Transitioning from SWE to consulting: advice?

YOE: 12, been doing front-end development so long it was called back-end development when I started. Tech consulting is looking attractive, less production work and more system diagnosis and teaching teamwork, gets me back to my roots as a freelancer, swooping in to fix last-minute disasters. Also, I'm the scoundrel who likes business travel, and I hear consulting pays well. Software consultants: what's it actually like? Please disabuse me of my notions and/or tell me how to get started?