There's not much real flying involved with flying Ultra Long Haul in an aircraft such as a 747-400.
You punch the route into the FMC before engine start, engage LNAV and VNAV before take off, and the follow the flight director before engaging an autopilot. On a good day, this can be as late as FL200!
You then let the aircraft follow the flight plan route while reading the newspapers, eating, speakin to the pax on the PA and chatting to the other pilot and flight attendants. You make a few radio calls, (but not across the Atlantic these days, as the Satcom does that for you) and put in an ocaisional direct in the kit. Ten hours later, you dial in a lower altitude so the thing knows what height to go down to when you reach the automaticly computed ToD, and by the time you're on safely established on the ILS, it's time to click out the automatics and do the landing - if you feel so inclined!
Yawn!
I recently left the 744 to fly the Classic 747. More to do, much more fun! Some short haul involved in the new job as well. That's a bit more like being a real pilot.
Meanwhile, I also instruct at the local flying club. Flying an NDB to ILS in a Warrior on raw data is far more demanding and more akin to real flying than monitoring a 744 on a route.