beachbum2

Traveling in April with our 3 kids 11,8 and 5 to London. We are arriving Late night (10:30 pm) on a Saturday and staying in the Maida Vale area until the following Friday when we head to Paris. I am going to try to set up either a private transfer or take a taxi with the arrival being so late...any suggestions? Will taxi's seat a family of 5?
I am very overwhelmed with the travelcard, oystercard options for adults and kids. I thought kids under 11 were free so why would I need to purchase a card for the younger 2. What do I need to do for the older one. Is it easier to be dishonest about her age? It looks like a royal pain dealing with her card. Should I order them online? I love being prepared and ready as much as possible. How about the 2 for 1 deals I see available? We are looking at a a trip to Roald Dahl museum, and either Windsor Castle or Stonehenge so those would be 2 days outside the zone 1 and 2. We are debating on taking trains to the possible sites or reserving a zipcar and braving the driving on the other side experience. thoughts on this?
I will also take any suggestions on must see with the kids. I am considering doing the Historic Palaces membership which allows us in Kews, Tower, Kensington, Hampton Court and Banqueting. If we go to 3, it will be well worth the 80GBP. I'm sure we will do the London Eye, St. Paul's and Buckingham Palace too. Anything else I have missed? Unless there is something special, we are not into te Natural History, aquariums, zoos, etc. We live near DC and see those often here. Thanks for all the tips and advice. I don't know what I would do without these forums.

jamikins

Lots of people (including some Londoners) find the Oysters a bit confusing!
 
There are two methods of getting a travel card.  They are the same except for the medium - Oyster and a paper national rail card - I will describe this below.
 
For a 6 day stay I would buy 2 adult 7 day travelcards (£27.60 x 2), and 1 child card (£13.80).  The youngers ones travel free - to get through the barrier go to the luggage barrier and just have the child walk through with you.  If there is no luggage barrier then there should be someone there to help you, or just hold them close and walk through together.
 
Whether to get an Oyster (which have a deposit of £5 that you can get back at the tube ticket booth in St Pancras) or a paper National Rail travel card depends on whether you want to make use of the 2 for 1 deals here:  http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/
 
If you think you would benefit from these offers, dont get an oyster (purchased at a ticket booth at a TUBE/UNDERGROUND station and loaded with a 7 day travel card) get a paper travel card that you can buy at a NATIONAL RAIL ticket booth.  The cards are orange paper tickets.  Paddington is likely the closest so you would need to get there before you are able to take the tube.
 
No reason at all to get these in advance (dont think you can get the paper one in advance anyways but I could be wrong).
 
I hope this helps!
 

jamikins

Oh and definitely dont take a taxi without prebooking! It will be horribly expensive!

We always use www.justairports.com

jamikins

Hi, me again, sorry just jumped on the travel card bits. You will see that many of the sites you want to see are covered by the 2for1 deals so it will likely be worth it for to get the paper travel card from Paddington (Tower and Hampton Court particularly)

As you are staying in Maida Vale you may also want to compare the cost of the Heathrow Express and a taxi from there to your hotel/apartment. http://www.heathrowexpress.com/Home It is usually not worth it unless staying close to Paddington, but since you are it may be a good option for you. Perhaps someone else can give you an idea of the cost of a black cab from Paddington to your hotel.apartment so you can compare to the www.justairports.com above. Depending on how late you arrive you may be able to pick up your travel cards there for the next day.

DancingBearMD

Agree with jamikins. We (including kids 4 and 10) looked at the Historic Palaces membership (and at British Heritage, I have a spreadsheet somewhere on point) and found that the 2:1 program had us largely covered so that Historic Palaces wasn't worthwhile (and we visited the Tower and Hampton Court).

Remember if you want to use the 2:1 you need to get a paper travelcard at a Britrail window, not the Oystercard with the travelcard loaded onto it as you would get at an Underground window.

I would probably limit to one day the travel out-of-town (Dahl museum, Stonehenge, Windsor, Kew, Hampton Court), as there is so much to see within central London.

Barbara_in_CT

Don't overdo the castles. The Tower of London is a must. Then, chose between Windson and Hampton Court. In my opinion, Hampton Court is well set up for kids. Take the 'light-hearted' tour where you pretend to be one of the early inhabitants. Run off any excess energy going through the maze.

Pick one church, probably Westminster Abbey. The 7 and 8 year olds that I traveled with liked the British Museum, especially the mummies. They also enjoyed riding in the front seat on the top of a double decker bus, the London Eye and Churchill's War Rooms. Stonehenge is a long way to go for just one site. Buckingham Palace is underwhelming.

Plot out your days using a map so that you don't spend too much time getting from place to place. Just walking around noticing the differences between London and Washington, DC can keep children entertained

alanRow

"and 1 child card (£13.80). "

For which they'd need a photocard - www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14310.aspx - which has a £10 admin fee.

