It'll always cost more than you can afford!
Well, now 4 years behind my JAR-FCL PPL and a good stint living in Canada with a Canadian PPL, and now in the USA with an FAA ticket, the one thing that has been common to all is;
The only way to make a small fortune with flying is to start with a bigger one!
No matter where you fly the expense is incredible! It does become very "relative" when you permanently live somewhere! When I first moved to Canada, I thought the 60 quid (pounds sterling) the wet hour cost me for a new C172SP was a great deal, but after living in Canada and getting used to lifes other cost baseline's it suddenly didn't seem so cheap!
Now I'm living in Sunny Florida - most would say one of the coolest places to fly in the world. Sure, you get lots of sunshine, but with it comes Hurricane's and awful thunderstorms that love ripping the wings off Cessna's. There's a big downside too!
The best advice I'd offer to anyone back in Europe is take your strong currency, and spend it here in the USA to do your license. Your money simply goes a lot, lot further! But, you do need to go back home and do a good 5-10 hours after your PPL on learning the ropes of flying in JAA airspace. Things are quite different!
I loved flying in Canada. The big wide open forests and wilds of Ontario were incredible for long distance cross country flights. Then again, going into Class C in Toronto to do circuits around the top of the CN Tower was almost as easy!
In the USA General Aviation is more of a commodity and more people do it! Get ready for busy skies, and spend your money wisely on picking a good school that can teach you as per the JAA syllabus. It'll cost you roughly half to 2/3rds what it would cost by doing your full PPL training at a UK FBO/School/Club. Yep, you have to pay to travel, and accommodation etc, but your money goes literally twice as far. If you end up earning your income in US Dollars then it doesn't seem quite as cheap anymore! Bring those fat pounds over here and fly, fly, fly!
It matters not that you cannot drive a car - it would certainly help if you could, because as mentioned earlier, it will help your man-machine coordination. But save, save save......and remember an idea or thought held high is no better than a dream if you don't execute. Set out a plan to achieve what you want, and then make it happen. Do not live your life with your head held low in a long term regret.
Flying will always cost you more than you can afford. It's simply the nature of the beast. Unless, of course you fly professionally, in which case it doesn't feel quite as free as it could be! Getting up at 4am in the morning to do a boring flight you've done 130 times already! Messing in the airports, and dealing with the public! It's bad enough flying as a passenger these days, so it must be awful being a professional pilot that has to touch modern airports - better not dealing with self-loading freight if you ask me!
Good luck, make it happen!
Dave Tidwell