So I am going to be in London for 8 days at the end of April.

My flight gets in at 8:30pm on day 1 and I leave at 3:30pm on day 8 - both from Gatwick.

I am staying with a friend who lives in Zone 5 (West Harrow)

After all of my oyster card research, I want to make sure I am not missing something. What I think is best is to buy a 7 day travel card - starting on day 2 - therefore pay for my journey from the airport on day 1. And I would want to have it for zones 1-5.

Does this make the most sense?

Yep - that is what you want (Oyster doesn't work in from Gatwick anyway since it is outside the tfl territory)

It makes sense IF you plan on using the tube every day to get out to zone 1 <u>during peak hours</u> and/or using the tube multiple times each day. The 7-day travelcard for zones 1-5 is £44, which comes out to a little over £6 per day. The Oyster single fare for travel between zone 1 and zone 5 is £3.70 for peak hours; but just £2.20 during off-peak.

So, if you are just taking the tube once a day into London and back (both journeys during off-peak hours) and/or days you won't be taking the tube at all, you will be better off paying Oyster single fares, ie, Oyster PAYG.

Bear in mind, too, that Oyster PAYG has a daily cap - it won't take more than a certain amount in any one day, however many journeys you make in that day. If you start your journey in zone 5, the maximum is £12.10 (starting before 0930), or £7 if you start after 0930. So, as yk says, it all depends how many days you're likely to want to go into central London, when you're likely to start travelling each day, and how much other use you'll make of the system.

Patrick - do you know what is the PAYG daily cap? We arrive on a Sunday morning, leave the following Friday AM (Heathrow both ways, hotel on Picadilly line) and I am thinking the PAYG is my best bet. Not sure how if I will start before 0930 any given day but probably not, travel likely within Zone 1, maybe occasional 2.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...s-zones1-6.pdf

Page 7 lists all the prices for Oyster PAYG cap. If you plan on using the tube a lot during your 5 days there, you may find it a better deal to load a 7-day travelcard (zone 1-2) onto the Oyster instead. There is no peak/off-peak restriction for the 7-day travelcard. Page 9 lists the cost of the 7-day travelcards.

I think yk and I once figured out that a 7-day travel card (paper if you want the 2for1 offers, loaded on an Oyster card if not) makes sense if you will be in London <b>more than four</b> days <b>AND</b> will use the the tube/buses a lot while you are there. If you won't use the tube/buses a lot (more than the daily Oyster cap), just get an Oyster PAYG (if you'll be under the daily cap every day).

Also, look at simply loading a Weekly Bus Pass on your Oyster along with some cash for PAYG fares from/to LHR. Buses have no zone or peak restrictions.

There are many reasons to use buses in lieu of the Tube. The only real downside is that the traffic on some streets makes walking faster. The rush hour crowding isn't worse than the Tube.

Robes - While in Paris I have come to enjoy using the bus system, traffic in London is such that the only time I ride a bus is if there is absolutely no need to reach my destination on the same day. ;-)

sf7307 - yep, that factoring sounds about right.

Thanks to all!

<i>traffic in London is such that the only time I ride a bus is if there is absolutely no need to reach my destination on the same day.</i>

Hi all,
My wife and I will visit London in May. Our flight from Bangkok will arrive Gatwick at 7 am. We think will take Gatwick Express to get to Victoria, though it's expensive. However, we also consider taking normal train (Southern), since it's quite cheaper.

I just wonder if the Souther train normally get packed jam during that time? (say about 8-8.30 am). We will bring 1 large backpack and 1 large baggage with us

One more Q.: if I buy 1-day paper travelcard (z.1-2)from train station (for 2-for-1 reason), but I'll go to some place in Z.3 on that day, how can I pay the correct fee? Show the ticket desk our 1-day travelcard and pay the difference?

Sorry for some stupid questions, but it's our first time in UK, so we have to find out a lot of things

...there is no provision for exgtension fares with any of the paper travelcards...the way the fare is structured you would have to buy a cash ticket for a zone 2 to zone 3 trip in and zone 3 to zone 2 trip back...£4 each way ouch ouch ouch...

Of course the solution is that you buy a zone 1-4 one day travelcard!

<<< there is no provision for exgtension fares with any of the paper travelcards >>>

Eh?

If you hold a zone 1 & 2 paper travelcard and have to go to zone 3, you would need a cash fare to go from zone 2 to zone 3 which is £3.20 each way..or a total of £6.40 to "escape" back to zone 2.......

Now if you have a 7 day travelcard on oyster, the extension would come out of the PAYG component of the oyster card; bear in mind every oyster card can have loaded it at the same time a 7 day travelcard and money for PAYG. So if you have your 7 day card on oyster, the trip from zone 2 to zon3 3 would be £1.10 each way, quite a difference.

There would be little sense in buying a zone 1 & 2 paper travelcard if you intend to travel into zone 3 on a given day as you would have to pay the additional £3.20 cash fare each way.

In this case, if I read it right, the poster would not want to buy a zone 1 & 2 paper 1 day travelcard plus the extension (which runs £5.70 but rather a zone 1 - 4 paper travelcard which is £6.30 (assuming the first trip is after 0930 on a weekday or all weekend)....(bearing in mind there are no 1 day travelcards on oyster, it would be PAYG with a cap. Incidentally, the cap on oyster if there is one trip into zone 3 would be £5.80 again if the first trip is after 0930 on a weekday.

So again, perhaps I stand corrected, it is possible to get an extension ticket with a one day travelcard (or with a 7 day paper travelcard)but the fare structure, convoluted as it is, makes it very expensive (if my reading of the brochure is correct). You can correct me if you see that I'm wrong..I'm just reading the brochure. I've had no recent experience with this.

Sharmon12- You asked what kind of camera I used on our trip to the UK last year - 2008. It was a Cannon 400D and this year we are taking a Cannon 50D.

Thanks a lot! So it'd be better to visit sights in zone 3 in 1 single day and buy 1-day zone 1-3 travel card for that day
How about Southern train from Gatwick during peak hour? Hard for 2 people with 1 large backpack and 1 large baggage? Thanks again in advance.

By 8:30, the trains will have cleared out considerably, although it still might be tight. But here's an idea:

Wait until 10:00 so you can use a Southern Railway DaySave pass that costs &pound;10 p/p and is good all over the network for a day. A group pass will cover four adults for &pound;20.

Robespierre, thank you very much for your info. Don't know if my wife will wait till 10 am or not!!??

Just a quick note but no big deal; there is no one day zone 1-3 travelcard, there's a zone 1-4 travelcard which isn't very much more expensive than a zone 1-2.....

Ok thanks a lot.