It depends on you man. I've always wanted to fly. Always. I grew up farming and ranching. I went to college and had office jobs. Nothing beats a sunrise at 35,000ft+. There are downsides and sooner or later you'll learn to complain but I still feel the worst day of flying is better than the best day of work. Just don't make too many quick decisions. Plan and prepare. You'll find a lot of people that go to one airline then move to another because they weren't happy there. So take your time and make sure you do things right.
As far as the overworked and underpayed goes, that's life. Pilots are union which has big upsides and a few downsides. The upsides being is there's protection and someone to look after you. The downside being that in order to progress the industry has to do it as a whole for the most part. You get your seniority, you sit at the bottom, you work until your seniority increases. I wouldn't really call it "working your way up from the bottom" because so long as you just keep your job your seniority will increase.
As stated it does take time to progress. Some lawyers come right out of school and make big bucks while others run around starving for work. Here EVERYONE starves at the beginning and after that you'll make a decent living so long as you play the game and stick with it. Just like being a doctor we are underpayed and overworked.
As far as the layovers go I rather enjoy most of them. The jetlag isn't an issue. I live in Texas and do all my flying in either the central or eastern time zone so one hour is easy to deal with. You'll quickly adapt to the system.
The main killer with avaition that I've seen is people not sticking with it or assuming time is on their side. From day one it's a race against the clock. When my classmates and I started we all knew it was going to be a long road to cover over the next 4-5yrs. Most of them took the summers off and took all the breaks from school and it wasn't till the end of that 3rd yr they started to realize they were behind the curve. Many of them, about 80+% didn't finish because their school loans dried up and they weren't far enough along to get a job as a CFI(flight instructor). So if you do decide to do this don't look back. Hit the ground running. Once able try for three lessons a week if you can. You'll see yourself growing quickly.
My last advice is to get your degree but do it in another field. I made the mistake of getting mine in Aviation and it has been nothing but a sore spot for me. Not because I didn't learn anything valuable but because it hasn't helped me obtain any of the jobs I had. There are people I've flown with who are accountants, lawyers, and civil/electrical engineers even. Should another 9/11 happen those guys/gals have something to fall back on. My degree is rather limited since I'm already in this field.
These are my takes on things. I don't know your financial situatino but if you're also looking for a means to fund your way through you might want to take a look at ROTC. I have friends that did it. A military commitment is required but they do count your last two years in college as credit. You'll make a decent living, have a good time, build some serious experience, and line yourself up nicely for a job in the future when you leave. It's important to stay focused on what you want for your end game but don't forget to live life along the way. Just because you want to be an airline pilot NOW doesn't mean you won't enjoy flying for the military or as a cfi or freight along the way. Don't worry too much about getting there just focus on the first steps. If you do that and don't stop you'll be there before you know it
Duck