A bigger life, on a teacher's salary.
An honest look at what changes when you take your career to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos or South Korea — the money, the week, the weekends, and the things nobody warns you about.
What actually changes.
The teaching is the same. A Year 4 maths lesson is a Year 4 maths lesson whether you're in Birmingham or Bangkok. What changes is everything around it.
You finish work and the city is warm. The flat you can afford has a balcony. Sunday is a market and a coffee that costs a pound. A long weekend means a flight to Bali, not a trip to your parents'.
Your salary in local terms means something different. The same UK take-home that pays for a flatshare in Zone 4 pays for a one-bed apartment with a pool in Hanoi, dinner out three nights a week, and savings.
The trade-off is real. You're further from home. Time zones are awkward. Friends move on. Some days you'd swap it all for an M&S meal deal and a familiar pub. But most days you wouldn't.
This page is what we wish someone had told us before we moved. The specifics. The honest numbers. The bits that don't fit on a careers brochure.
What life actually costs.
Indicative figures · Hanoi 2026 · Your mileage will vary by city and lifestyle
What seven days looks like.
Coffee & class
7am cafe, 7.45am at school. Year 4 morning. Lesson plan over phở at lunch.
Same again
Routine settles in fast. Same coffee, same xe ôm to work, different lesson.
Drinks after
Wednesday is the new Friday for the international set. 5pm rooftop in District 2.
Half-marked
Books done, evening free. Long walk by the lake. Banh mi for dinner.
Wheels up
Last bell at 4. Bag already packed. 7pm flight to Da Nang for the weekend.
Beach & books
An Bang beach, novel, lunch, swim, repeat. Cocktails as the sun sets.
Old town
Hoi An's lantern-lit streets at dusk. Last flight home. Class at 7.45 Monday.
Half-term in Bali. Easter in Tokyo.
Halong Bay, Vietnam
Bali, Indonesia
Phuket, Thailand
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tokyo, Japan
Flight prices indicative · Off-peak return economy · Booked 4–6 weeks ahead
The first six months I kept thinking I was on holiday. Then one day I realised this was my life. Same job, different country, completely different feeling.
What's actually hard.
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i
The first three months
Everything is unfamiliar. The shopping. The bank. The hospital. Most placements feel hardest in month two — the novelty has worn off, the routine hasn't started yet. This is why we assign mentors before you arrive.
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ii
Time zones with home
Vietnam is 7 hours ahead of the UK. Calls with parents are weekend mornings or weekday evenings. Important news arrives at 3am. You learn to manage it, but it never disappears.
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iii
Friends moving on
The international community has high turnover. Two years in, you'll have said goodbye to half the people you arrived with. The flip side: you make friends fast because everyone else is doing the same.
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iv
Missing weddings, missing funerals
The ones that matter, you fly back for. The rest, you watch on FaceTime. This is the actual cost. Most teachers we place make peace with it. Some don't, and renew their UK contract.
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v
Coming home
The harder bit isn't going. It's coming back. UK winters feel longer. UK prices feel insane. Most NUPAF teachers do 3–5 years and then either stay regionally or move to a different international market.
If this sounds like the life you want.
Apply to teach. The first conversation is a 30-minute call with a NUPAF UK consultant — no commitment, just an honest discussion of whether this is right for you.