KateBonney

My husband and I are flying into Heathrow and staying at High Street Kensington for 4 nights/5 days. On day three, we're going to Wimbledon. Day 5 we're off to Bath for a night and then to Cornwall for the remainder of the trip (5 days.)

Transportation plan is Oyster Zones 1 - 2 for the first part and then hire a car for the outskirts.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

P_M

You are wise not to have a car in London. I hope you are taking the train or bus to Wimbledon, and not driving? If you will not be picking up the car until you are leaving town for good, and you will use it to drive around the countryside then that's a great plan.

I'm not as familiar w/Oyster Card as others on this board, but someone else will help.

PatrickLondon

For Wimbledon, just add £3 to your Oyster cards and take the tube direct from High St Ken.

For Bath and Cornwall you could drive or take trains. Depending on exactly what you plan to do it might be cheaper and more convenient to delay hiring a car until you're in Cornwall.

arbegold

Don't know how you're getting in from Heathrow, but I buy a regular day pass..£4.90 per person, good for all busses and underground in zones A&B after 0900. Today I paid the equivalent of $6.20 per US gallon for gas.

xyz123

arbegold..

Your numbers are a bit off...

With oyster, the one day charge for zone 1 & 2 caps at £4.40 for use after 0930 not 0900 on weekdays....

There is also a one day zone 1-6 I forget its price right now but no matter on oyster, where you don't buy a pass but rather buy an amount of time, it will cap at the proper amount.

The same thing is true of the trips within the London area to Hampton Court...the great oyster computer in the sky will keep track of it and cap your use that day at the proper amount for a zone 1-6 oyster travelcard...the beauty of oyster, you don't have to worry about extensions or things like that...you get the best buy possible.

PatrickLondon

You do have to worry about extensions for Hampton Court, because you have to travel by suburban railways whose equipment doesn't yet cope with the Oyster price-capping mechanism. They will take Travelcards within the right zones, but for Hampton Court you'd need to get the specific add-on from the point where you leave the Underground and take the train.

Robespierre

On day 5, I'd take an early train to Bath and drive from there to Cornwall the next day.

If you load an Oyster for Pay-As-You-Go, you probably won't need more than:

Day
1 £5.80 (Zones 1-6 Heathrow)
2 £4.40 (Zones 1-2)
3 £6.70 (Zones 1-3 Wimbledon)
4 £4.40 (Zones 1-2)
5 £1.50 (single to Waterloo)

carolyn

During our days in London we are almost never outside Zone 1, and the cost for a card is less. If we go outside Zone 1, we just buy an extension. I don't know how it would work out if you use the tube to come in from Heathrow or for quite a bit of other distance travel.

willit

I would take the train from Paddington to Bath. It takes just over an hour and avoids having to find parking in Bath itself

Robespierre

Zone 1 Travelcards are history. The entire fares schedule changed earlier this year.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...fares-2006.pdf

xyz123

You may be right...I thought Hampton Court was in zone 6 and still within the tube area but it's possible that only the national railroad runs there and hence no oyster....

Oyster still represents the best way to do it and as a matter of fact only oyter is available at tube stations now...but it's remarkably flexible...example on a day you only takes buses, it will be smart enough only to deduct £3 from your oyster card the price of a one day bus pass...it you take your first tube ride after 0930 on a weekday, it will be smart enough to stop taking money from your oyster after you reacon £4.40 for the day, 50p less than the price of a one day paper travelcard...as long as you stick to tfl for London conveyances if you venture out of zone 2, then it will cap at the rate for whatever that travelcard is (always less than the price of a paper travelcard)...if on a day you only take 2 bus trips, it will deduct only the bus fares (80p except for morning rush hours weekdays)...really love the flexibility it gives now.

xyz123

sorry...you can still buy paper one day travelcards and of course paper cash fares but it's kind of dumb to do so despite the fact that unless you buy a 7 day pass as your first oyster purchase you have to pay a £3 deposit...and I love the ease of use just touch and go....

Robespierre

Sorry.

<b><font color="blue"><u>ZONE</u></font></b> 1 Travelcards are history, not one-DAY Travelcards.

rickmav

What are your plans for Cornwall? Are you training to Penzance or??? or driving fr. outside London? (I just love Cornwall - I'm sure you will appreciate it, especially after London.)