Capt Ecureuil,
18 off a month is a bit generous, maybe that is the case for some SOs.
Guys on the 777 do get more days off due to the nature of ULH flying but the 777 will start to pick up a few more regional routes with the 350 starting europe and NA. The current recruitment drive is for the 330 and 747 as there would be a riot if external guys were taken directly on to the 777.
Definitely not a better deal from 30 years ago, with housing you could afford to buy a place, now you cannot. Getting kids in to school will be a nightmare and cost thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands for deposits.
Hong Kong is an expensive place, 1L of bad milk will set you back almost 5US, it may seem like you are getting paid a lot but the money laves your account almost as quick as it went in.
It will be hard to get home on an airbus regional or 74 roster, airbus guys are working max days with maybe 8 days off in some cases, definitely not all in a row.
747 guys spend a lot of time flying through the night, holed up in anchorage with plenty of roster changes. Ive heard of some guys head off to NA and not return to HK for 10 days with only doing 40 hrs of flying.