Instead of staying in "your" circuit, why not take off, fly somewhere, do some circuits, then land for a cuppa and a chat with the FI. Then fly back and if you feel like it do some more.
Book a 4 hr slot or something rather than a lesson....plan to visit a few places, do a few things etc....keep expanding your flying so that when you do crack it you will be more confident in the cross countries.
I took about 25 hrs to solo but that was because I was getting bored and so we used to do the above which is slightly more "inefficient"....(mind you I did an intensive course and the whole lot from zero to PPL only took 5 weeks).