A Week Touring North America On A $47,000 Salary

Occupation: Touring physical therapist
Industry: Performing arts
Age: 26
Location: Touring North America
Salary: $47,000; I also receive daily per diem on tour ($57), issued weekly ($399).
Assets: $7,000 in my savings account.
Debt: $35,000 from earning my doctorate of physical therapy.
Paycheck amount (twice monthly): $1,526.85
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: $0. On tour, housing in hotels is covered. My home base is my parents’ house because I started this job straight out of PT school and am almost never home.
Loan payments: $600 to student loans.
Hulu student: $2.19
Google Photos: $2.17
Cell service: $20

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes. My parents expected my sisters and me to go to college, and it was something we all wanted as well. I am lucky to have parents who started saving for my siblings and me when we were born, so our college funds paid for our undergraduate degrees. My parents partially helped me out in graduate school, but I did take loans out as well. I was also a TA for part of my time, which covered my full tuition during those semesters.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My parents have always stressed the importance of saving money and being conscious of spending, despite never really having to be too worried about it. My mom is a major sales shopper and my dad wouldn’t turn on the heat until it was under 30 degrees outside in winter. While they never explicitly “educated us” about finances, these habits and mindsets definitely rubbed off on my siblings and myself.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was as a ballet teacher, when I was 16, at the studio I danced at as a kid. I got this job because it was what all the teens at the studio did and it was nice to have a bit of my own money to spend at that age. I didn’t take this job out of need, it was just part of the culture at the studio.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I was lucky not to have to worry about money growing up. My parents have consistently had full-time jobs and allowed us to participate in the hobbies of our choices and go to the colleges we wanted to. My sisters and I never got allowances but our parents would give us money occasionally to go and do things with friends, so we usually didn’t have money to go out and spend whenever, which I think kept us conscious about what we were spending.

Do you worry about money now?
I wouldn’t say that I worry about money now but I am extremely conscious of it. I know that I’m fine, but I also know that my situation right now on tour, in which I don’t pay for rent or a car, won’t be permanent. I’m actively trying to save as much of my salary and per diem as I can to build up my savings and pay into my loans, which can be a challenge on tour.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became fully financially responsible at 25, when I graduated with my doctorate this May, as my parents were helping me out a bit during all of my schooling. I did take a gap year between undergrad and PT school during which I worked and was financially responsible for myself.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
As I mentioned before, my parents were able to cover my undergrad degree in full due to a college fund they had been contributing to since I was born and they don’t expect me to pay them back for it. They also helped me with rent during grad school, but I plan to repay that amount.

7:15 a.m. — I wake up in a hotel room in Massachusetts. I have a bus call at 8:30 a.m., so I pack and weigh my two suitcases to make sure they’re under 50lb. I check out of the hotel and meet the rest of the tour group for the coach bus ride to the Boston airport. I eat a granola bar on the bus and listen to a podcast to pass the time (no one is feeling social this early in the morning). My job is pretty unique; I’m a physical therapist but I don’t work in a clinic or hospital. I travel across North America with the cast and crew of a touring Broadway-ish show. We travel every few days, usually putting on one to four shows in every city. This cast and crew make up my patient pool and I treat them from random dressing rooms in theatres all over the country. Unfortunately, today is a long travel day.

9:30 a.m. — Airports with the group are always a *special* experience. No one is ever prepared for a group of 20 to show up with two bags to be checked each, which I suppose is fair. At the airport, I sit with the cast and crew and finish up documentation from the physical therapy sessions I completed yesterday. We fly to Baltimore and some cast members and I get Potbelly at the airport during the layover. $12.49

2 p.m. — We fly to Grand Rapids and hop on another bus for the hour-long drive to our hotel near the next tour stop. While bus seats aren’t assigned, they’re assigned, and I love my spot. I sit in the back with the cast, but I’m right on the edge of the most talkative section, so I can easily join the chat if I want to but can also tune them out if I have things to do or don’t feel like being social.

