Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Going to London for 7 days with 2 kids

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)

- - Going to London for 7 days with 2 kids (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/going-to-london-for-7-days-with-2-kids-170651/)

Going to London for 7 days with 2 kids

Please help. I'm going to London at the end of the month. I'm staying at the Kensington Moat House. Has anyone ever been there? Is there any inexpensive places to eat around there? Should I prepurchase my passes for the train? Thank you very much!

Mary By train do you mean the Underground (Tube)? Transit passes are complicated (at least they seem that way to mean) but here is some information. First, children under 5 with an adult travel free. Family Travelcards offer discounts for 1 or 2 adults traveling with up to 4 children. Each member of the group receives a separate ticket and the group must travel together at all times. You want a pass for only zones 1 and 2 because that covers central London. If you're using the Tube to go back and forth from Heathrow, buy separate tickets for that trip as that is the only trip likely to cover extra zones. www.thetube.com can help you with journey planning, using the Underground. Travel Information Centres: Underground stations at Heathrow; rail stations at Paddington, King's Cross, Euston, and Victoria; and additional Underground stations like St. James Park, Liverpool Street, Oxford Circus. www.transportforlondon.gov.uk or www.tflwap.gov.uk

Don't be afraid of the tube passes. They are indeed complicated to figure out, but here's what to do: Each day, the first time you take the train, just ask the ticket seller for "Family travel cards" for one adult and two kids (if the kids are ages 5 thru 15). The fare for tickets that are good all day for zones 1 and 2 (which is probably what you want) is £2.70 per adult and 80p per kid, so 1 adult and 2 kids would be £4.30 per day. The only drawback to family travel cards is that on weekdays they're only available from 9:30 AM onwards. Otherwise, they're a great deal! Heathrow is indeed in zone 6, so if you're bound for Heathrow, plan accordingly. There's a steep fine (£10) for arriving at a station without paying for the appropriate zone! The tube system does not go all the way out to Gawick; that's a regular train, the Gatwick Express, you can buy tickets on board. Printed maps of the underground system are readily available and all the lines are color-coded, so once you know your first and last stops, it's not very hard to figure out the rest.

Mary - just check the websites Elaine provided to do some comparision calculations on the 7 day or 5 day Visitor Travelcard (purchased in advance in US Dollars) vs. the 7 day tube pass for zones 1 & 2, vs. the family pass or the weekend pass + 5 day pass.. Convert pounds to dollars for comparison purposes using a rate of between $1.40 - $1.50 to the pound. A one-way ride on the tube within zones 1/2 is 1.60 pounds so generally if you think you'll ride the tube more than three times in a day, it pays to have a pass. Plus it is much more convenient than buying individual tickets for each ride. But if your kids are young, do collect their passes from them each time, as you need them both to enter the station and to exit, and don't want the kids to lose theirs. In addition, consider that if your kids are young, you'll have a few occasions when they just can't walk another step and you'll want the convenience of hopping a taxi back to the hotel for a rest. This is what we found. Plus, our kids and we just loved riding in those great London taxis. I don't know your hotel but it seems in a good location and near the South Kensington tube station which will give you access to the Piccadilly line without changing trains to see many of the big tourist sites. With 7 days, you might consider taking 2-3 days outside of London as the countryside offers a nice change from the city. Examples, our kids loved Bath and the near-to-bath Longleat House and Safari Park - alternatively, Woburn Abbey and Safari Park are fun. Or you could visit the Cotwolds or Cambridge. Or just take a day trip to Windsor and tour the castle and the charming village there. As to inexpensive places to eat...they abound in London. Ton's of little places where you can grab ready made hot or cold sandwiches or pizza slices on the run. Also, there is a chain called Pret a Manger or even the cafeterias in the Mark's and Spencer department stores for lunch. There are even nice pubs, look for the 'child approved' sign in the window... with fish n' chips and other pub food. The kids will love the Wagamama chain of restaurants for dinner. These are sort of Japanese style with long tables and communal dining. We found it hard to plan ahead for meals because you just can't predict when they will suddenly get hungry.

Having just returned from London with my teenage son, I would strongly recommend a day at the WW2 RAF base, Duxford, near Cambridge. The vintage aircraft display covers 6 huge hangars; and puts the Washington DC Smithsonian Air & Space museum to shame. Everything from biplanes to the Concorde. Just outstanding. The trip was easy -- the train from London to Cambridge takes an hour, and there is a no charge bus from the train station to Duxford, about 20 minutes away. After Duxford, we hired a cab for an hour to drive us around the university and out to the American Cemetery for airmen lost in WW2 -- a vivid and teaching reminder about American sacrifices. more info at: www.iwm.org.uk/duxford/index.htm If the trip is too long, try the Cabinet War Rooms (close to Buckingham Palace) or The Imperial War Museum, south of London on the tube. Enjoy.

David, why can't you learn that Greenwich is Zone 2? Didn't you notice that other posters have already explaied about the passes? Do you just send some canned cut-and-paste thing without ever adapting or correcting it?

Dear xxx4, You're words are certainly not kind, and you're certainly not brave (since you don't even sign your name), but you're right about one thing: Greenwich is in zone 2.