Ok, first, you’ve likely already done this, but get a passport and a working VISA. Then you can work wherever you like.

If you work in pubs, you’ll find that they often have lodgings attached. If you consent to doing housekeeping, they’ll often let you stay in a room there.

Also, check out www.globalfreeloaders.com.

This is a network of people all over the world who provide free lodgings to visitors/travellers.

There are zillions of B&Bs around the UK and they tend to be quite inexpensive, especially in off seasons. They normally provide a huge breakfast, so at least your day starts with food.

You may want to check out student lodging in London. London’s a fortune. Otherwise, stay in a town outside of London – like Wimbledon or Crawley or Guidford or somewhere – way less expensive but close to the city. Oxford is about 1/2 an hour north of London and is totally gorgeous and friendly and FULL of students. You could just turn up at a pub there and start asking around for places to stay. LOADS of people there to help.

If you go to Scotland – Inverness in particular, and you should – go stay with my friends there at their B&B, Atholdene House at 20 Southside Road. It’s about 5 minutes to walk into the heart of Inverness from there but just that little bit away from the highstreet so it’s quiet at night. They serve HUGE breakfasts! www.atholdenehouse.co.uk

Travelling? Use MegaBus. If you know where you’re going and can plan a couple weeks out, you can get around for almost no money. We went from Inverness to Edinburgh for 3 pounds return.

also, it is often far less expensive to fly than to take the train around, although the train is wonderful for the views and the ability to get off and on at will.

Try EasyJet, Midlands and RyanAir. Gatwick to Inverness via EasyJet can be as little as 8 quid (before tax) per leg. The train is about 150 pounds and some 8 hours. Megabus does the trip in 12 hours for not much money.

People are generally really nice so just make a lot of friends.

Have fun, be courteous and polite; say your pleases and thanks and don’t drive when drunk.

writerwriter

www.stupid-files.blogspot.com

http://stupid-files.blogspot.com/2006/06/flying.html

Working in a hostel sounds like a really good idea. I don’t know if this is any help or not but check out theUK Youth Hostel Association. You should be able to find out about possible job opportunities from their. I stayed in a hostel associated with this YHA when I went to England last year. It was very secure, clean, convenient, exc. The staff was very friendly and helpful. It struck me as a place that would be fun to work at. Hope you find that useful!

great suggestions, writer!

i’d add that you might want to watch the exchange rate before you go and try to exchange at the best rate you can get (which will still be dismal). but we got there and needed to exchange money and at that point we were stuck with whatever the rate was that day. also, many banks will exchange money for free if you’re a customer. you’ll be paying a fee once you’re there. the exchange rate kept us from doing a lot of the things we’d hoped to do once we were there.

i’d also recommend booking travel within england in advance. getting to england from other countries is pretty cheap, but we were SHOCKED!!!! at the rates just to get around inside england. but we also ended up booking train and bus trips with only a few days advance and that hurt us.

i hope you have a great time!!!

Global Freeloaders is an excellent idea to save £ on accommodation costs and meet people in the places you visit – on a similar note check out Couch Surfing: http://www.couchsurfing.com/ and Hospitality Club.

If you are prepared to work in exchange for food and lodging then try Help Exchange – lots of places, especially farms and many of them are in scenic areas : http://www.helpx.net/ another similar one is WWOOF, although you need to be member: http://www.wwoof.org/wwoof_uk/home.html

For cheap(er) travel there is also megatrain as well as megabus (megatrain.com) eg: Edinburgh to Manchester from £1 if you are lucky and book in advance. You can also post on gumtree.com under lifts wanted (and look under rides offered) and you may get a ride for a share of petrol costs – obviously be careful and check out the person seems okay. On a similar basis check out http://www.freewheelers.com/ for lifts offered or post a lift wanted ad there.

Should you decide to hit The Netherlands, I might be able to give you some advice about that, since that is where I currently live. Seems like you received quite a few (interesting) replies about the UK anyway.

Let me know!

Chris

FYI-I’ve never heard of an American getting a work visa in Britain without going through some sort of program-BUNAC, CIEE, etc. The Brits are extremely wary about letting young backpackers into the country if they think you will be looking for any sort of work. At customs, they will probably ask you how much money you have, how long you will be in the country, etc. I was detained for 3 hours in Gatwick Airport because I had previously (legally) lived and worked in the UK and they were very “concerned” I would try to work during my stay. They searched my items and wanted names and numbers of people I knew in the country. Kind of scary! Another girl next to me was also detained when she told customs she might try to get a job for a while.

Have fun, but be smart! Once you get to a hostel, offer to help out in exchange for rent.

http://www.anyworkanywhere.com/

Try that website. On top of giving you ideas for diffrent types of work, alot of the places on there offer accomodation when you work for them, and most of them are short term.