Jon

Yeah, speak for yourself mate. Maybe the person you're referring to came across as a 'particular undesirable sort', rightly or wrongly, maybe their fault, maybe the interviewer's fault. I got a PGCE place with UEA knowing I was about to go to Thailand for a few months and they thought that was great. When I was enjoying it in Thailand and delayed my place for a year, no probs, I was doing a good thing, and they kept the place open for me. When it came to completing my PGCE we talked about my TEFL experience, which of course also went into working and living with other cultures and broadening my horizons. Just up my street as a potential geography teacher. I got the job and mainly because of my 18 months Thailand experience (the only other teaching I'd done was 2 summer's of UK TEFLing) they gave me 2 years seniority up the pay scales, which in those days was around £2,000.
So yes, your Thailand teaching experience can put you in good stead. But if you don't come across well as a person no amount of experience is going to help you, and if you come across badly this may lead to questions being raised about you and what you've been up to in the past.
Of course, you might also be unlucky enough to be interviewed by a small minded bigot who ought to know better.
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And going back to finances, don't forget that there are all sorts of govt assisted schemes for key workers to help them buy property, with first time buyer initiatives, key worker housing projects, part ownership, etc. I have friends in these schemes and I see ads for them in my profession's media all the time. There are heavy subsidies for a long list of key workers throughout the UK. So it aint all bad by any stretch.

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Sur votre bicyclette, mate.