A month in England & Scotland (advice on transportation and accomodation please)

In My Humble Opinion
21

I think your best bet in summer time is the dorms of various London Uni campasses – cheap, chearful, reasonable food and very security conscious. Here’s some to whet your appetite - Google accordingly:

http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/misc/local.html#westminster

The London School of Economics (Room B508, LSE, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE) has a number of its halls available at Easter and summer.

Carr Saunders Hall (tel +44 (0)20 7323 9712), 18-24 Fitzroy St W1 (tube: Great Portland St), is not the greatest part of town, but it’s central enough; open Easter and summer holidays; singles/doubles with full breakfast are £17.50/30 over Easter, £22/42 in the summer. Self-catering flats of different sizes are also available on a weekly basis in the summer only, ranging from £238 for a two person flat to £539 for five persons.

High Holborn (tel +44 (0)20 7379 5589), 178 High Holborn WC1 (tube: Holborn), is centrally located and has self-catering singles/doubles for £25/43, with continental breakfast, in the summer only.

Passfield Hall (tel +44 (0)20 7387 3584), Endsleigh Place WC1 (tube: Euston), consists of ten late-Georgian houses in the heart of Bloomsbury. A bed and full breakfast is £17.50/30 at Easter, £19/35 in the summer.

Similar rates apply at Rosebery Avenue Hall (tel +44 (0)20 7278 3251), 90 Rosebery Avenue EC1 (tube: Angel).

Imperial College of Science & Technology (tel +44 (0)20 7589 5111), 15 Prince’s Gardens SW7 (tube: South Kensington), is in a brilliant position near the Kensington museums; open Easter and summer; B&B £25/40.

Regent College (tel +44 (0)20 7487 7483), Inner Circle, Regent’s Park NW1 (tube: Baker St), is a converted Regency manor right in the middle of beautiful Regent’s Park, convenient to Camden and central London; open May to September; singles/doubles £25/36.

John Adams Hall (tel +44 (0)20 7387 4086), 15-23 Endsleigh St WC1 (tube: Euston), is central and facilities include a swimming pool; open Easter and summer; B&B is £19 per night for more than seven nights, £21.40 for less.

King’s Campus Vacation Bureau (tel +44 (0)20 7351 6011), 552 Kings Rd SW10 0UA, administers bookings for a number of central King’s College residence halls. Rates range from £14 to £23 per person, include access to excellent facilities, and most include a continental breakfast.

Finsbury Residences (tel +44 (0)20 7477 8811), Bastwick St EC1 (tube: Old Street), comprises two modern halls belonging to City University. Available over Xmas, Easter and the summer, you get a bed and continental breakfast for £19.50 per person per night or £97.50 a week; evening meals are available on request.

University of Westminster (tel +44 (0)20 7911 5000), 35 Marylebone Rd NW1 (tube: Marylebone), has singles and doubles for £15.70 per person under 26, £21.50 over 26, and £3 for an optional continental breakfast.

22

Sorry, that was barely literate. I’m drunk, though.

The South Ken option (Imperial College) comes highly recommended.

23

Yup. That’d be the one.

See kids - its things like that which mean you should never ever travel by National Express. Plus, if you book early enough, the trains are in fact cheaper.

24

Yup. That’d be the one.

See kids - its things like that which mean you should never ever travel by National Express. Plus, if you book early enough, the trains are in fact cheaper.

25

If you are taking the train from London to Scotland (which would be a good idea) and using the London to Edinburgh line, I would strongly recommend a stop-over in York.

26

And Durham

27

Does anyone else have any suggestions? (bumping for my friend, the OP)

28

I can’t add a lot to this thread, as my entire UK experience consists of a week in London back in 2000. However…

Hostels are inexpensive. However, that’s “inexpensive in UK terms”. I paid £24.95/night at the Rotherhithe hostel (fairly far from the centre, but easy to get to by tube).

£24.95 was around 60 Canadian dollars, and was by far the most expensive accommodation I had, unless you count the night trains from Denmark to France.

£24.95 is cheap in UK terms though. Chicken strips and a drink at KFC cost almost £10. The operating rule seemed to be, “the numbers of the prices are the same as back home; just the monetary unit differs”. It was easy to forget the difference in expense (£1 was CAD 2.50ish).

Next time I go, I’m going to make greater use of a hospitality exchange such as Pasporta Servo. Stay in someone’s house for free…