Perhaps those here with a myopic one legacy airline experience of the world would think that it takes 8 days to get to Europe and back.
However, unlike the Holiday Airline, where the aircraft is one great party bus to get you to the next vacation spot, most airlines these days adopt the apparently draconian approach of actually expecting their pilots to work whilst on duty. Usually that means:
No 48hr slips southbound from Europe
No 36 hr min slip time in London.
No massive allowances southbound
If you cut the fat out, you could quite easily get up to Europe and back in 6 days. Keep the family happy, less fatiguing (see FRMS), less cost to the company and as a bonus, less sitting around fattys and bars listening to BS stories.
I believe Emirates are a good example of this approach.