Is free room in Chesham worth it?
 

My family of 4 will be visiting London in July for 3 days and have been offered a flat to stay in for free in Chesham. However after checking out the 'journey planner' online it appears (if I am reading it correctly) that it will take us over an hour and cost us 5.6 pounds each way to travel into London. Is this worthwhile?

Aren't you rather looking a gift horse in the mouth?

The financial comparison you should be making is between the cost of the travel pass you would be buying anyway (in 30-odd years of living here, I've never had a day without owning a travel pass) and the cost of one that gets you out to Chesham. Without doing the sums, I doubt the incremental cost of Chesam is £5.50 per head (and are all four of you adults anyway). Even if it were, you're not going to get anywhere to stay in central London for £22 a night.

So the issue is time and practicalities - which are worth looking at hard, though. How far is it from the tube station to your flat? How often do the tubes go, when is the last one and what are your plans fo each of the evenings? Will you need a car for basic survival in Chesham?

Millions of people live in London's suburbs perfectly happily, and your bit of Metroland (google on John Betjeman) is close to some glorious scenery and is jolly nice. The downside, assuming the flat's close to the tube, is simply that you lose about an hour and a half (again, it's the INCREMENTAL time you should be looking at) in return for near-free accommodation and all the advantages of not staying in a hotel.

Better: all the advantages of not staying in a London hotel. And a day not spent in a London hotel is a blessing always worth counting.

Personally, I'd say it was a no brainer, unless you're frantically short of time.

I don't know Chesham but I have often stayed outside London with family. I'd say it depends on your budget and what the free flat is like vs what you'd get/can afford in London. Unlike, flanneruk, I <i>like</i> London hotels. But London is so expensive right now (just got home last night). So if staying free means you'll be able to see or do something you couldn't otherwise afford, maybe it's worth it. To me, the biggest downside would be not being able to rest and change clothes between day time sightseeing &amp; the evening. But if your children are small or you're not night people, that may not matter.

Hi lisale,

Where can you find accomodations in London for 11GBP/day?

I am really trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I initialy thought this was a fabulous benefit. However, this is our first trip to London and we will only be there for 3 days and of course want to see as many sights as possible. We will be traveling with our two children, 9 &amp; 15. We will not have a car. Our itinerary is not set yet (the trip is somewhat 'spur of the moment').

I was planning to buy a visitor travelcard, but when looking at website I could not find one that would take us all the way to Chesham as Chesham is in zone D and the passes I saw were for zones 1-6. Am I missing something? I am also assuming the cost I saw was one way.

Believe me, giving up a free flat would be a very hard thing to do given the 'costs' of London. Since I am totally unfamiliar with the area and I have gotten so much great information on this site I thought I would get some opinions. Sometimes what looks great on the surface doesn't turn out to be a great thing.

Of course, I'd forgotten that Chesham is not in a London Borough, and it's one of half a dozen tube stations to which special fares apply.You need to consult the special fares leaflet for it at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/common/downloa...unty-fares.pdf. The offpeak all-London Travel Card is &pound;6.90, the pre-9.30 card is &pound;12.60 and children can be just &pound;1, though the fares are complex.

But however you work the numbers, financially you're bound to be in credit with the flat.

What would worry me, though, is the distance from the tube. Public transport isn't always stunning in the outer suburbs (which is not to say there aren't buses), but a 3/4 mile walk through dull suburbs isn't the best way of rounding off a day's sightseeing, and cabs can't always be relied on to be waiting for you.

I would lean towards a central hotel room (or rooms) or an apartment if you possibly can. When traveling with kids, I never leave the room as quickly as I would like, and you would lose a lot of time in your commute. Three hours a day of commuting is a lot for kids. It would also be impossible to return to your room during the day, should you want to do so. You will pay a lot of money and time to get across the Atlantic, and I'd want as few precious hours as possible to be wasted in the commute.

Here's the web pages that will explain about travelcards that include both Zone D (a distanc commuter zone) and Zone 1, in the center of London, where most tourist attractions are. As you saw, Visitor Travelcards are available only out to Zone 6, not to Zone D (no demand!), but that's not really a problem. Both of the following types of travelcards are available at any tube station.

London family travelcards (the first link) are one of the best transportation bargains in the world. As the site below shows, you can get family travelcards for Zone 1 through D for &pound;4.60 per adult that allow you unlimited all-day rides. Kids ride for 80 pence on weekdays, free on weekends! Check the Transport for London footnote and web site regarding IDs required for kids (none required for adults). We were never asked for any, and indeed didn't even learn about this requirement until the last days of our 3-week visit.

Unfortunately, family travelcards are available only after 9:30 AM on weekdays (all day weekends) so you might want to look into the regular peak-time (i.e., before 9:30) travelcards on the second linked page, which will cost &pound;12.60 per adult and &pound;6.90 per child. But again, this is for umlimited travel all day, not just from your home base to London and back.

Family travelcards are issued for the whole group, who is supposed to travel together. So if there's any chance that you'll split up (such as one parent going home earlier with one child) then just buy two sets of tickets for one adult and one child each.

http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk...family.shtml#4

http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk...ards-day.shtml

Only you can decide whether the extra time and expense is worth the cost savings. But certainly the first step is to figure out what that savings is, so you're on the right track. Remember that you'll incur some travel costs (both money and time) no matter where you stay.

Thank you so much for all the advice. 'Anonymous', thanks for the website. That really helped. I knew there had to be some type of discount card we could use. Also, since we will be there over a weekend, that works out even better.

It is always better to have as much information as possible. You folks are great. I will check back soon when I have our itinerary sorted out to get thoughts.

With the new info you've provided, I'd really think twice about using the free flat. If you had been to London before or were going for a week or 2, I'd jump at the flat offer. BUT you only have three days and with that you would only barely scratch the surface in London even if you were staying in the very center.

Think about staying in Vacaville CA for a visit to San Francisco, or somewhere in New Jersey to visit Wash. DC. That's sort of what you are talking about - not the same dostances but the same sort of travel times.

If taking the flat makes the difference between being able to take the trip or not - then of course don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

But you can get a perfectly nice 1 bedroomed flat w/ sofa bed in the living room in central areas like S. Kensington or Victoria for &pound;60 to &pound;75 a day.