Help with Itinerary Great Britain and Hungary

OK, that helps clarify things. Well, assuming 4 transatlantic airfares at $1000 each, you have 10 K left. Then subtract for Hungary, maybe another thousand. That leaves 9000. Then subtract for the extra cost for the kids of a week in London...probably $200 a day food and sightseeing and local transport (the Tube) per kid, or 2800 in all. So that leaves about 6000. Keep in mind that the farther and more you travel, the higher your train costs will be. (as I mentioned before, keep those down by buying non refundable tickets in advance). A week in London might well cost $1000 at least for lodging (especially with 4 people sharing the space), and you have to figure another $3000 for the food and spending and Tube etc for the two of you. That leaves $2000 for traveling around Britain. Not much, but you could certainly take trips to Bath, Cambridge, York, and Edinburgh (especially if you flew open-jaw, into London and home out of Glasgow).
Research ways to get these costs down. Picnics are much cheaper than restaurants; if you can find a nice apartment with cooking facilities you will cut your London costs way down. The apartment I stayed in many years ago was a dump out in the suburbs, but even so it wasn't cheap. Do keep in mind that most of the great sights of London (not the Tower) are free. And of course, if you do drop the Hungary part you have that money to add to the UK part. Other posters will have creative ideas, so keep checking back.

Karen: Getting from London to Hungary & back will be a snap. London is the base city for many budget airlines. Easyjet, among the best, flies daily to Budapest from both Gatwick and Luton. The fare, if bought in advance, could be somewhere in the vicinity of 75 pounds per person round trip. Even adding a few dollars for baggage fees, etc., you should easily be able to afford this with your budget. I don't quite understand your England plans. Do you intend to stay in England for just a week? Or, as other phrases in your post imply, for several weeks? If you could clarify your proposed schedule (arrival in England, departure from home), the posters here could give better advice. London is an expensive city. I have not stayed in university housing there for many years, so posters with more recent experience can better advise on that point. Outside London, it should be possible to find hotels and B & Bs for $200 a night or less. If you give yourself a provisional budget of $400 a day for lodging, food, spending, and transport, you can see that even 20 days would be about $8000. Certainly I think a three or four week trip is practical for you. You can save on rail fares by purchasing in advance. This locks you into a schedule, but you can save huge amounts over the walk-up rail fare.
Right away, order Rick's Britain 2011 book, and read its advice carefully...he has excellent 3 week itineraries by rail already laid out, which should serve as a good starting point for your own planning. Have a great trip!

thank you for your quick reply!
My husband and I would like to stay as long as we can in Great Britain (maybe Ireland too?). We told the kids that we could pay for them to spend 1 week with us in London, then we would send them back home! They'd like to see the Tower of London and the Globe and some cathedrals, etc.

University housing in London has in the past been open to individuals. A lot of London university housing is in the Bloomsbury (British Museum) area, which is quite convenient to the West End and a very comfortable area. An older bisiness associate of mine, has stayed there and recommended it (and his wife is not easily pleased). A week in London would enable you to see a lot and you wont have time to get bored. If you want to travel by train when you are on your own, consider a trip to York and thence to Edinburgh. there is (was0 a scenic train ride across Scotland from Edinburgh (maybe behind a steam engine) which looked like a fun adventure. You can also make many day or overnight train trips from london

Hi Karen, here is a website for the University of London regarding rooms during the summer......http://housing.london.ac.uk/cms/short-term-housing/halls-of-residence.html .......I haven't stayed there but I do know someone who has and they enjoyed their stay.

Karen, a week in London is just great. We did this last year. For cathedrals, there is St. Pauls and Westminster Abbey. Additionally, there is the Temple chuch near St. Pauls (off of Fleet Street) that was featured in the DaVinci Code. The Tower of London is well worth the visit. There is also the Tower of London Ceremony of the Keys where you go around with the guards to lock up everything (obviously late in the evening). Also, don't pass up the London Eye or the Churchill museum (which is near the House of Parliament). Bus transportation is great but can be much slower than the tube due to car traffic on the streets. For a week visit, I suggest investing in a 7-day oyster card. For London Zones 1 and 2, it works great. We were on the bus or tube up to 6 times a day without a hitch with the card. Finally, don't foget the British Library or the British Museum. You can be in and out of the library in about 2 hours as long as you don't stop to eat in the great cafeteria. Most of what you want to see is the rare book and manuscript room. The Magna Carta, an original Guetnberg bible, many other ancient first editions - what a room. The BL is located 1 block from the Kings Cross tube station. The St. Pancras train station is on the block you will pass. Also, don't miss the British Museum. This will take much longer. I could easily fill up your week - tea at the Orangery, tour of Kensington Palace, pizza in the food hall at Harrod's. You'll be busy. For Bath, I would highly recommend looking at Three Abbey Green. We've stayed there. 500' from the Roman Baths and the great multi-block pedestrian mall. Bizarre Bath-the comedy walk in the evening begins about 1 short block through a nice alley with shops and restaruants. The HO-HO bus tours begins at the same place. Three Abbey Green is about 4 blocks from the train station. Very enjoyable in Bath.

We stayed at the LSE dorms in Covenant Garden several years ago and REALLY enjoyed the location. When school is not in session they have lots of utilitarian rooms for rent. http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/residences/highholborn.htm Be sure to budget some money for plays in London. We have also stayed at the dorms at the University of Edinburgh but it is a little further from the action, about 1 mile walking distance from the Royal Mile but there is handy city bus service. I agree that you should be able to find a budget airline connection from one of your UK cities to Budapest but you should start looking now b/c these fares will go up as time gets closer to summer. Train travel prices go up by distance traveled. You might substitute Oxford (near Bath) for Cambridge except that I see that you want to do some ancestor hunting. We also discovered last summer as we traveled with our group of 4 that on the weekends, 4 people could travel on the same long distance train for the same price as 2 persons in the UK. We took our granddaughter and a sister-in-law and spent no more than $8000 total for a month's time in the UK for 4 persons because we did home exchanges, no hotels on this trip.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I am going to check with the London School of Economics for dorm space, but I don't think that the space has opened up yet because there is no availability. I feel more confident about our budget lasting longer than I thought. I am now wondering if we should fly to Dublin or somewhere in Ireland for a few days. Any thoughts?

Karen there is so much to see in England (and Scotland) that I would save the Ireland trip for some other trip when you will have more than just a few days. In my mind the time you spend flying (and getting to airport etc) isnt wiorth the few days you would have. There are a lot more places you can do day trips - or overnight- from London or even do Inverness and the west Coast of Scotland