Hourbuilders lease
As said above I do lease aircraft for hours building. The cost would be about the same as flying in the USA but without the risks involved.
The market in the USA is just like the UK in that you will get what you pay for, the fantastic prices usualy come with a very tatty C150 that has had next to no maintenance and limitation that you to picking up fuel only from the company that rents you the aircraft or pay the price differance. The more reputable companys charge more and the aircraft are in a much better state (I see OBA as the an example of a Quality supplyer).
The other problem is weather, you will probably not get all the flying that you want to do done and as you haveto cost in hotels, airline tickets, food & car rental. the cost of a lost hour of flying in the USA is quite high.
My aircraft are so my customers tell me the nicest C152,s they have seen and I try to offer a quality aircraft at a reasonable price, I will not charge for flying lost because of weather just as long as you fly the aircraft a lot during the good weather days that you have.
The aircraft is rented "dry" so it is up to you to find the best deals on fuel and landing/parking fees (duty free fuel will save you about £9/hour).
Normaly people take the aircraft for one week and 20 hours or two weeks and 40 hours, this might not seem like a lot of flying how ever I don't want tired pilots flying my aircraft, I have made a large investment improving these aircraft and dont want some one to wreck one by trying to cram too much flying into too little time.
I have done some flying in the USA (CPL/IR/Multi) and found that two of the places let me down badly, the first pre-booked from the UK simply did not have the instructors or aircraft! and the second also failed to come up with the goods, the third place that I went to charged about 30% more but it was more than worth the money. At the time I was working in the USA and so the flying was not so time critical, the whole thing would have been a disaster if I had been on a three week break from work.
It was partly this that prompted me to start leasing aircraft for hours building and most of my customers have tried the USA option with variable results but seem pleased with the deal that I offer.