Originally Posted by Tuck

It's tough but it's not quite as bad as some of the posts above put it. I was on the MD11 out of ANC for FX for quite a while. Rarely did we do 12 hour legs but 8-11 hour legs were common. There is a relief pilot on board which means that you're given 2-3 hours off to rest in the back - you may not be able to sleep but it's definitely rest out of the cockpit. If this is a day flight (and most of the flights out of ANC are) then the entire sequence is pretty good. So now you're back in the cockpit, landing in a foreign country after being up for maybe 10 hours or resting a bit in between. It's not that bad. I'm not sure about waiting for rides at your destination. So far I've never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride internationally - domestically you're treated like garbage but most int'l locations are pretty good. And then an 18 hour layover would be short - more are more towards the 24-48 hour layover range - check out our bidpacks if you don't believe me. Your body clock will be screwed up but as one guy said, sleep when you're tired, eat when you're hungry, and workout in between. I think it's far easier flying long haul international than short haul hub turns domestically.
- long layovers
- much nicer hotels
- much better treated by the ramp/hotels
- usually 1-2 legs max per day