Been to London at least 50 times and never saw a need for the London pass or the HOHO buses. The regular city buses go the same places. The number 11 will take you just about anywhere you want to go.The Eye and the Globe ar in the same areaand can be combined. I would not pass up Borough Market if you are there on South Bank on a Friday or Saturday.YOu can also pick up a regular Thames River boat there

Really wanted to do Borough Market, but we arrive close to Midnight on a Saturday and leave early Friday morning :(

"<i>So, I can purchase and print out the vouchers</i>"

Just print out vouchers for any sites you might (even remotely) want to visit. They don't cost anything except for your printer ink and paper.

As for your new day plan . . . Don't do the river cruise before the Tower. You want to be at the Tower just before opening time.

And those sites probably do need a particular order, since the Eye is not near the others. Most logical order is Tower > Tower Bridge > London Bridge ( :( ;) ) > Globe > Eye. Then squeeze in the cruise either after the Eye or on a different day.

That glass of Chardonnay really WILL help

Give me an hour and that Chardonnay glass will be in my hand!

Since the Thames River Cruise is hop on hop off, I thought we could take it to The Tower of London, but cruises start from Westminster Pier at 10, and Tower opens at 9 Tuesday - Saturday, 10 on Sun and Mon)

So first day (Sunday) we want to take it a little bit easy. We need to go to Waterloo Rail Station to buy our travel cards. London Eye is right there. we also need to pick up groceries, so what else that day?

<<I will tell the station attendent that BIGRUSS wants a word with him!>>

Gawdang right! That and a shilling will give you 5 pence!

I've not seen the Abbey or Windsor ever on the 2for1 offers. You CAN get a slight discount (if this is still on offer) at Waterloo by getting your train ticket to Windsor and Eton Riverside and a voucher for Windsor Castle at the same time at the manned ticket booth. We received 3.50 off Windsor Castle admission (then 15.50 each) and the voucher meant we were "ticketholders" so we could skip the long ticket-purchase line for admission and go straight to the ticketholder admission slot.

And you'll need a travelcard for each of you (guessing you figured this out but the way you wrote it could be misinterpreted).

The 9 and 15 buses are the heritage routes that did have the iconic Routemaster buses.

<i>Really wanted to do Borough Market, but we arrive close to Midnight on a Saturday and leave early Friday morning</i>

They're open on Thursdays. I don't know if it's the same experience as going on a Saturday, but it was fun all the same.

As far as what else to do Sunday - the Eye is just across the river from Big Ben/Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Depending on what you've planned for the rest of the week, you could walk up to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery, maybe the Cabinet War Rooms... really whatever floats your boat. Let the kids go over to Covent Garden and go shopping. That's all in walking distance from the Eye, unless you have people who really don't like walking. Just check the opening times for the museums and the Abbey.

wrenwood,

I was where you are now a few weeks ago, to the point where I thought I must have a learning disability :(. After much reading and many questions and answers, I think I have it figured out. If you click on my name, you'll see the thread where I asked about the various cards and passes. We leave in a couple of weeks and I'll report.

Ellen, what WOULD we do without Fodors Travel Class 101????????

Here are my thoughts for the first day after we arrive

Sleep late, easy day, eat breakfast out
Go to Waterloo for Travel cards.
London Eye
get groceries or not
Walk to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery
eat dinner near Ghost Walk
7:30 ~ London Walks Ghost Walk ~ Haunted London meet at Monument Tube

"<i>Walk to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery</i>"

Assuming you meant in that order . . . Both galleries are AT Trafalgar Sq. So either do them and then walk down Mall and through St James's Park to the Palace - or - Walk by the Palace first and then up the Mall to Trafalgar Sq.

I've never eaten dinner very near Monument but here is a map of nearby restaurants. Then you can research any that interest you.

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/tube-mo...estaurants.php

Or you could eat in St Katherine's Marina (several possibilities) and be a reasonable walk or one tube stop from Monument.

janisj ~ awesome site, thanks!

