Hi sfbayarea; I'm from the bayarea too.

I arrived in Paris the day of the July 7 bombings and the next day took the Chunnel to London, then the Tube to Edgeware Road, north side of London during the late p.m. commute hour. First time I've ridden it during the commute with plenty of seats. I was sitting by the exit with my carry on rolling bag, and it was a tense ride the whole way, as was the Chunnel train. But typical British resolve all around; I was glad I went and would go again. Life is risk; I try to calculate those I take; this one is acceptable.

Spent two weeks earlier this month, stayed with private, nobody ever said a word about the "incidents", and I never saw or heard anything while travelling around either. Might as well not have heppened. Rode the tube all the time. Go for it.

WK

I am living in central london (pretty much in the middle of all the bombing site). I am on a working holiday.

I have definately felt nervous on the tubes. The amazing thing about London and Londoners is that they just got up the next morning and kept going. Brilliant.

But then London has survived the Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Danes, Normans, the plague, great fire, jack the ripper, the killer fog, WW2 bombings, ira bombings and margaret thatcher.

I had to get on the tube the next day but remind myself that I am far more likely to be hit by a car.

However, some tips for not feeling worried
- don't travel on the tube in rush hour (it is not nice anyway - hot and cramped)
- use the bus to get around zone 1 - cheaper and often quicker too!! Some of those tube stops are very close together. Just remember to buy your ticket before you get on the bus.
- get on the end of the train not the front. stand near the doors

And remember if you get on a tube /train with a backpack people are going to watch you. So this is the one occasion it pays to look like a tourist - so you don't worry the people around you.

I was in London from Sept. 7 - 20 and used the Tube extensively with no problems whatsoever. I didn't even think twice about using it, I knew it was the best way to get around town from previous trips and I wasn't going to spend a small fortune on cabs (even though that's what my mom wanted me to do *g*). It was perfectly safe and other than some construction delays, everything was fine. Oh and some flooding. Apparently one of the days I was there had one of the strongest rainstorms they've had in a while - flash floods all over London, shut down quite a few Tube stops.

I wouldn't worry a second about using the Tube.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but a bus was also bombed during the London attacks.

I live in London and use the tube every day for work. I have no choice. There are many reasons I don't like the tube (overcrowded, delays, too expensive etc) but terrorism isn't one of them.

If you are worried then there are a few obvious things you can do.

Don't use it during rush hour. In any case it's not a lot of fun at that time (also as Americans you will drive the natives barmy - you'll stand on the left, open maps at the entrances and all the other things that tourists do to annoy us.)

Use the bus network - or more radically still, walk. The tube map which is most people's idea of the geography of london is hugley distorted and bears no resembance to the surface world. Places that look far apart on the tube map can be quite close together in the real world - get an A-Z. London is worth wandering around.

Taxis are great - but pricey. Also cabbies won't be over the moon if you use them for very short journeys. If money isn't a worry this is a solution, but expect to pay at least £5 a trip.

Also actually assess the risk. 8 Million people live in london and more than that use the tube each day (people travel in). The chances of you being a victim are infintessimally small.

In short - don't fret it. London is safer now than it was in the 70s and 80s, and we never had these discussions then.

I was there for 3 weeks immediately before the bombings & decided that next year I'd go check out retirement areas. Then the awful bombings happend & screw it, I'm going back to London next June. Besides loving London, it's the principle of the thing.

I watched a news program yesterday that had a feature on the Crash of TransPeru Flight 204. A young Australian woman, who was in London this summer at the time of the bombings, flew to Peru to get away from it all. She perished on the flight. I am with my father on this one; you don't go earlier nor later, you go when is your time to go. In the meantime, enjoy life to the fullest in the best measure available to you.

we were in london 2 weeks ago, and used both the tube and bus systems without much giving thought at all to the bombings. we were too busy having a good time (and making sure we were actually going where we wanted to go) to worry about it.

and as a friend in greenwich said, you're much more likely to be hit by a bus than to be bombed on one!

What A Friend We Have In Greenwich -

I would tell him/her that the raw statistics can be misleading. You have (some measure of) control over whether you are hit by a bus, but not whether you get bombed.

Just back from a few days in London.
Used the tube to get into town from Heathrow & on a daily basis. While I hesitated to use this mode of transportation - it proved cost effective & efficient.
More time to sightsee & less time stuck in traffic. (Which can happen when you take the bus) Don't miss the British Museum & The War Rooms with the Churchill Museum.

