I ended up with a job in the cruise industry. Two distinct eras of it for me.

At first I worked in land operations, which meant I was off the ships and setting up tours or just doing logistical work in the ports of Alaska. I spent years in Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, etc. Also I ended up transferred up to Denali National Park eventually. What all those places have in common is that they're just adult summer camp. When the tourists go to sleep, you're left with a couple thousand people from ages 21-30 with nothing else to do except hike, drink, and have bonfires. The work was fun because you're essentially getting paid to talk to people, and in my case, escort people on hikes and rafting trips. Things I like doing anyway. Then the day is over and you hit the bars.

Then I was promoted to work onboard. The passengers can be tough sometimes but at the end of the day I was travelling the world and getting paid for it. It could be my day off on Tuesday and I'd be hanging out In Venice, and then the following week I'd have my day off in London. Or Tallinn and St Petersburg. Or Kingston and Cartagena. Or Reykjavik and Glasgow. And because I was Shorex Staff (Selling Tours) the local tour companies were always eager to bring me on their tours so I can sell them better. Or just try to essentially bribe me. I spent my 25th birthday riding a helicopter up to a mountain top glacier, and then cracked open a 6 pack on top of the world. Basically half my job was seeing things, the other half was telling stories about them. And when my shift was over, I still had a place I'd normally never get to see to explore.

These days I'm back shores hide and split most of my time between Alaska and Seattle. I'm almost purely behind the scenes. Still fun in some ways, but toned down. I still like it because I like dealing with people from all over and getting to talk about these places. I don't ever really dread going to work.