London with DH, DS3,DD9wks on the cheap! Help!

[eggontoast]

We want to take our son to Natural History M. and the Parklife exhibit about dinosaurs.

We looked up a hotel - £600 one night!

How can we do it on the cheap?

[DecorHate]

Look at the chains rather than the stand-alone hotels, eg Quality hotels, Travelodges. Friends stayed somewhere in Chelsea Harbour a while back - will look it up

[Lionstar]

I have heard Youth Hostels mentioned on here before for a cheap London option. I know you can get good family rooms and pre-book. I don't know the locations though, should be easy enough to find.

And if you are training it in then definately get a family railcard and book weeks in advance - fares are often half the price when booked ahead

[Lionstar]

Did a quick search on yha, this on for example is around £85 a night for a family room in March

[eggontoast]

Thanks to all.

[compo]

crumbs where have you been lokking???
try late rooms and last minute.com

[eggontoast]

I found a website - thetrainline.com found tickets £140 and hotel £32 3star. Does this sound reasonable now?

[jennifersofia]

Do a houseswap! NCT does them, you don't have to be a member. Just pay a one off fee for the year (£45?) and then arrange as many swaps as you like. There are quite a few London members.

[eggontoast]

I don't think anyone would like to swap - I live near Blackpool .

Also, I could not stand the idea of someone else in my bed!

[DecorHate]

Which hotel have you found? You need to be careful with some of the budget ones

[eggontoast]

Thanks for the concern docorhate, but, dh has decided, even if we do it on the cheap, we cannot really afford it .

Maybe next year .