£609 is the cheapest I can find from Scotland to the US. Yeah, ok, I can go via London via BMI which would save about £200 which is the way I'd do it, but then I'll have another trip to London to visit the embassy, so that then becomes marginal.
The food/drink is included in that list as I've included it in all of my scenarios - compared with the UK options its a benefit on the US ones due to the exchange rate and the lower cost of living over there.
I get 28 days holiday a year, inc public, so removing chrimbo (which works out well this year) leaves me with 25 (hol year starts 1st Oct). So 5 weeks. I need 2 weeks out of that to keep the wife happy, so that leaves me with 3 weeks. Depending on the Wx, getting the PPL could take 4+, so I was estimating 5 weeks total which is 2 weeks unpaid leave. Given the costs I'd hate to be unlucky with the weather or worse, not pass, and have to come back rather than stay on for another week and get finished.
1) Ok, cool
2) Thought so, again, I've included them to get an up front idea of additional costs. There are only 2 CAA approved medical examiners in my area as far as I can see, I'll check costs again.
On Aberdeen - Tell me about it, although my tuition there so far has been excellent, it's hellish expensive.
All in all, the US definately appears to be the cheapest option.