Regional (also known as "commuter") Airline schedules vary slightly from a schedule you would see at a major airline. Some of the things like scheduling bidding are similar but the differences are:

Looser FAR Restrictions - All airlines are covered under the rules governing FAR Part 121, however the FAA granted regional airlines the ability to fly to FAR Part 135 maximums.

Higher Crew Utilization - I'm not sure how to say it in a politically correct fashion, but most regionals fly 'the heck' out of their pilots. In part the airlines save money by having fewer pilots, and the pilots can build flight time in order to move on to a major airline.

Shorter Stage (Flight) Lengths - For example, Milwaukee, WI (MKE) to Madison, WI (MSN) scheduled for 35 minutes.

Monthly Schedules
Here is a typical monthly schedule for a Skyway Airlines Beech 1900D Captain:

11 Days off, 96 hours of Flight Time

At Skyway, we mostly flew "day trips" and had very few layovers. Most of the flying was catered to business travelers so the weekends generally had fewer scheduled flights including holidays. Other regionals that serve as United Express, Delta Connection, etc. have busier weekend and holiday schedules and generally fly trips with layovers.

Typical Day
At a regional, you may fly up to 12 legs in a day, depending on the length of your flights. On a typical day for a Milwaukee-based pilot may go as follows:

Considerations
Regional airline flying was a lot of fun. Typically, you're flying with younger crews that still have a very strong hunger to succeed and to move on to bigger and better equipment. The pay is low, the hours long but if you enjoy flying, you'll get to do plenty of it. When I was a pilot at Skyway Airlines/ Midwest Express Connection, I flew the Beechcraft 1900D. It wasn't a very glamorous airplane, but it had a four-tube EFIS set up, TCAS, a RADAR that rivals the 737's and no autopilot. So any approach we did (and believe me, we did plenty of approaches in the midwest during winter) was hand flown only with the help of the flight director. That type of flying really sharpens your instrument skills.

Many regional airlines, like American Eagle and Continental Express have "flow through" agreementswith their respective carriers. For example, I have a friend that got hired with Continental Express several years ago. After a few years, he was able to have a guaranteed interview with Continental and was given a seniority number and a hire date. So when his conversion date with Continental comes up, he goes from the Embraer-145 (ERJ) to a Continental 737 with a few months/years seniority. This is something you might want to consider when you start applying for commuter airlines.

Some regional airlines will hire you with a fresh multi-engine commercial instrument certificate with as little as 500 hours while others look for candidates with a few thousand hours. The industry is cyclical. When the majors are hiring feverishly as they are now, the minimum requirements for the regional airlines decrease. When the economy is slower and the majors decrease hiring, the minimum requirements for consideration at a regional increase. Regional airlines have gone through a lot of changes recently. When I first joined Skyway in 1996, Beechcraft 1900's, Fairchild Metroliners, Jetstream 32's, Brasilias and Saab 340's were all the rage. But now, Embraer-145's, Canadair RJ's, and AVRO RJ-85s are gaining presence.

When you make it to a regional, remember that pilot-in-command time is golden. I really wouldn't recommend passing up a possible captain upgrade on a turboprop to go fly as a first officer on a regional jet. You'll have a long career of flying turbojet aircraft and taking the early captain upgrade will speed your career progression.