Incspeed (and anyone else with kids thinking of joining as a DEC)
The important reality of the bidding system, which does work for the senior pilots in the way they want it to is that as a junior Captain you won't get the days off and leave you bid for.
Think how your family will be feeling after four years of you working every Christmas and new year, of never being able to have a family holiday in the summer because you can't get any leave you bid for between May and September, of not getting to be home for your daughter's birthday or your son'a graduation.
Compared to that whether or not you get to spend 23 hours in Prague is really irrelevant.