Personally, having done seven years european short haul and now 4 years long haul I wouldn't swap back unless I absolutely had to. SH was great for a while, as you say lots of handling etc, but in the end I got sick and tired of early starts, 4 sector days in and out of CDG and FRA etc followed by a row of late finishes into days off, 2 days off and back onto earlies. At the end of a long day, I felt I had been on duty for 10 hours plus, just to end up in the same place!
I got into flying to see something of the world and I can certainly say that with LH. I find the flying far less tiring, still 10+ hour days as before, but only one sector (normally with relief crew) then off to a hotel for a night or two before returning. As for the handling, after seven years of 30 odd landings a month, one or two a month that I'm now doing is sheer bliss!
As I said, just my personal opinion, I know of several people who couldn't think of anything worse and would never consider LH... horses for courses really
S44