4:30 p.m. — We check into the hotel and I see that I have a full kitchen so I go straight to the grocery store, which is about a 10-minute walk away from the hotel. It can be hard to cook on tour, as most hotels only have a microwave. Also, there isn’t always a grocery store within walking distance. I buy some snacks and ingredients for a mushroom marinara pasta that I’ll eat while we’re here. I’m also a big proponent of bagged salads these days (Taylor Farms Mexican Street Corn and Thai Chili Mango salads have my whole heart). I also get some ice cream (Black Raspberry Cookies and Cream); we so rarely have freezers in the tour hotels so I have to do it. $43.34

5:15 p.m. — As soon as I get back to the hotel, I cook my pasta because I know I’ll need it tomorrow to eat during the two-show day.

6:30 p.m. — I join a group of the cast and we walk to a nearby Ethiopian restaurant. We have a delicious dinner and the service is great, so we offer them complimentary tickets to the performance tomorrow. It’s nice when we know we have tickets to offer and can give them to people we meet in the community. Our group is neither small nor quiet and the waiter and chef are wonderful so we are glad that they’re available to come to the show. $22

9 p.m. — We walk back to the hotel and play card games until way too late at night. I recently taught the group Cambio which has quickly become a crowd favorite. We also manage to make it through a full game of Phase 10 (which unfortunately ends very tragically for me).

7:30 a.m. — I wake up and eat a granola bar with peanut butter and get ready for work. I meet a few cast members in the lobby and we drive our rental car to the theater. As the only PT on tour, I usually catch a ride to the theater in a cast or management car.

9:05 a.m. — I lead a 20-minute warmup for the performers before every show, but this is an early one so we keep it chill. The performing cast then has rehearsal while I hold PT appointments for the rest of the cast and crew. Then I have an hour of PT sessions for performers that are in this morning’s show. During the show, I’m on-call in case anyone is injured. People (such as management) who aren’t busy performing or running the show can also sign up for PT slots during the show.

11 a.m. — Curtains up for a kids’ matinee show. The audience is packed with rowdy school field trip groups. No one signed up for PT sessions during the show so I hang out in my usual sidestage spot by the stage right prop table. I laugh while the cast laments that the kids keep cheering at the wrong times and they can’t properly hear their own music. After the show, we drive back to the hotel.

1 p.m. — I get changed and head out for a run. I love to run outdoors but sometimes our location doesn’t allow me to run outside in an unfamiliar place and feel safe while doing so. Thankfully we’re near a college campus so I take a route by a river that leads toward campus. Toward the end of the run, I come across the school spirit shop, where I purchase a postcard. I try to get a postcard from every city on the tour. I then decorate them and write info about the shows, the venue, and other fun things from that city on the back of the postcard. By the end of the tour, I’ll have quite the stack. $1.06

2 p.m. — I get back from my run, shower, and eat some pasta. I go to another cast member’s room to play more Cambio until it’s time to leave for the second show.

5:05 p.m. — I lead warmup and treat more patients before the 7:30 p.m. curtain. During the show, I spend some time watching from the wings, documenting sessions, and treating members of the cast who aren’t performing that night.

10 p.m. — After the show, we head back to the hotel and I eat more pasta for dinner. A group of us then head out to a bar, where I get a couple drinks and we play darts and pool. Hand-eye coordination has honestly never been my strong suit and it shows, especially since my opponents are all percussionists. We traipse back to the hotel at bar close around 2 a.m. $16

7 a.m. — We have another travel day upon us. I wake up and pack up my hotel room for a deadly 8:15 a.m. bus call. It’s another hour-long drive back to the airport and I spend it trying to get more sleep. Once through security, I finish typing up PT notes from yesterday and snack on granola.

