Only thing that I'd add is that, IMHO, I wouldn't go too far to fly - nothing like fighting through 30 miles of traffic to put you off your lessons, unless you've got enough spare time to go early and have lunch or watch them go by for a while first.
How long? Well, my neighbour did it in 3 weeks in Florida, so you can do it damn quick. I started this year, and I'm hoping to fly solo before the end of the summer (I've got a PhD Thesis to write up in the meantime, so I'm taking it pretty slowly
) and hopefully get the hours/cross-country stuff done next summer. I guess that's the other extreme, but I'm not really in much of a hurry.
Oh, and go for it.
