I fully agree that bashing 100 hours out in Arizona/NZ or wherever is probably not as good as doing it in the busy UK but if the Integrated boys (which are looked on so favorably) can do it then why cant we? As long as you do your CPL/IR over here in the traffic then i cant see a problem. You should get all the XP you need doing them. Although i can see that you might find them more difficult without the XP you cant have everything.
Phil