JD, Congrats on getting in! You'll really like enjoy it at LGW. We work hard, but its a great base with some great people.
There are a lot of untruths written about LGW being the poor relation of LHR. Recent pay deals have equalised all pay and allowances, and we are now paid the same as our LHR cousins. The only difference now is we have a different bidding system to them. CARMEN is a preferencing system, and if you are junior it is great. You are in with a shot of 2 weekends off a month, and still get one or two of your preferred trips. From talking to mates on the Airbus and 757, this is much better than you can expect at LHR. The flip side to this is BIDLINE (the LHR system) rewards seniority much more, so as you become senior you will get a much better lifestyle on a BIDLINE fleet.
There are still many tours ranging from 2-6 days. Only last month I worked an entire month of tours, with no day trips, so they are out there! I prefer 2-3 day trips, and most months I get 4-6 of these with a scattering of day trips. Current nightstops are EDI, GLA, ABZ, JER, MAN, NCL, BLQ, GVA, AMS, MUC, HAJ, TLS, MRS.
We work very hard in summer, and as Carnage Matey rightly said, there are some long day trips. Pick of the bunch last summer was LGW-ALG-LGW-CDG-LGW! That said, you are still guaranteed 11 days off a month. Roster stability is superb - once you have it, they cannot change it! I've been here for 4 years and will probably be leaving next year to fly the 400 (hopefully!), but will happily return to LGW for a command in a few years.
Good luck, and see you around Jubilee sometime!