If you go to the US hour building then you can enter on a green card without any visa or security requirements.
I know what you mean but you should not call it a "green card". A "green card", in official speak, is a temporary or permanent resident visa, allowing you to stay, and work, in the US for three years or so. These are very, very hard to obtain. In fact, there's even a lottery each year to get these.
What the OP would need is to fill in a card (which happens to be green) which identifies the holder as qualifying for the "visa waiver programme". This VWP is only available to visitors from certain countries (mostly European) for short-term business or pleasure visits. As long as you are not training for the initial issue of a license or rating, such a visa waiver is good enough, and you don't need TSA clearance either.
You will need the FAA licence and it takes around 5-6 weeks to obtain.
I might be wrong but in this case a "piggyback" FAA PPL on top of your UK/JAA PPL would do just fine. And I believe that process is pretty painless, with the most time-consuming item being the validation letter from the CAA to the FAA. All told, I believe the total process should take no more than two weeks.
Start here:
http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certific..._verification/
2. Accommodation & flight over... I've found that some schools offer cheap accommodation...
Accommodation that is provided by schools is students accommodation. Shared between students, being cleaned once a week, shared kitchen/bathroom, possibly shared rooms... Not something I would want to do with a spouse. If you can find a cheap holiday package which includes a hotel or apartment, go for it.
4. Finally, how does florida differ in terms of their Air law and procedures to here in the UK? Are their charts different, or is the RT different?
Well, it's a different country so has different laws. In my "Obtaining a JAA PPL in the US" thread I've listed a few differences but in this case I'd say it's probably better to obtain a US PPL book and browse through it so you know what to expect. Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook should be just right for this. It has all the details on how the charts look, what R/T phrases are expected, how the airspace is divided and so forth.
There is some debate (in other threads) about whether a BFR is required for a piggyback FAA PPL if your JAA license is fully current but you can expect the school/club you rent from to give you a full BFR anyway: One hour in the air refreshing your handling skills, getting to know the local important landmarks and getting up to speed on R/T procedures, and one hour groundschool to refresh your air law, airspace and other knowledge.
Oh, and here's another tip. I understand from your posts that you don't have your PPL yet, but intend to do a lot of flying with the missus. It might help the missus gain confidence and trust if she did a short "flying for non-flying partners" course. Some schools have standard packages for this but any instructor should be able to improvise. The course should basically be a "what if the pilot becomes incapacitated" course, focusing on two things:
- Tune the radio and use it so that ATC knows your situation and can give you vectors to an airfield. (Don't worry about standard R/T, except for the word Mayday and a callsign.) Also know how to operate a transponder to dial 7700.
- Fly compass headings, descend and land the aircraft (or more likely - ensure your arrival doesn't wreck the occupants)
This could be done in one to two hours. Obviously the missus should sit on the right, with the instructor on the left.