I think people are still missing the point here about hour building. you have to consider it as part of your training, it is so important that you get your nav in order, you try to land at as many different airports from large controlled ones to small grass fields. you have to be able to keep your altitude spot on and not loose headings, you have to be able to cope with all sorts of weather and visibility with confidence.
It doesn't matter how cheap your hour building is if your 25 hour CPL course becomes a 50 hour one because your skills aren't up to it. then there is no saving at all. even a resit on the CPL costs £1000, even more on the MEIR.
I would love to fly in the USA (and will hopefully at some point), and did a week of flying in Spain as part of my hour building, this is also great experience but what I've found during the CPL course is that I would recommend doing a good chunk of your flying in the country you intend to sit the CPL in.
Just now I am doing nav trips into the scopttish mountains, coping with mountain wave and turbulance, it's hard enough mantaining datums without ever having experienced such weather before.