I think you have to get your priorities right and get any job you can(within reason) and worry about your 'perfect' job at a later stage. I came back from overseas and was out of work for a long time. My experience of life has shown me that it is easier to find another job if one is already employed. i.e. it shows ambition. If one is unemployed for any length of time and for any reason one gets labelled as a lazy b... who can't get out of bed in the morning. Unfair - maybe, but true. You need to earn money for obvious reasons as well as funding your future trip south. Here is some advice, if I may, when you go for a job you have to convince your employer that it is a job really want even if it isn't.