I have no first-hand knowledge about this, but we have a few folks doing the following at our airport -- I thought I'd throw in a data point, to consider the very cheap-end, since we got mentioned
This is probably the barest bones approach to time building, or at least, that I've ever seen. I give them kudos for figuring it out. I'm sure this sort of strategy works in numerous airports in the USA as well, possibly even cheaper against the airfare for the east coast.
using ba.com: LHR-LAX 402 GBP Return ($647)
accomodations with one of our pilots: $300 per mo for a room in a private home (we helped set this up)
bicycle to the airport (really, 3 so far have done it this way. otherwise, $39/day is pretty accurate and adds $1200): nil.
aircraft: C150 @ $65/hr x 80 hours: $5200
= $6,147 USD or 3818 GBP (at 1.61 GBP per USD), or 47.72 GBP per hour.
It's not for everyone, that's for sure.
Cheers,
- Mike
GM, Fly Corona