Unfortunetely most of the restaurants in Leadenhall Market seemed to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Seems odd, maybe that's just for the winter? I emailed them anyway.

wrenwood,
Kudos to you for hanging in there and asking questions about the Travelcards until you understood it. It's a lot to slog through, but once you grasp it, the savings are worth it.

As far as where to eat, if Leadenhall Market doesn't work out, you could try dinner at the Cafe in the Crypt. It's at St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, which is at Trafalgar Square. They are open Saturdays until 9:00 pm, and Sundays until 6:00 pm: http://www.smitf.org/page/cafe2010/cafe.html . In fact, the church is worth a look even if you don't eat at the cafe. http://goo.gl/PD9WR

You could also walk over to Covent Garden and have dinner there. It's only about a 10-minute walk from Trafalgar Square.
http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/...rinking/page/1

< Unfortunetely most of the restaurants in Leadenhall Market seemed to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Seems odd, maybe that's just for the winter? >

It's in the Cty of London. Most of the trade is passing Fat Cats & similar ne'er-do-wells spending their bonuses. At weekends they go to their yachts in Monaco. As such there isn't many people around and hence many restaurants - and shops - are closed

I wouldn't eat at Covent Garden or St Martin's in the field since you want to be fairly close to Monument.

The 'City' pretty much shuts on weekends. I didn't catch that was when you are taking the London Walk. St Katherine's Marina has several places and they are all open on weekends.

I know that Covent Garden and St. Martin's are not near Monument, but they are near Trafalgar Square, which the OP and family are visiting right before the Ghost Walk. Since she didn't say she absolutely had to eat near Monument, she could just as easily eat at St Martin or Covent Garden, and then head for the tube. Just an alternative suggestion.

Walkabout: Sure, but they need to be at Monument tube by 7:30 so they probably don't want to eat very far away.

wrenwood,
Hope you enjoy the Ghost Walk. I've gone on many of the London Walks over the years, and they are a lot of fun. And I hope you and your family have a wonderful time in London.

Yet another question about Travelcards! TfL customer assistance assured me via email that travelcards bought online would have the National Rail logo on them and thus eligible for the 2FOR1 deals. But the page I purchased on did not have a "home station" question. Does anyone know if these are refundable if they send me the wrong travelcard (one without NR logo?) The customer assistance seemed to say that I had to buy in advance online, and that I couldn't buy a paper travelcard at West Brompton (which seems to be the closest NR station to my hotel>)

PS I think I need to buy in advance in order to get the children's fare discount on the travelcard (do not have the 4 week lead time required for child's photo oystercard)

comment to previous poster: I agree that NR perhaps makes this really complicated to prevent overseas tourists from getting the discounts!

mdieri: "<i>TfL customer assistance assured me via email that travelcards bought online would have the National Rail logo on them and thus eligible for the 2FOR1 deals.</i>"

I don't see how that is even possible. The TFL travelcard is not a rail ticket. And AFAIK, TFL has no connection to the Days Out 2for1 offers.

How old is your child?

"<i>I agree that NR perhaps makes this really complicated to prevent overseas tourists from getting the discounts!</i>"

It actually isn't complicated at all. The scheme is not intended for visitors who are just using London Transport (tube/buses). It was developed to entice folks living outside London to come in to the city by train and go sightseeing. Could not be easier. Print out vouchers, buy return ticket, have a great day out in London, go home.

But there is this 'get around' of paper travelcards that 'cheat' the system. It really isn't cheating - but since 2for1 wasn't designed to be used that way . . . That you have to jump through a hoop or two is no big deal IMO.

Wrenwood - you can easily also add a pop into the Tate Modern Art Gallery, right by Tower Bridge and the Shakespeare globe thing - entry is free and you can at least quickly look around this behemoth former Thameside power plant and at least marvel at the building if not traipse thru the many collections - and there is a neat roof-top cafeteria with nice views over the Thames.