I am planning a 10 days trip to London and will be staying with a friend in Thamesmead, SE28, just wanted to know if I should get a travel card and for which zones.

If someone doesn't chime in here with a direct rail connection (nationalrail.co.uk wasn't fruitful - have you asked your friend?), you can get to the Cutty Sark DLR station by bus:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/thamesmead.pdf</b>

...and then to the city center with a Zone 1-2 Travelcard. The bus passes (one- or seven-day) cover all zones.

The nearest station to Thamesmead is Abbey Wood which seems to have six trains an hour to London. It is in zone 4. Whether you should get a Travelcard depends on how much travelling you're doing. If you're only going into London on one or two days, then get one-day Travelcards for those days (though the cheap ones are only valid after 0930). A weekly Travelcard covers all trains and buses at any time of day. As Robespierre says, Greenwich is in zone 2, so if you get the bus from Thamesmead to Greenwich and then a train into London, a Travelcard for zones 1-2 will do as it is valid on buses in all zones.

depending on where in Thamesmead - there are a few stations. Abbey wood, Plumstead, and even Woolwich are all nearby. I think these trains go into London Bridge station (but you can check that on the website)

But as the others say - if you take the bus locally and only get on the tube/trains w/i zone 2 you will save quite a bit. I'd personally get a 7 day zone 1-2 travel card and that would cover all your public transport - buses anywhere, tube w/i zones 1-2, and the night buses. Even if you aren't going into the city every day a 7-day pass will be cheaper than 5 1-day passes. if you are traveling into London more than that just get daily travel cards for the extra days.

By the way, Travelcards come in many flavors. Here's the full story:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2005/downloads/tfl-fares-2005.pdf</b>