As healthcare organizations increasingly rely on travel nurses to address workforce shortages, travel nursing remains a crucial yet underexplored aspect of the healthcare system. Despite their essential role, research on travel nurses’ experiences and challenges remains limited, as the literature focuses largely on technical and economic aspects, with little attention to practical implications. This three-manuscript dissertation includes a conceptual manuscript discussing whether travel nurses should be considered a vulnerable population, a state of the science on navigating the work environment and well-being of travel nurses, and a qualitative, phenomenological study on the lived experiences of travel nurses in the United States, focusing on the challenges they face and the vulnerabilities associated with their unique roles. For the qualitative study, purposive sampling was used to recruit 10 travel nurses who completed a demographic survey and participated in virtual, semi-structured interviews. Participants were mostly female (n= 8), ranged in age from 24 to 57, and had 3 to 27 years of nursing experience. Colaizzi’s seven-step method guided the analysis. Four themes emerged from the data: It Gets Lonely; You’re the Same, but You’re Different (with a subtheme of Just to Feel Like I Belong); I Liked the Flexibility (with a subtheme of No Staff Meetings, No Committees); and Housing Is Such a Big Issue. Together, these themes suggest that travel nurses constantly navigate between independence and vulnerability as they adapt to temporary roles in a fast-changing workforce. Findings highlight opportunities to strengthen healthy work environments through structured onboarding, intentional inclusion practices that support belonging and psychological safety, and practical supports that address housing-related stressors. Supporting this important sector of the workforce may improve well-being, strengthen retention, and potentially enhance patient care outcomes.