Hi, I changed from short haul, 4 legs a day, 20 days a month being home every night to this.
200% improvement of family and social life.
Ok, you're gone some days, but when you're off, you're really off.
What made the Short Haul difficult for me, was the lack of possibilities to have dinners, go out, do things with friends or family etc.
Rarely I could spend a whole evening, since I or was flying in the evening, or had a 0600LT check in time coming up.
These days I'm coming back, rest a bit and have a few days I can use from the morning till the evening doing things I like and or need to do.
Lots of phone calls with friends/family using Skype I do while on the way, so I'm not occupied with that at home.
On top of it, the average leg is not that long, so on the way back from the Far East you have some opportunities to sleep at the stations, so you're not fully jet-lagged when coming home.
What makes it easy for me is that I live very near, so I don't waste time commuting.
I do this kind of flying only since a short time now, but I feel it's beyond the Cargolux KoolAid I drink each day and the coolness of flying that big Freighter.
So for me, with a family, It was the best choice I could have ever made.
Moneywise it can always be better, but hey, I just started here!
@Hawkeye: From your few previous posts, is it safe to assume you are a bit of a negativist? You live near your work?