funkymonk
As an SO you will do about three long haul trips per month. A long haul being a trip across six times zones or more. Each trip is four days long and it takes you about five days to recover from each trip once you get back to Hong Kong. Therefore out of a month of say 30 days you will spend 27 of them not knowing whether you want to sleep or not. Welcome to the life of a long haul pilot.
If you stay on the pax fleet don’t expect to be able to bid for a base for at least six years assuming you are on the right fleet. At present it is the B744. In six years time it will be the B777. If you are willing to take the large pay cut and you meet the requirements of a DEFO on the freighter, you could possibly transfer to the freighter fleet. I must point out though that not many people take this path for obvious reasons.