, and in Washington I was paying $2,600, so basically double.
"I also now have the benefits of living in Sweden, my daughter gets to go to day care almost for free, and healthcare is free.
"I do have to pay tax in both countries, but we have a double taxation treaty, so I don't have to pay tax on both monies twice."
Topics: Travel
James Moorhouse