Also check the default ANSI settings between your local SSMS and the remote SSMS. Differences there can result in different execution plans.
How big are these queries. 30 seconds for a query is slow to begin with for most of the systems I've dealt with (except large data warehouses).
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning