England Budget

[NitemareHippieGirl]

I hoping some people can clue me in to how much money I might need for this trip. I seem to be consistently having my heart broken and need to run away for awhile.

I'm thinking about traveling to England for a month or two. I did this last year for about three weeks and saved money staying with a friend who I'll hopefully get to spend time with again. I typically don't eat much while backpacking and stick with peanut butter and some bread and maybe pay a pound or two for some large quantity of street food. On my last trip I also didn't go out to the pubs at all, though I probably will on this next one. Still, probably stick to a one drink minimum and only go out a few times. I don't take transportation in cities and tend to walk a ridiculous amount and I mainly stick to free museums and sights. I'm also planning on couch surfing for the majority of the trip with maybe one or two hostel stays if need be.

Basically the bulk of my money will be spent on transportation which was costly my last go around because I mainly used trains.

How much do you think I should budget per day considering that I'll be spending a fairly small amount on food and shelter?

Would it be most cost effective to buy a rail pass or should I stick to buses and buying tix when I decide to skip town?

I'm hoping to go in summer/ early fall, depending on how much I manage to save up.

I really appreciate the help.

[offhegoes03]

I'd say if you're planning on couchsurfing, that can easily save you 30-40 bucks a day on accomodations alone. I'd say you might be able to get away with 30-40 bucks a day, and maybe even less if you do a ton of walking and are not changing cities too often. This is just me guessing, but it seems pretty reasonable.

Edit: I've never been to England, but I know buying bus tickets point to point in Ireland worked out really well for me. Not sure if it's similar for England or not. I guess it just depends how far you're traveling between cities and how often. Hopefully someone else can come along and answer this part better.

[OneScot]

Couch surfing is pretty big in the UK as a whole and like has been said is an excellent way to save moolah.

If you're not a couchsurfing fan you can probably expect to spend anywhere from £10-20 on a hostel bed and 20+ on a private.

I would try and avoid buying train tickets as and when because of the huge price increase they face when buying short term. Book as far in advance as you can to get the good deals.

Buses are much cheaper, and slower, but still need to be booked reasonably far in advance to avoid hefty fees.

[expatben]

National Express bus lines are fairly cheap as OneScot said but they are slower. Check out the link here:
National Express Coaches // Coach, Rail & Bus Travel Throughout The UK
Also check out the train line for rail tickets.
Cheap train tickets, get UK train times & fares | thetrainline