Oyster cards? Travelling from the North and can't get to grips with it.

[AgadorSpartacus]

At the end of August I'm taking the train from Manchester to Hitchin and traveling back 2 days later. DS has a performance workshop and I thought this would be pretty easy.

There's me and two children 15 and 9.

Manchester to Euston to kings cross to Hitchin. DH is at work and apparently I'm a perfectly capable adult who can do this sort of thing.

I've booked the tickets online and presume the price included the tube travel in between and that when I pick them up from the machine I'll have tickets for everything.

I want to go into London with DD while DS is at his thing. So do I need Oyster cards for both of us? How much would you recommend putting on? What's the deal with zones? Are all the touristy places within zone 1?
Sorry took ages getting to the point but now that I've given it more than two minutes of thought I realised I dont know a lot and googling doesn't throw up anything I understand. If anyone could explain slowly I'd really appreciate it 😊

If your DD is 10 or under she'll go for free with you

Most touristy things are in zone 1. If you spend up to 6.60 in one day through zones 1 & 2 it wont charge you anything extra. You dont need to buy an oyster card if you have contactless, its the same price

If you have a contactless bank card you can use that to beep in and out of the Tube. Use the same card and it will add it up automatically.

Under-10s travel free. With your 9 year old, go to the wide gate (the one for luggage), beep your card and both walk through together.

If you tap in with your bank card ,has to be contactless ( look for the wifi symbol on it ) then it will work the same as an Oyster card.
If travelling with a child then you will need to go through the manned gate as children go free.
Don't forget to tap out at the end of your journey.
But mostly when I go to London I like to use the busses as you see so much more.
Use your card on the bus but you just need to tap in ( not out )
Have a look on TfL websit .

why not go manchester-york-stevenage-hitchin. under 3 hours and no london required

We do a similar thing but tend to stay in central London (Dd is doing an American in Paris workshop).

For yourself just use a contactless debit card (if you have one) & your youngest dd will go free with you.

If your ds is gonna my into London not as part of your through journey to hitchin then get a visitor oyster & have it validated for a young person to get discounted fayres.

Is he going to EDSA?

If travelling with a child then you will need to go through the manned gate as children go free.

Or just use the wider gate.

As PP said, if you have contactless card, use that to tap through rather than Oyster especially if you don't use it often as you need to top up in min £10 increments.

It caps for a day, so you can do as many journeys as you need by tube or bus.

Contact less on your debit card will automatically charge you the equivalent daily oyster fare without the need for an oyster ,it is capped at a daily maximum. Tap in and out for each journey on tube or bus and it will work it out, how I do not know, just make sure you always use the same card! Your nine year old will travel free, just go to the wide entry gate at the station , they all have them for buggies and luggage, so that both of you can get through the barrier at the same time.

Euston to kings cross is about a 3 minute walk, it's probably quicker to walk than tube.

Sorry, you don't tap out on a bus!

I recommend that you Download Citymapper app. It's free and combines all the transport available to tell you how to get there, costs and times. And tells you the best part of the tube to get on. Very useful. Avoid rush hour if you can as Euston/ kings cross will be v busy.

It might be worth taking proof of age for your 9 year old, just in case. And yes, buses or walking are much nicer than the tube!

If you do end up on a tube escalator (especially if you're going on the rush hour) make sure your DCs know to stand on the right.

Can I hi-jack?

Last time we went from Euston to his linen we took the tube but our hotel was a bit of a walk from the station. The bus is much more direct but what are buses like for taking suitcases on (me, dh, & two dc & we will each have a case plus backpacks.

depends, if it is rush hour or not. You will get on if it isn't the rush hour, if it is the rush hour you might have a longer wait or a tighter squeeze - no different to the tube though

you might be better getting a taxi

Fellow northerner here. I was recently in London and used my contactless debit card for all tube travel. I found it very reasonably priced; there's a daily price cap of i think around £6 for zone 1-4 which we didn't venture outside. So essentially you'll never pay more than the price cap even if youre on and off the tube all day. You don't need to pre register either, as long as you use the same card all the time. Really easy to use.

It will be around 10.30am. Never had a problem on the tube even in rush hour on a Friday.

How on earth did Holborn auto correct to his linen!

It will be around 10.30am.

shouldn't be a problem then

Never had a problem on the tube even in rush hour on a Friday.

well, be aware it can be totally impossible to squeeze on in the rush hour. We frequently have had to pull Northerners onto the train when they are pussyfooting around on the platform, and don't know what to do! Sometimes people say," o, its ok, I'll wait for the next one" and don't realise the next 50 will all be equally jammed full!

Sometimes family members who are not used to it get separated, if they are two or three feet apart, and can't reach each other, and one gets on or off, and the other can't....

And sometimes you just physically can't get on at all. I have known a passenger vomit from being too crushed.I wouldn't push it that far. I have had the buttons on my clothes pulled off once or twice by trying to turn around when being pressed in at all sides though, so please don't assume you are going to find it easy on the rush hour tubes.

Dh used to work in Sidcup for 2 years & commuted from the north each week returning home on Friday in rush hour via Euston so we arnt total amateurs. We prepped the kids on what to do if separated (we come to London every year for the theatre).

Our only concession now is to try & pay extra for a booked seat on virgin back home rather than the sardine can that is London Midland!