There’s going to be a vote on the 4 days-off pilot optional waiver. As far as the ability of bidding long stretches of days off, this waiver greatly enhances your chances. As a matter of fact, I’ve been seeing several pilots bidding that way, sometimes getting 10+ days off in a row. Regardless of your awarded line, you can always manipulate your schedule in daily open time.
You should consider how many hours you need to credit a month. If money is not an issue, you could put 2 4-day trips back to back. Maybe you’ll need a day off in between, but a stretch of 8-9 days of work will credit you a min of 40hrs and a max of 50hrs (maybe 52 if you’re lucky to grab those juicy 26hr 4-day Tripp’s)
Our schedules are super flexible as long as you’re a line holder. Now, reserve it’s a different story. I don’t see how could you commute internationally. Heck, even domestic would suck.