The 11 yr old can however still get daily child Travelcards for £3 per day.

BigRuss

Don't waste money on the Historic Palaces membership, do the 2for1.

Isn't Maida Vale near Paddington? If so, go to the National Rail ticket offices at Paddington (NOT the ones in the Underground stations, the ones on the same level of the M&S Simply Food and Boots Pharmacy that are in every one of London's eight large terminal stations) and buy the adult 7-day cards for you and spouse and you will get a plastic-coated paper card with orange borders on top and bottom with the national rail symbol on them.

You and hubby use these and you save with the 2for1 at the Tower, Hampton, Kensington (I think), the Cabinet War Rooms (GO THERE, why isn't it on your list?) and others. <b>The Oyster card will not get you half-price discounts</b>. The three hobbits should get either free admission or cut-rate admission everywhere.

The 2for1 does not work at Windsor (but you may be able to get a cut-rate voucher for admission with your train ticket from Paddington to Windsor via Slough) or St. Paul's.

Note that as great as London is, there are a lot of "attractions" that are just for credulous tourists who wish to flush money into a toilet: Tower Bridge Experience, Madame Tussaud's, London Dungeon. On the other hand, it has great free museums -- British Museum, British Library, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, V&A, Tate Gallery, (and some like the Tate Modern -- if only to verify that sculptures that look like elephant scat are considered by some to be "art") and more.

And visit Fortnum & Mason for gustatory delights. You may have trouble yanking the offspring out of there, though.

beachbum2

Fantastic! Can I get the 11 year old 1 day travelcards for each of the 7 days we are there or do I need to go to the train station daily? It looks like we are off the Maida Vale exit on the Bakerloo line off Paddington, so I guess the easiest thing would just be to pay for one of us to do a one way fare back to Paddington in the morning after arrival and pick up the travelcards. Am I making sense with that or is there a better option? I guess it could be worth looking into kid fares for some of the attractions as it may be worth getting the 8 year old a few one day tavelcards if the attraction is a higher priced one....then again...sometimes it's just easier to pay for convenience...after all, it's vacation. SSO we can use the 2 for 1 for multiple attractions in the same day? I love some of the suggested places to see. I'm just getting started looking through the books to figure out what the kids will like to see and do. Roald Dahl is a must for the 8 year old as we postponed our trip so he would not miss the huge 2nd grade 2 day Willy Wonka Party at school. I think it will be great for him to go to the museum of the creator a few days later. We manage to go at a fast pace when we travel and cover alot of ground...we don't sit still long, so a busy schedule is good. Keep the ideas coming.

BigRuss

<i>Can I get the 11 year old 1 day travelcards for each of the 7 days we are there or do I need to go to the train station daily?</i>

I think you can -- may be easier when you get the 7-day cards for yourselves because you can explain what you want to a live person at the ticket booth.

<i>can [we] use the 2 for 1 for multiple attractions in the same day?</i>

Yep. No limits.

janisj

>>can [we] use the 2 for 1 for multiple attractions in the same day?<<

Be sure to pre-print the vouchers from the Days Out website.

beachbum2

I just realized the London Marathon is the day after we arrive. Should we plan a trip out of London for the day or is it worth sticking around for the marathon festivities??

jamikins

I wouldnt plan anything outside of London just because of this. some routes will be blocked off but if you dont want to get mixed up in it its easy to find areas of London not affected. Just check out the route online and avoid those areas that day. Tubes may be busier for those lines that service the route and buses may be diverted so just be sure you plan around that and you should be fine! If you were planning a day out of London anyways then you can avoid the hassel above by doing it that day!

janisj

"<i>Just check out the route online and avoid those areas that day. </i>"

yes -- but not necessarily for the whole day. A marathon is a rolling event -- areas that are closed/impacted open up after the last runners pass through. It starts in Greenwich and finishes at Buckingham Palace and mostly stays near the river.

So it would be a good day to go someplace like the British Museum, or Wallace Collection, or Regents Park, or the V&A -- sites away from the river.

I wouldn't got to Hampton Court Palace since Waterloo station is bound to be VERY crowded.

PatrickLondon

>>is it worth sticking around for the marathon festivities??<<

"Festivities" is pushing it a bit, though it can be a spectacle, what with the fancy dress runners. On the whole, you would get the best view watching TV, of course: I live on the route, so I have no idea what you could see anywhere near where you would easily get to from Maida Vale, though I expect it would be pretty crowded. Maybe you could get on to Waterloo Bridge, from where you can look down on the runners passing along the Embankment, but no doubt a lot of other people would have the same idea and the children might not see much.

http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/...ou-leave-home/

BigRuss

We went to HCP on the day of the London Marathon in 2009 and had no real difficulties. But we were staying thisclose to Waterloo station, you'll be across town, which means you'll have marathon watchers on the tube with you too.

Consider going to Windsor -- you're near Paddington and won't have to go anywhere near the marathon route.