Erik, and everyone else who has contributed to this thread - many thanks for all your inputs - obviously this is a lot to take in in a short period. However, we always knew there would be differences and challenges - that's part of the fun. So, we have decided, as a first step, to take a long holiday in the US of A next spring - probably a month, maybe 6 weeks. This is limited initially by our holiday insurance which allows trips of up to 45 days at a time.

So, the next big question is what should our itinerary be? We are thinking along the lines of a coast to coast trek in a motorhome. In 6 weeks that's only about 100 miles a day on average so there should be plenty of time to look around. What do you think?

Ian