New(?) Information/Question about Travelcard London (Vouchers?)
 

As you all know, I have been learning about the Travelcard and the two-for-one deal. Everyone seems to agree that you can only buy the paper travelcard that is useful for the 2-for-1 in person in the UK.

However, I was looking for information about hours for railway station ticket offices, and found this site:

http://www.london-travelcards.com/sh..._list.asp?Id=1

It apparently allows you to buy a "voucher" for the PAPER travel card?

This is what it says:

"The London Travelcard Voucher allows you to exchange whenever you like with the ticket dated from that moment (or up to 10 days ahead if you request). Therefore if you're delayed or your plans change, there is no problem! Simply hand over your Voucher(s) at any National Rail station in London (see complete list on this site) and don't forget to ask for your 2for1 discount booklet(s). Then you will be entitled to the vast range of discounts available at Attractions, Theatres and Restaurants."

Does anyone know about this?

If I understand it correctly, we could buy the vouchers online; they would be sent to us in the USA, and they would be redeemable when we got there.

(I checked and the "mailing" information includes different countries including USA--so it seems it is not designed only for UK residents.)

This is how it appears on the check-out:

LON-TC7D-PK2Z-AD-V
London Travelcard Voucher, zones 1-2 - 7 Days - Adult £ 30.40

I don't know if there is a delivery charge. (I didn't get that far.)

There also seems to be an option for buying the tickets and having them mailed to you. I don't know how they handle the passport picture in either case.

What do the "experts" on this forum make of this? Is this something new? Is the site leaving out something or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks!

OK - think about it - how would this help you at all? You'd still have to go in person to a train station to get the travel card. Pre-buying doesn't save time/money/hassle . . .

IMO you are way over-thinking things. Just take a car service to your hotel, next morning walk to a train station and buy your paper travel cards.

I may or may not do this. But I thought it might be useful information for someone, if the information was accurate.

As for how this would help me or anyone else, if it saves time (filling out forms takes time) then it would perhaps help.

The nearest train station is 40 to 60 minutes walk away. I'd rather save my walking energy for real sightseeing, not saving a couple of pounds on the tube.

But that's just me. I figure we all have different ways of approaching travel. Mine is to find out things, and to try out different plans. It may seem like "over-thinking" to you, but to me it is just fun. :)

I admire your thoroughness, FF. FYI, with photos in hand it took us all of 2 minutes to get our paper travel cards for my in-laws. I agree with janisj, that I don't think this really saves you anything.

Another option -- take a taxi if it is too far to walk. Time is money after all.

Which hotel - I can think of few areas in central London that are an hour's walk from a train station.

The site claims to be "on behalf" of the national rail train operating companies, as a way of getting pre-payments (and possibly preventing rip-off merchants from using the domain name, since these vouchers don't appear to have any mark-up over and above what you would pay if you simply went to a national rail station in London).

I've no idea where you could be staying in London that's 40-60 minutes walk away from a national rail station, or how you would get there from a airport without passing through or near one. There are loads of suburban stations that don't get mentioned here because there's usually no need to.

I too am confused how you could be staying in Kensington and be so far from a station. Buses are cheap...if you really are that far from a station just find out what bus to take and buy a ticket for the bus. It will only be £1-2 and your hotel should be able to help you with this!

This map from tfl shows all the stations...they are the ones with a little red symbol by them - two lines crossed by two crow feet. I think I already posted this on your other thread. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-tube-map.pdf

"This map from tfl shows all the stations"

It doesn't. If the poster's still staying in the Earl's Court/Kensington, or anywhere else within a mile north of the river and east of Chiswick, the standard tube map does shows them all. Nowhere in that area is anywhere near an hour's walk from a railway station

But almost anywhere else in London, the tube map's hopeless as a source of National Rail stations. For that, you need http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...rvices-map.pdf

You all don't know how slowly we walk. :)

I used the Google map with the pedestrian option (which admittedly is in Beta) from our hotel to the nearest train station. It came out 40 minutes by one route, 45 by another. I added an extra 5-15 minutes because we like to walk slowly.

Anyway, this is all a non-issue. I am not going to walk if it is more than 15 minutes unless there is something else along the way that I want to do.

Be that as it may, I take the point that the time saved by getting the voucher may not be worth the hassle. And yes, I have seen the links that you posted in the other thread. I didn't start this thread to duplicate that discussion.

I'm still a bit curious about the possibility that someone's stretched the truth a bit in telling you your hotel's in Earls Court, if this is the sort of time estimate you're getting.

My hotel is within minutes of the Earls Court tube station. It has an Earls Court address.

The closest railway station on the list from the 2-for-1 seemed to be Paddington, so I got the estimate to there. Maybe there is a closer one.

Or maybe the Google maps imaginary person walks very very very slowly and stands for a lo-o-ong time at street corners waiting for the light to change. :)

>>Maybe there is a closer one<<

There are probably two stations much nearer than Paddington - but what is the POST Code?

And from your other thread - do check w/ justairports since they charge about £30-£35-ish for that area of London.

It's not surprising you are having difficulties if your hotel refuses to stay in one place

But if it is minutes from Earls Court then just take the Tube to Victoria or (possibly) Olympia which is on a spur from Earls Court and would be walkable in 20 minutes

West Brompton would be within a reasonable walking distance and time. Depending on exactly where the address is, it could be as little as half a mile away. But it might just be that they won't sell a paper travelcard there or Olympia (since travelcard users would normally be using tube or Overground rather than the through national rail services), in which case Victoria is the obvious choice.

That website isn't run by Transport for London. It's simply a private vendor trying to provide a service for a price, which is not even necessary.

I'll figure out the best way to get to the railway station when I get to London.

As for the website, I agree it doesn't look as if it would be a big advantage to most people.

Thanks all.

So - the hotel is a big secret I take it . . .

We really are trying to help you but on all your various threads it just seems you want to needlessly complicate things. Either that or you think we don't know what we are talking about.

Janisj -- You folks have helped me a lot. And I have learned a lot from the answers to my questions. It's not clear to me why you think I complicate things unless it is that I don't want just one choice or alternative for anything. I like having different options.

Until I actually get there, I won't know if I want to walk or take the tube to the nearest railroad station. It's good to know the choices are there. Thanks again.

>>It's not clear to me why you think I complicate things<<

We could give you more useful advice if we knew <i>exactly</i> where you were going to be. "Earls Court" is very vague, especially if you're relying on information supplied in the hotel's advertising - a postcode, as janis suggested way back, would have helped settle the issue once and for all.