jenblase

We arrive in London Feb. 22, departing for Paris on the 28th, and on Monday the 26th, are headed to the Cotswolds for a tour. Have to buy national rail tickets to Moreton-in-Marsh, which I was planning on doing today, since there's really no discount to wait til the day of (also, had no idea they'd be so expensive!).

I want to print out a bunch of the 2-4-1 vouchers on the daysoutguide site, which I was hoping we'd be able to use since I'm buying a national rail ticket and printing it out, but wondering if they will even work in my situation, since we will be in London for four days prior to the date of National Rail travel?

It's been a few years since I've been to London and can't remember how this works. Wondering if we need the 7 day travelcard instead of Oyster, which means we'd have to go to a rail station upon our arrival (we're staying at Hilton London Bankside, not sure of the closest station).

I'd prefer to avoid having to do that, would like to just order our Oysters ahead of time and then pre-purchase the ticket from Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh, but if that is not going to allow us to use the discounts, that is what I need to know.

Thanks!

janisj

The 2-for-1's are ONLY valid the dates covered by the rail ticket. So in your case only the day you travel to M-i-M.

​​​​​​​Oysters don't work for the 2-for-1 deals. The Hilton Bankside is close to Waterloo station - Get a 7 day paper travelcard at Waterloo.

jenblase

That is what I thought. And thanks for the info on the closest station. I tried putting in "rail station" on google maps and just St. Pancras came up. Looks like Waterloo is less than a 15 minute walk, so we will do that first thing Thursday morning.

jenblase

Also, we will need passport sized photos for those, correct?

jamikins

Yes, you need photos for the 7 day travel cards.

PalenQ

If landing at Gatwick Airport you can buy paper Travel Cards and MIM train tickets there - not Heathrow. I'm sure you booked Eurostar tickets but in case not do so ASAP at www.eurostar.com. See www.seat61.com for any angles on discounted tickets to M-i-M. Depending on where you start from in London a bus to Oxford then local bus or train to M-I=M could be cheaper? Getting to Paddington can take time from some places in London.

flanneruk

"also, had no idea they'd be so expensive!)"

They don't need to be. If you've got tp be at MiM for a certain time, it's practically impossible to buy a return leaving before 9.20 (ie arriving before 10) for less than £74.

But if you each buy singles each way, it's £28 outwards on the earliest trains if bought now in advance and £25 back to London on most others. Depending on how many make up "we", there may be other things you can do to bring the price down further. Use ONLY nationalrail.co.uk, where all this will be explained