I really appreciate everyone's help. Jason2k - thank you for taking so much time for such a detailed response.
In my situation and having read the responses I have decided that going to the US is probably the best option although I can see that I will need to take further instruction in the UK to properly get to grips with RT and navigation.
As I could probably go to the US at any time I was wondering whether there were any 'bad' periods that should be avoided?
