I really get sick and tired of the misconceptions posted on here. If you haven't been and done it then wind your neck in. There is absolutely no point in posting garbage about "my mate told me that....". Or I was having a cup of coffee waiting for the weather to clear at school the other day and someone told me that....Bollocks.
If you want to fly around in uncontrolled airspace in the US and not talk to anyone then go ahead and do it. Similarly if you want to do it in the UK then there is a large country called Scotland just to the north (check your charts) where you can fly for hours never talking to anyone.
On the other hand if you want to do some constructive hour building in the US then......Get flight following and go to some challenging places. Use wx-brief for a FREE weather briefing. Land at most airfields for FREE (only the bigger ones charge landing fees or require handling and are easily avoided if cost is an issue). Use Airnav to check out cheap fuel prices and plan your flights accordingly. Taxi up to a self service fuel pump and swipe your credit card and away you go.
Or on the other hand you can stay in blighty looking up at the clouds wondering when you will go flying. Stay in the circuit to bash some landings and you get the privilege of paying for each one and maybe even an approach fee on top depending on where you fly from. Even better if there is commercial traffic on finals then you can go around in circles until they land. And don't forget that the FTO will want their aircraft back after a few hours as well so don't head off to far.
For me it was a no brainer. Got my IMC rating before I went to the US and did full plogs for each and every flight. Bashed out VOR tracking and position fixing till the cows came home and pushed myself to trim trim trim. The flight tolerances for the CPL and IR should be your guide. Don't accept anything less and push yourself rather than just burning holes in the sky. Sit down with an instructor before you head off and get some tips so that you come back ready to jump into the CPL and IR.
PS: Florida got very boring for me. California won hands down. Big mountains, nice trips to Santa Barbara, San Diego, Palm Springs, traversing the LA basin was a highlight, Vegas was great to, the bits of the Grand Canyon you can legally fly over were superb and Sedona in Arizona stood out as a fun approach. Enjoy.