12 p.m. — We fly to Chicago, where we have a three-hour layover. Some cast members and I go to Chili’s at the airport. I get a cup of soup — so I don’t feel bad about taking up a seat — and finish up my container of pasta. We sit near our gate and play some card games until it’s time for the next flight. We almost miss the flight because we don’t hear the announcement but thankfully someone comes and grabs us before it’s too late. $9

6:30 p.m. — We land in Kansas and have another hour-long bus ride to the hotel. This time, a few cast members and I play UNO on GamePigeon and the trash talk is real. I check into the hotel and head out with a few friends to grab Chipotle (sofritas bowl) for dinner.  $8.86

7:30 p.m. — We go back to the hotel and have a movie night: a classic Over the Hedge x Madame Web double feature with some microwave popcorn (also a good traveling food). One of the perks (I think) of being on tour is that your coworkers essentially have to become your friends — there aren’t really any other options. Thankfully, I really like the people I’m on tour with and am glad to call them my friends as well as patients/coworkers.

10 a.m. — I sleep in after the long travel day and wake up to go on a run. We’re near another college campus and I go for about four miles. Kansas is actually pretty hilly and I’m unpleasantly surprised by that. Still, the weather is nice and it felt good to be moving after the travel day yesterday.

12:30 p.m. — On the way back to the hotel, I pass a cute local gift shop and stop in for a postcard. They also get me for a sticker and an enamel pin, because they were too cute to resist. $15.12

1 p.m. — My lunch is a Graham cracker PB & J and a Walmart-brand Slim Jim. When you’re on the road, you quickly figure out which foods are easy to travel with and prepare in a hotel room. It’s way cheaper to grocery shop when possible rather than eating out for every meal, but in the end, you gotta do what you gotta do to nourish yourself. We’ve been pretty good this week, but my car group has built quite the habit of the 10 p.m. post-show Wendy’s or Raising Cane’s.

4 p.m. — I walk to the theater and go through the normal show day routine of warmup, treating patients, writing notes, and watching the show from sidestage. Every show is a bit different because a decent amount is improvised, so I like to watch as often as I can. Watching the show also helps me to tailor warmup and therapeutic exercises specifically for my patients. Plus, the cast appreciates it when I watch and I always enjoy the backstage banter.

10 p.m. — After the show, I go back to the hotel and finish my Chipotle from last night. I go to a cast member’s hotel room where we play more card games and watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

7:55 a.m. — I wake up for a call with my mentor that I accidentally scheduled for way earlier in the morning than I wanted it to be. Time zones will never be my friend, not on tour. We discuss my current patients and troubleshoot some cases. After that meeting, I hop on a call with a coworker who works on a different touring show to catch up.

12 p.m. — I pack up and check out of the hotel for the two-hour bus ride to Kansas City airport. I finish writing notes, chat with cast and crew, and listen to music on the bus. Writing notes will forever be the bane of my existence (as just about any healthcare provider will tell you). I turn on the noise-canceling setting on my headphones to prevent me from getting distracted but I still do.

2:30 p.m. — At the airport, I get a barbecue chicken bowl (when in Kansas City, I guess) and hang out at the gate with the tour group. We fly from Kansas City to NYC and I watch the movie My Old Ass (highly recommend, I cried). We deplane, get our bags, and take a bus ride to Long Island. $17.33

8:30 p.m. — I check into the hotel and take a quick walk to the Shopt nearby for a salad that I take back to the hotel. After a long travel day, I cool down with Suits and get ready for bed. I have the grand idea (not sure why I didn’t think of it earlier) to go into the city tomorrow to see a show. I grew up dancing and have always loved theatre — the main reason that I chose to work in this area after graduating from physical therapy school. I text one of the cast members, B., to ask if he’d be interested in going with me (also selfishly so that I wouldn’t be alone for the train ride back to Long Island after the show). He says maybe and I do a bit of research, but I’m thinking it’ll be a game-time decision. $13.45

12 p.m. — I am TIRED after yesterday’s early morning and travel. We have a Golden Day today, which means neither a performance nor travel. I sleep in, waking up to FaceTime with a friend, K., from college. We talk about my job as a touring PT and her current journey in PT school. It’s so nice to catch up after a long time that we decide to keep talking as I travel into the city.

