The real problem is that our boyhood dreams are born when growing up in the 1980s or even worse before that. And the world we live in now is a totally different place, the mismatch is huge and what you would get is far from the life the typical legacy pilot would have back then. This is a fact, is no personal opinion etc..The days of taking a Jumbo to California and stay there for a week have long gone, if we do not come to terms with this we are delusional.
Long haul? Heavy jets? Legacies? Be my guest, and it's for sure a good deal for some. But we are talking a whole different animal, that should not for a second be confused (try proposing a 1970s captain 900 hrs a year of 3-4 sect days). Hence the existence of a thread like this which frankly, is a tough one to even begin to make up.
Having said that, there are new possibilities around the world which would have been untinkable even a decade ago (a young Westerner commanding a chinese jet for 25000$ a month??)..guess it all depends on how you look at it. The only thing I'm saying is many of us need to finally get real I'm afraid.