If you're staying in London, be prepared to shell out money for sleeping...even in hostels. I would hate to think about how much it would have been for me and my boyfriend if we _hadn't_ stayed in hostels. There are two that I stayed at in London and both were nice and safe.

The first one is the Ashlee (or it may be Ashley) House. We were only there for a night because it was booked solid for the following nights, but they helped us get into the next hostel that we stayed at for the rest of our trip. My personal suggestion would be this second one: the Central University of Iowa hostel. It has plenty of rooms, a great friendly staff, breakfast, cooking facilities, washer and dryer (that are cheap) and clean linens and blankets are provided. It's in a great location -- just a couple of blocks from the Holborn Underground station and a few blocks from the British Museum. It's in a nice quiet residential area as well. Everything that you need is just a short walk away.

In Edinburgh (if you're going to Scotland), we stayed at the Castle Rock (I think that was the name, I could be wrong) hostel. It was definately the most _fun_ hostel we stayed in. The rooms are divided by sex (unlike the previous two in London), but it is huge. They help you organize activities, trips, and other fun things -- definately geared to students. They had the cleanest bathrooms around which was an added bonus :-) Every night, they have a movie showing, so you get to hang out with all the other international travelers if you just want a night in from the nightlife. Another perk about the place is they know how important computers and e-mail access is to travelers (in particular internet-addicted students), so they have a few computers with e-mail access available for a fee.

I stayed in a few other hostels, but I don't recall their names off the top of my head. If you're interested in what other travelers have to say about good/bad hostels and where to go, what to see, etc., you can check out this website: http://www.eurotrip.com It was a great resource for me -- there's a vast network of people that have been to so many different places and the message boards allow you to ask questions and get some really helpful answers as well.

Good luck, Mandy Huffman Clemson, SC