Travelling dilemma

In the grand scheme of things, vacation planning is really not something to get nervous or itchy about - you will not hear any argument from me. So why did I spend the past two nights puzzling about precisely that subject? *sighs*

Okay, here's the situation: after a relatively cheap holiday year, we were hoping to cross over to another continent sometime in 2010. Because of The Great Big Two-Year Project at work finishing in October 2010, preceded by half a year of testing and followed by two months of virtual firefighting (well, I work in ICT *g*), said trip has to be taken before the summer holidays - ideally, April - and has to be planned now. Add to that the other boundary conditions we're setting (i.e. nothing too long or too fancy, in an accessible country, preferably an English-speaking one, too) and we're left with two options:

(1) Two weeks on the road in South-Western USA

Just the two of us in a rental car hopping from motel to motel, exploring southern New Mexico and Arizona, Las Vegas and Death Valley. Pros: absolute freedom, a country we're sure we'll love (we did the more famous national parks two years ago, and it was the best vacation of our lives), lots of opportunities to hike. Cons: little time to plan the trip, plus we can't book the plane tickets yet, as the promotions only start in January... and there's always a chance we don't find a cheap flight, in which case the trip is off. *Eep!*

(2) Two weeks in South Africa, accompanying my parents on their holiday

Seeing wildlife as well as some gorgeous bits of nature. We'd mainly be doing Kruger Park and environs, including some time around Blyde River canyon, and perhaps the lesser known Waterbergen area above Johannesburg, but not much else, because the parents would be setting the tempo. Pros: an opportunity to take a trip we probably wouldn't risk doing on our own, and doing it more cheaply because we can share a car and accommodation, parents organizing everything (they've been there before, so they know). Cons: parents organizing everything *g* meaning we won't cover a lot of ground on those two weeks, and we'll definitely lose some freedom. Also, April is not an ideal time as it's the end of the rainy season, meaning more mosquitoes and less wildlife to be spotted.

This is so much a luxury problem, I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to decide. And if we want to go to South-Africa, we'll have to decide this week-end, or we risk missing the cheap flight. *twitches twitchily*

So - what would you do, dear people? The African bush or the wide expanses of the U.S. of A.? If any of you have some advice or thoughts to offer that could shed some light on the dilemma, please tell!