London - Passport information and a good B&B.

The UK doesn't have a six month rule anymore. Your passport simply needs to be valid for the duration of your stay. This link is from the UK Embassy in Washington: http://www.visitbritain.com/en/Travel-tips/Customs-and-immigration/

I entered England mid-October last year and left fairly late in the month with a passport expiring in the first week of December. I then bounced around the Schengen zone for a couple of weeks before heading home. A few days later, I turned around and went to Portugal and Spain for most of November with the same passport. Nobody cared.

Check the State Department's passport site just to be sure the U.S. doesn't have qualms about letting you back in with that expiring passport.

So much to do in London... Tower of London, British Museum, Nat'l Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey, the Eye, Southbank walk, etc etc. Please get Rick's London book, it is chock full of info and suggests itineraries. I suggest you write down what you want to do and then group them by day so you're not crisscrossing the city to get from one sight to the other. As for accomodations, I stayed at Luna Simone in the Victoria area. I loved the location but it's 100 pounds a night so that may be more than your budget. Rick's book has a whole section devoted to this topic.

$125 isn't much in London. Try priceline. If you haven't used it, go to biddingfortravel.com for guidance on bidding strategies and recent successful bids.

London is not really a "B&B" kind of place, the closest thing would be a smaller hotel that serves breakfast. London is one of the more expensive cities in Europe for hotels, so getting your price range will be a challenge.

Rick's London guidebook has listings for several B&Bs in the Victoria Station neighborhood.

'Check the State Department's passport site . . . .' Your passport will not have expired. Almost expired don't count - - it's still valid. And, for what it's worth, they'll let you in with an expired one - - did that once out of stupidty. A quick wallet dump at the booth took care of the issue. A buddy of mine topped that one last year. She was bringing her sailboat back from the Caribbean. Somewhere enroute her passport disappeared itself at sea. She explained her problem, was pulled out of line, and sent on her way in less than ten minutes. It's your country, they'll let you in. You own a hunk of the place. B&Bs are going to be a bummer. So's anything in the heart of things at that price. You'll probably have to settle for a small hotel on the fringe and choke a twenty to thirty minute tube ride each way.

As Ed says as long as you're a US citizen, US Immigration can't ban you from your own country:) While it certainly will be a bit of a hassle, as long they can verify you their database and other forms of ID they'll let you back home;)

Dean - $75-125 isn't going to get you much. Have a look at smoothhound.co.uk. Then use your google machine to see if the place has a web site and check them out on trip advisor.

As Joel said, unfortunately, you are not going to get much for your stated price range. You do not want to be in a run-down hotel in a bad (dangerous) section of town. Save yourself a bad experience. Buy Rick Steves' London guide, and look at the great little family-run hotels he lists. They are low-priced for London, and in safe areas. Also, you will need to read his description of things to do in London. There is too much to choose from for us to tell you what would fill up 4 days. Read Rick's book, or you may not get all the enjoyment out of your trip that you could have.

Thanks everyone, I ordered Ricks London book a few days ago and looking forward to reading it and checking out the activities suggested in London as well as the hotels suggested.
dean

My sister and my brother in law and their son stayed at a nice B&B near Fulham Broadway tube station for 60 pounds a night which included breakfast. It only has two bedrooms, it is obviously someone's private home, but they had a great time and it's still close in to central london. That is less than $100 a night. The address is 12 Epirus Rd but I don't have the telephone number handy.