Ah, backwards is the bane of many an adult skater. The hardest part of it, however, is the first bit, ie learning to skate straight backwards, firstly with lemons/swizzles and then backwards stroking. It is really helped by having somebody (a coach, friend, random friendly skater who will soon become a friend) to be the eyes behind you, as quite a large part of the fear is the fact that you can't see where you're going. You'll soon find, however, that once you've got the hand of it, most of the backward skating you'll do is in a manner that enables you to see where you're going, which is much less terrifying. I would also recommend you consider some form of head protection, and maybe some other padding if the idea of falling is really putting you off. Nobody bats an eyelid at body protection these days. It's considered a thoroughly sensible thing to wear, especially for beginners.
If you feel that there may be a problem with the alignment of your blades (fairly common; lots of people pronate quite substantially), then a trip to Everglides in Gosport may help. They are very good at assessing and sorting the problems with custom insoles and blade adjustment. I have a couple of skaters who have been massively helped in the past couple of weeks and who feel much more confident now.
Another thing to remember is that everybody has what I call "Plank Days", when we skate more like a plank of wood - or Bambi - than an actual skater. And when I say "everybody", I mean everybody. Yuzuru Hanyu skated a blinder of a short programme at the last World Championships, but in the Free Programme he admits that he was basically just aiming to stay upright! And we all plateau in our progress at various times, too. It's perfectly natural and very normal. This, too, shall pass.
Ice time costs vary a lot from rink to rink. It's just the way it is, I'm afraid. Sometimes, however, it's better to pay a bit more for better ice/more space/nicer atmosphere.
Don't be too downheartened. We all go through these things.