CommanderBlonde
Christmas over here in the US isn't the long protracted holiday it is in the UK. Typically people get only one or two days off. All the stores and businesses close only on 25th.
The weather in Florida at Christmas is usually very nice, infact it is high season here. Remember though at this time of year it gets dark early, limiting your flying time
My son recently came over for three weeks at Easter and went back with his Private. I am a CFI, CFII and MEI and did most of his training. I used a company called Chandelle Aviation at West Palm Beach, they allowed me to use their aircraft to teach my son and provided an excellent instructor for the days I had to fly. (I'm a pilot for Southwest Airlines).
I don't know what your timeframe is but assuming your not going to have weeks out here there are things you can do to optimize your time and increase your chances of completing the rating before your return to UK.
To give you an idea we used a Cessna 172 at $75 hour, the school add 10% to your account if you deposit an amount in excess of $1000,which brings the cost to $67.50 an hour, as a student you can be exempt sales tax. Our total bill was right at $3500, that included checkride medical written test etc. Bear in mind though we only used their instuctors for a few hours @ $20 hour.
Email me if there is anything I can do to help.
[email protected]
Good Luck
[This message has been edited by Gspot (edited 18 June 2001).]