Getting around London - complete novice

[Explainitlikeimfive]

Travelling into London on Tuesday and the more I look at public transport, the more confused I get. Can anyone please help me?

What is the cheapest way to get around and are there day passes for transport? Like a 3 day pass that would cover transport for the days?

We're flying into Gatwick Tuesday morning and want to get to Waterloo from there. Looks like we need to take the train for this?

Then within London, it looks cheaper to use the tubes to get around rather than trains?

Living in a place at the minute where public transport is nearly non-existent and don't want to mess this up for the kids so would be really grateful for some advice.

Just saw the ages of your DC - yes, do as Boudicca said. I’ve got a few tips:

If you can get the front seat of the top deck of a double decker bus they’ll love it! It’s like being the driver but higher.

Stand on the right of escalators, people walk up the left side and you’ll get a more or less polite “Excuse me” or some huffing if you’re standing there.

If you are lost, tuck yourselves in a corner or next to a wall, don’t stand right in the middle of the pavement or platform to work out where next. You’ll get a lot less jostled.

Look up and ahead in stations - there are always lots of signs but you need to look ahead for them (they’re usually hanging from the ceiling or high on the walls), and that way you can navigate through without stopping as long as you know that you’re aiming for Central line westbound (or whatever).

I also find Citymapper app the easiest to use when you are on the go. You just put in where you want to go to and it offers all the options for buses, tube, trains and waiting times.

TFL Journey Planner is useful when you are planning where to go before you go out, though I find it doesn’t always give some of the best options. I agree that walking is great but buses also for seeing much of London. Kids generally love going on the top deck at the front.

Make sure you always tap out on tubes and trains, otherwise your journey won’t be recorded properly.

For your 10 year old, it may be helpful to have a picture of their passport on your phone, or a photocopy available. At age 10 there will be at least one arsy person on the gates/or random ticket inspector who will want you to prove they are under 11.

Another thing to know about buses is that you only need to tap when you get on, not when you get off. The next stop gets announced over a tannoy and on a screen so you don’t need to worry about missing your stop.

If you’re on escalators at tube stations make sure you all stand on the right, people will be walking on the left.

Thanks for this, I think we will do this.

Yes very true but such a luxury. The meter actually slows a tad in grid locked traffic but it’s still racking up, yes x

So if you head for platform 5 or 6 when you get to London Bridge station there are a lot of trains bound for London Charing Cross (like one every 5 mins or so) The stop between London Bridge Station and London Charing Cross is Waterloo East. Get off there and you will be in Waterloo.

I've checked: you can use Oyster/contactless to/from Gatwick into London. And it's cheaper (£18ish peak, £10ish after 9.30am) than buying a single train ticket (£20.40) at the station. Don't know about kids fares from Gatwick - probably need paper tickets.

tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/single-fare-finder?intcmp=54716

For the adults you can tap in and out at Gatwick - you don’t need to buy a train ticket.

I was just going to say you can tap in from Gatwick - no need to buy tickets for adults at all. The kids would need them though on the overground train.

I would mostly use buses given what you’ve said. You see more, they are easy, and you can get off and walk any time you fancy.

Op - where are you coming from? Just asking as if outside the UK you may end up paying a foreign currency surcharge if you use your bank card to tap on/off. I'm heading to London from Ireland in June and plan to buy an oyster card.

Can anyone advise me (and hopefully it will be of use to you too) what level of credit I should go for.

I'm arriving in Stanstead around 10am on Tuesday, staying near earls court, getting the train from Euston to Harry Potter world on Wednesday afternoon so won't be hopping on/off as much that day, then back to Stanstead for an 8pm flight on Friday.

We have no plans for the other days but it will be tourist stuff. Any suggestions would be great. We have previously done the main attractions so more unusual ones would be brilliant. There is me and my 21 year old son.

Op - if answers to these questions are of no interest to you, please say and I'll delete and do my own thread.

To the OP, ( agree with city mapper ) one thing that I find useful is to keep my bearings in a vague sort of way so, relationship to the river and rough north south east and west. I try to avoid tubes unless the journey is long or I have a lot to carry as when you take all the walking into consideration the bus is usually quicker, more interesting and a lot more pleasant. There are VG maps outside the mainline stations which show stops and put your journey into context and I have always found bus people at termini to be very helpful.

From Gatwick, buy a paper ticket to Waterloo because you'll get a group discount for travelling with the children.

It's all ticket machines at Gatwick train station but there are assistants to help.

The slots for the tickets are either side of the yellow sensor for digital tickets / contactless.

@OchonAgusOchonOh
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card#:~:text=You%20can't%20buy%20a,delivered%20to%20your%20home%20address.
A visitor Oyster will cost you £5 each and you have to sort from outside UK.
Day paper travelcards can still be bought from machines but that might cover more zones than you need and differs peak/off peak.
You can travel contactless to Watford Junction on Overground (50 mins) or Northwestern (24 mins) - I think you have to pre-book the bus transfer to HPW.
Does your bank allow you to have a sterling 'pot'?
For most people contactless with a credit or debit card is the cheapest and 'frictionless' way of travel.

Thank you. I'll check out the transfer from Watford junction. I didn't see anything about pre-booking but I didn't look too hard.

That's a good idea re the sterling pot. I have a revolut card and I think they do that. Ds has revolut too.

You can use Revolut without any currency fees - definitely do that rather than faffing with Oyster!

Unfortunately, not anymore. I think it was late last year that they introduced the fees.

Are you sure? I used my euro account last month without any issues.

I'm from Ireland too but left it too late to get an Oyster card with the weekend and holidays too so I'll have to take the hit with the bank charges.

Good point on Revolut and putting cash into a sterling account in Revolut though, will do this.

No need to delete your post, glad this thread will be of use to both of us.

Thank you for this, the picture is really helpful.

I know I got emails from them last year about it but maybe I'm wrong. My recollection is it would still be much less than my bank card.

I'll check it out again. It would be brilliant if I'm wrong.

If you take buses then I think you get 2 or 3 trips (as many as you like) if you do it in an hour. Called the Hopper fare. Otherwise debit card and definitely walk or Thames Clipper (same cost as contactless one trip price).

One thing I would say is if you like eg coffees out rhey can really add up. I think you’re too late to order a Waitrose card (free hot drink with every purchase) but if you sign up for Greggs app you get a free welcome drink and hot pastry. You and DH can both do that.

Caffe Nero and others you can collect points.

If you’re with O2 you can get free hot drinks every morning with priority offers, breakfast rolls on Fridays and Saturdays and alcoholic drinks at certain pubs on Thursdays.

Looks like I misunderstood - the charges only kick in if you go over a limit of €1000 in a month. That's great. Thanks @Wonkypictureframe . Looks like I'm sorted. The hotel is Pre-paid so unlikely we will go over that on both cards.

Ooh I forgot other stuff. Most mainline stations have free toilets, eg Victoria, which can be really handy with kids. Otherwise if you’re in say Costa you’d have to buy a coffee.

McDonalds is also £1 for hot drinks.

I agree Clapham Junction is a nightmare, there’s only one area (apart from I think at top of stairs) where you can view all trains. And there are lots of steps!

London Bridge is good but can be a bit of a rabbit warren too.