Travel: Necessary evil or fringe benefit?
I presume that people who decide on a career as cabin crew see the actual travel aspect of flying (that is, the fact of going from place to place) as a fringe benefit of the job, but what about pilots?
On several occasions, I've heard that pilots aren't keen on the travel part of their jobs, and that they prefer to just eat and sleep or otherwise take it easy on layovers. It seems to make sense, since presumably pilots become pilots because they love to fly, and not necessarily because they are interested in travel.
So I wonder: How many pilots here see the travel part of their jobs as just a necessary evil—the price you must pay in order to fly for a living—and how many see it as a fringe benefit of the job?
On a related note, which type of flights do you prefer: long-haul or short-haul (or something in between)? Seems like long-haul flights would get pretty boring … particularly if you don't like the travel part of flying in the first place … but maybe there are benefits related to the flying task itself when you fly long distances (?).