A man ditched his “dull” nine-to-five as a plumber to work as a musician on a cruise ship - travelling to 40 countries earning £40k a year.<br /><br />Jack Nolan, 33, says being a plumber was "boring" and "unfulfilling".<br /><br />He started working on cruises in 2016 and earns £3,315 a month and has travelled to countries like Australia, Iceland and Canada. <br /><br />He revealed what it's like living and working on a boat.<br /><br />While he has to work most nights as a singer and guitarists he gets all day off - and gets to explore each destination at his own leisure.<br /><br />And living on a boat means he doesn't pay and rent or bills - and all his food is also included.<br /><br />Jack's 'bucket list’ destinations so far have visiting the Acropolis in Greece, Colosseum in Rome, Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Hobbiton in New Zealand, and Blue Lagoon in Iceland.<br /><br />The singer from Exeter, Devon, said: “Not many jobs will let you see so many countries and experience so much culture. <br /><br />“We also don’t pay for rent or food which is great - as they are two of life's biggest expenses.<br /><br />“I had finished university and I had worked in plumbing shops before ships.<br /><br />“Plumbing doesn’t feed my soul the same way that music does and it doesn’t fulfil me. I wanted to travel the world and I hadn’t travelled by that time.” <br /><br />His dad, Trevor, 67, recommended he become qualified in a trade, and Jack's previous life saw him installing bathrooms for three years and working in a plumbing shop.<br /><br />He said: “I was living for the weekend.<br /><br />“I still often worked Saturdays too.<br /><br />“I was burned out and ultimately knew I didn’t want to do that job for the rest of my life."<br /><br />In 2016, Jack got a call from a friend who he had previously worked with at a wedding.<br /><br />He was a drummer and asked Jack if he knew any guitarists for a band he was putting together.<br /><br />Jack said: "I told him I'd love to do it, and from there we recorded a promo video in sent it to agents, and we landed our first gig on a ferry in 2016. <br /><br />"We then found another agent who found us a real cruise contract. <br /><br />"After that, we were offered more jobs on different ships and I was so excited. The ships went to places like the Caribbean and I had never been."<br /><br />Jack says some cruise-workers can also run their own “side-hustles” - like hairdressing and barbers. <br /><br />He makes an extra £20 an hour running his own art auctions on board the ship, as well as playing in the band.<br /><br />Often, he’ll spend an afternoon in one country before heading to another by noon the next day. <br /><br />“I loved the ancient Acropolis in Greece and the Colosseum in Rome,” he added. <br /><br />“Visiting Vancouver, Jamaica, and bungee jumping off the Auckland bridge, were some other highlights.<br /><br />“Today we are in Palma, Mallorca - tomorrow we could be in France. <br /><br />“Each day we wake up in another country.” <br /><br />Jack says relationships between colleagues aren’t prohibited - and are actually “very common”. <br /><br />But they can cause a lot of crew tension - and he says working there is sometimes like living in uni halls.