1:20 p.m. — I walk to the Long Island Rail Road station to take a trip to Forest Hills for lunch with a friend, J., who I also haven’t seen since college. Golden Days near a city, especially one with public transportation, are the best. $10.75

2 p.m. — In Forest Hills, J. and I decide on a ramen spot, since it’s pretty chilly out. We catch up on her life working and dancing in NYC and warm up with soup. $18.23

3:45 p.m. — J. and I hop back on the LIRR to Penn Station so she can go home and finish some work while I am going to get my ticket for the Broadway show for tonight. I find out that a few other cast members from the tour will also be seeing shows tonight, so if B. can’t make it, I’ll at least have company for the train ride back to the hotel. This trip is a quick ride and we walk toward J.’s apartment and the theater box office. $6.75

4:30 p.m. — I say bye to J. as we head our separate ways. I stop at a Duane Reade to grab a water, cough drops, and candy to snack on. I use $5 in Walgreen’s points. $3.13

4:45 p.m. — I’m near the box office at this point, but I’m waiting to see if B. will be joining me. I’m trying to waste some time until he gets back to me. I’m honestly not sure I trust he’ll catch the correct train and make it in from Long Island in time so I’ll wait until he’s on the platform. I stop in a theater-themed gift shop nearby and buy my postcard. $1

5:05 p.m. — B. finally gets back to me and lets me know he’s at the train station so I go ahead and get both of our tickets for $192, what I’d consider a great deal for good orchestra seats in a buzzy show. He promptly venmos me for his ticket. $96

5:45 p.m. — I find a nearby cafe and get a sandwich while I wait for B. to make it to Manhattan. I do my daily Spanish Duolingo (streak day 497). Eventually, B. shows up with another tour cast member who is going to see a different Broadway show. We head out and find our way into the theater for the 7 p.m. curtain. $15.72

9:45 p.m. — The show is incredible and B. and I truly can’t believe what we just saw. After the show ends, we meet up with our other friends who attended shows tonight to take the LIRR back to Long Island together. We debrief our shows and try to guess each other’s Myers-Briggs personality types with varying success. $10.75

11 p.m. — I FaceTime my friend V. to debrief on the show, as she saw it a few weeks ago. We talk about the cast, the songs, the choreography, and inevitably everything else in our lives until we’re both about to fall asleep on the line.

6:30 a.m. — I (barely) wake up and get ready to meet the management team to drive over to the theater for another school field trip performance. During the drive, I plan this morning’s warmup.

8:20 a.m. — I lead warmup for the cast and we have our company meeting. Then we go through the usual rehearsals and matinee kids show; meanwhile I treat patients. There’s a TV screen right outside the PT room door in this venue so instead of hanging out side stage, I sit and write notes while watching the screen. It’s nice when I can watch the show and not feel like I’m in the way backstage (even though I get in the way plenty). It’s also fun to see it from the front, rather than through the wings on the side. I chat with our electrician until he’s called to the stage to fix the focus of a light in a wing that got knocked by a performer.

1:45 p.m. — We leave the venue and I’m 80% sure I’m headed for a nap until I discover there’s a Trader Joe’s in walking distance from the hotel and I can’t resist. I know our travel tomorrow is by bus, so I can buy a bit more and take it with me to the next city. On the walk to TJ’s I see a CAVA which I also can’t resist ($13.96). I get to Trader Joe’s and buy a few things to eat as meals today and tomorrow, as well as some snacks (helloooo jerk-style plantain chips). $25.81

2:30 p.m. — I head back to the hotel to eat and watch Suits until it’s time to head back to the theater.

4:35 p.m. — Time for warmup, rehearsal, and a 7 p.m. performance. I watch on the screen again and pretend to write my notes even though I know I’ll procrastinate until the bus ride tomorrow.

10:15 p.m. — We finally leave the theater after chatting in the lobby with the cast’s family members and friends who came to see the show. The car group makes a stop at Wendy’s but I’m so ready for my TJ’s noodle salad. I get back to the hotel, eat, shower, and crash.