after you finish up CFIing, what in your opinion is the best job to go off to, to either build hours, or just have a good time flying and knowing you can actually live, leaving huge paying jobs out of this.

 

First of all, you may be a bit mis-guided in that you say "finish up CFIing". Many people have made "CFIing" a career. If you enjoy teaching and the CFI environment, you can make a very descent living being a flight instructor. In fact, with some experience and effort, you can have a very nice quality of life and earn a very respectable wage.

However, if your view of instructing is a means to an end, then you should probably leave it as soon as you can. You can find flying freight in light twins, sight seeing, banner towing, glider towing, airplane ferrying among others.

If your goal is to work for a regional or eventually a major airline, the key is to try and build turbine PIC time as soon as you can. Of course, it's a bootstrapping problem because you can't get experience flying PIC turbine until you have experience flying PIC turbine. With some luck, good contacts, and getting your total PIC (single, multi, piston, etc) higher, something will open up.

Best of luck!

 

Check out Scenic Airlines in Las Vegas. Not a bad first time job, and it's 121 time.