MBB life — is it as glamorous as we think?

I've spoken with dozens of consultants across the board. Whoever told you this has lied to you quite a bit. 

In truth, the work can be gruelingly long with 14-15 hour work days for 5 days being the norm on some client engagements. The whole "weekly stays at 5-star hotels" is a double edged sword. Although consultants stay at nice hotels, the novelty gets old incredibly quick with most saying because their clients and supervisor knew that they had been sent to a different country/state, then they had "all the time on their hands for their client work". Even when there is a break, there is little to do in a foreign location aside from eat a quick meal, maybe get a work out in and sleep after client work is tended to. There are client dinners on occasion, but they're hardly enjoyable since the mindset and intent is business oriented. 

I'd say the more accurate portrayal is below: 

Hours:
- M - Thurs => 12-15 hour work week from 8:30am to 5:30pm (9 hours), 8:00pm to 12:00am (4 hours)

- Fri => 9:00am to 5:00pm in home city 

Travel: 

- Best case: prime city with nightlife and manageable client with a solid engagement team.

- Worst case: remote town with yourself and maybe one or two others working on something tedious (like an audit of an O&G mine)

Client Exposure: 

- Best case: you're exposed to the client team for employee interviews, discussions about the scope of the engagement, etc. 

- Bad case: you don't get any client exposure. 

- Even worse case: you get ALL the client exposure. Meaning the client is particular about the scope, has a bias going into meetings, or yells directly at you for any hiccup in the engagement.