"You have (some measure of) control over whether you are hit by a bus, but not whether you get bombed."

considering that my wife never got the hang of "look RIGHT," the whole time we were there, i'd say that for her the chances of being hit by a bus were pretty high. still, i understood what my friends were saying, which was that the world can be a dangerous place, but you've just got to move through it. (and look out for busses. <g>)

Robespierre - as for bus travel being preferable to Tube, have you been on a bus during rush hour on Oxford Street? It wouldn't be exaggerating to say it travels an inch an hour! :S-

Excellent point.

I plan my days in London <i>around</i> rush hour - I just don't try to move at all!

I've just returned from a ten day trip to London. I used the tube and felt no danger at all. I used taxis at first and realized I'd have to rob a bank if I wanted to continue doing that.

The best way (I found) to avoid being hit by a bus or anything else in London coming the &quot;wrong way&quot; is to treat each street like a one-way street, and you're not sure which way it's going. That is to say -- look BOTH ways before crossing, before putting your toe out, or letting any other extremity cross the plane between traffic and sidewalk.

I also find that I reduce my chances of being personally harmed by terrorists if I keep moving, i.e. <i>travel</i>.

Jules

We live with possibilities of terrorism every day. It is modern life. I called my daughter this evening and she answered her cell-- OH said I, I guess you got home quickly -- the news reports say there's a threat against the NYC subway system and that the evening commute is horrible.

Well, no, she said -- I just got ON the train and we're getting ready to go through a tunnel so I'll lose my connection, but I'll talk to you later.

I felt creepy, having perhaps scared her on her usual trip home (she teaches in the So Bronx, lives downtown in Manhattan). Am I chicken little? Is the sky falling?

She called back 20 min later saying she made it downtown w/o a problem, and we went on talking about our everyday lives and family stuff.

SO. If this plucky little 20-something has no problems commuting on the NYC subway system everyday, AS DO the people of London on the tube-- the level of &quot;risk&quot; is up to you. In fact, in thinking that it's lightening strikes, there is probably less of a safety issue in London than there is in the US.

We have to make our own decisions every day. Why should it be any different on vacation?

This thread caught my eye because I am just this moment getting ready to go to work.

I am listening to the news reports about the threats to to subway in NYC, and in an hour I will be on it getting to my office just above Penn Station, considered to be the prime target area. Last night on the way home, there were 4 police and 2 Red Berets in my subway car plus an extra high number of soldiers in the station.

i admit to being a bit nervous, but will go anyway, because that's how I have to get to work. I will be taking my portable &quot;survival&quot; kit as usual (water, money, power bars, whistle, flashlight, small first aid kit, Red Cross CPR card), and will try to be extra nice to everyone else on the crowded train, an generate an atmospere of calm.

This is exactly how my London friends behaved at the time of the bombings, and it seems to be the thing to do. At the moment though, wish I were off to London to visit them!

It's natural to be nervous. Often the things we fear don't come to pass, instead other unexpected things happen! It has taken me many years to realize that it's an illusion to think you're safer in your home town...As long as you are well-informed and as careful as humanly possible, you might as well get out there and live your life, as hubby always says, it's dangerous walking out of the house and crossing the street!

While we need to be informed, when you are getting ready to travel and are nervous, DON'T LOOK AT THE NEWS EVERY DAY! It doesn't change anything and will just terrify you. When I'm about to travel I assign a trusted relative or friend to watch the news for me and let me know if anything has changed or come up that I really need to know about. Then I can be calmer.

I used to avoid flying for 2 years after 9/11. Then I noticed I was afraid of trains, freeway driving, and even public places like shopping malls! So I decided enough was enough. I flew to Vermont for a great wedding, and I decided I wasn't going to let those terrorists stop me from living. Once I started flying again, all the other fears fell away as well.

One to think about is be logical. What is the perentage of people being killed from the tube bombings compared to, say, the percentage of people killed in traffic accidents? Risks need to be compared. Logic can fight fears.

And meanwhile my sympathy and prayers, always, go out for those who have been victims and their families everywhere...And I am ashamed of the cowardice of terrorists.

Another fact that may be relevant here is that the greatest number of British people killed in any terrorist attack died in america. 300 on 9/11.