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-   -   octopus pass or Travel card for 5 days in London in June. (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/octopus-pass-or-travel-card-for-5-days-in-london-in-june-935044/)

ulinda7 May 13th, 2012 04:27 AM

octopus pass or Travel card for 5 days in London in June.
 
Bit confused as to which card is more useful to see the usual popular sites in and around London. We are older travelers but reasonably fit. We have been to London earlier but never used these cards for traveling. Many thanks for your advice. From Australia.

janisj May 13th, 2012 05:24 AM

Wrong sea creature :) It is called an Oyster card.

The a 1 week travelcard is just a fare level on the tube/buses. It can be on a paper ticket or it can be loaded on to a plastic Oystercard. For 5 days, a 7 day travelcard is normally the best deal. (For less than 5 days there are other options/combinations)

your decision on whether to use paper or plastic depends on whether you will use any of the 2for1 discounts listed here http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

If you DO want to use any of those offers, then you need go to a <u>train</u> station (not a <u>underground/tube</u> station) and buy a 7 day paper travelcard. If you don't plan on using any 2for1 vouchers, then you go to any tube station and buy your travelcards in the form of an Oyster.

ParisAmsterdam May 13th, 2012 05:47 AM

I rather like the sound of an 'octopus' pass... it brings to mind journeys along many legs of tube and train routes...

xyz123 May 13th, 2012 05:55 AM

.....and from the James Bond movie of the same name, what would we nickname an octopus card, and octopuxxy?

Gordon_R May 13th, 2012 09:34 AM

They actually do have Octopus Cards in Hong Kong as an equivalent of the Oyster card found in London. Similar smartcard contactless technology.

ulinda7 May 13th, 2012 01:11 PM

Sorry! Thanks for the replies.. I have used the Octopus in Honkers.

ParisAmsterdam May 13th, 2012 03:22 PM

>>>Sorry! Thanks for the replies.. I have used the Octopus in Honkers.<<<

Don't be! I'd never have heard of this well named pass otherwise!

Alec May 13th, 2012 04:27 PM

There are Suica and Pasmo in Japan too.

PatrickLondon May 14th, 2012 04:42 AM

>>Don't be! I'd never have heard of this well named pass otherwise!<<

Quite - I hadn't heard of it either, but it might explain why TfL chose to call theirs Oyster.

BobNJ May 14th, 2012 06:39 PM

If you plan on going to sites like the Tower of London, St Pauls, the London Eye etc. you'll probably find that the 7 day TravelCard (purchased at the train station not the tube station) will pay for itself in savings using the 2 for 1 discounts janisj mentioned. My wife & I purchased 2 seven day travelcards at the Paddington railway station good for zones 1 & 2 for 29 pounds each. We were only in London for 4 days but with all the coupons we used, we saved enough to cover almost the whole cost.

You can look at and print the coupons at the website http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ (or they will also give you Days Out booklet containing all the attractions and coupons when you buy the travel card if you ask for one). Take a look & do the math. If there are coupons for stuff you were going to do anyway, get the travel card. We were happy we did.


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