BEagle and others, I am not an instructor, merely a humble PPL who will soon need the one hour. What is the objection, or indeed is there an objection, within the instructor fraternity to changing this nebulous flight doing just about anything you like with an instructor, into a proper test with pass/fail and get more instruction options?
It would seem to me that if the pont of the trip is to make sure that PPL's are reaching some minimum ongoing ability, then a proper test is the best way of doing it. There always going to be some whingers about this, but if they are up to skill then for a seasoned ppl it should be a breeze; if it isn't then they need more training. Seems straight forward enough to me.
I suppose the single seat a/c owner might belly ache that they need to spend money on hiring an unfamiliar a/c, but it will do there piloting skills no harm to fly something unfamiliar. (I write as the owner of a single seater).