Speaking of commutes - the downside of life as a geo/natural resources/engineering job is the sometimes crazy long commute. The upside is it tends to crazy in other, fun ways. Here's a couple of examples:
Home -> Airport: 20mins
Fly to Dubai: 10hrs
Fly to Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania): 4.5 hrs
Hang around in a dodgy hotel for a few hours
Fly to regional Tanzanian airport: 1hr
Hop on little prop plane and fly to operation with a fat, wheezing "heart-attack-about-to-happen" pilot in command: 15mins
Home -> Airport: 20mins
Fly to Jakarta (Indonesia): 5 hrs
Fly to Balikpapan (Kalimantan, Indonesia): 2 hrs
Drive to river: 3 hrs
Speed boat up river deep into jungle: 4 hours. +20 mins for a refuelling stop - with a sock over the gas tank to filter out the rust from the gasoline, and the guy filling up having a smoke just to ensure there was enough imminent danger to keep you awake.
On the financial side of things it can work very, very well. If you are single and don't blow all your cash on a binge when you get back home you can stash a lot of money away as you do tend to get well paid visiting crazy parts of the world, particularly as an expat from a western country. You also tend to have all food, accommodation and transport paid for, and can end up on a tax free gig depending on where you go and where you base yourself [unless, of course, you are a US citizen where the IRS hunts you down and taxes you wherever you happen to be - good to be an Aussie sometimes].
To put it into perspective, you could probably buy a reasonable place in Longmont, home of MMM, every 18 months or so or a foreclosure project every 8-10 months. It is easily possible to retire in style after 5 years unless you develop an expensive lifestyle. A couple of other bonuses: 1) you may get an expensive habit [travel] out of your system on someone else's expense account, 2) you end up roughing it due to circumstances from time to time, so you toughen up a bit [see stoicism post], 3) you don't accumulate stuff, 4) and most important, you see how the rest of the world lives, really understand the inconceivably good conditions we have in the west and also see the incomprehensible waste with fresh eyes.
However, to have the experience where people will pay crazy expat rates, likelihood is you won't be single. In which case chances of getting divorced due to long absences and having big maintenance payments for the rest of your life is quite high. So be careful ;).
I have seen guys retired with a large property portfolio aged 32 and guys without a penny to their name drowning their sorrows in a sleazy bar in the middle of the jungle aged 60.
BTW - you don't need a particular degree to get good $s - you just need to become expert in something important to a high value industry. Degrees which can get you there include engineering (mining, civil, oilfield), IT, geology, surveying, process engineering, but I have seen guys do well with less academic qualifications and experience. For example, drillers, blasters, fitters/mechanics, carpenters/builders/electricians [short stints building camp accommodation].
Me, I was a software systems consultant to these kinds of guys so was never fully in the lifestyle but I did observe it up close for years.