smm0218

Really? Well, if you can then that's fair enough. I have never seen this but that definitely doesn't mean it isn't correct.

 

 

How do you go about getting the refund?

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/oyster-pay-as-you-go-credit-no-longer-needed

Looks like you need to have less than £10 left to use a machine, it it isn't clear if you can get a full refund at visitors centres.

Contactless is a better option than Oyster for UK visitors (or overseas visitors that have free currency conversions) as you have to top up an Oyster and you have no idea how much you will need. You could end up with a fair few quid left on your Oyster that you will probably never use, Contactless card just debits the amount you need. Obviously, if you live in or regularly visit London then the Oyster is the way to go

 

I find the main problem keeping track of which contactless card I have been using. If I use more than one then I lose the benefit of the cap

But from what I understand I can get a refund of whatever is left on my Oyster Card. If I get a Visitor's Oyster Card then you don't get the deposit refunded IIRC.

Cutty Sark probably aren't for you but Greenwich is still worth a visit. Really nice area and the walk up to the observatory is a very pleasant experience - especially if the weather is playing along!

I think Cutty Sark is something DH will enjoy so we'll probably do that and I want to see Royal Observatory.

I agree about doing the tour at the Tower. It adds so much to the experience. You can then explore more on your own after the tour. Without the tour you will be looking at things and miss out on their historical significance.

I'm going to try for a tour, I may only get there once and trying to do as much as possible.

I'd better not oversell this.

 

Oyster - read time typically about 30 milliseconds. Contactless - usually (by observation) between 10 and 20 times that duration.

 

I knew what you meant, thanks.

Never been to Tate Modern (not my thing) so can't offer any advice on that.

 

 

As Ocean Boy has said, the Tower is well worth a very long visit. Piece of advice - make sure you do a Guided Beefeater Tour. I'm sure the tour was free, but I could be mistaken - it couldn' t have cost much else I wouldn't have paid it! It really is the best way to get the most out of a visit. As well as being extremely knowledgable, those guys are just so funny. After the tour you will still have plenty to keep you occupied - we spent hours there and we didn't even bother to join the enormous queue for the crown jewels (school holidays = packed tourist attraction).

 

 

Not sure what the Tower Experience is. Is that Tower Bridge or teh Tower of London (Hopefully its not a tour around Tower Hamlets!). If its the bridge then it is just a short stroll from the Tower to get there.

 

Greenwich always seems to take longer to get to than you think and is worthy of a good half day on its own (at least). When I was a kid we went on a school trip to the Greenwich Maritime museum which I loved, but I haven't been back since (not my wife or daughter's thing) so the 40-odd year old memory may not be all that reality is! There's also the Cutty Sark which is a popular touristy thing, but I haven't bothered since that visit to the maritime museum in short trousers. Always seemed quite expensive for what it is to me. Again though, other people's opinions are bound to differ. Not sure whether you said when you were going but, if its in the summer, then at least the evenings stay light.

Museums aren't really our thing, it just looks intriguing, more interested in building than contents. We will be there early June so should be able to take advantage of lighter evenings. Friday will be a long day but Sat will probably be a wander day so hopefully it will even out.

Thanks

I agree with why you should stick with the Oyster card (also I do not like having to get my wallet out to retrieve a payment card in a crowded tube station).

Yeah if I'm going to lose something I'd rather it not be a credit card. And if oyster is faster win-win

The forex fee is usually a percentage, so it doesn't really matter whether it's a daily charge of £6.00 or a periodic top-up charge of (say) £40.00 (if for example topping-up a pre-pay Oyster).

 

There are several reasons that I keep using my Oyster rather than moving to contactless. One is only having to deal with a periodic charge to my credit card instead of a daily one, but on a more practical basis, the readers read Oysters much faster than they read contactless cards, which makes it faster to pass through the gates or walk past a standalone reader. (Phone payments are typically even slower than contactless; I wish TfL had never gone down the road of pandering to the phone addicts.)

After reading here and on the London Sightseeing thread, I think I'm just going to pickup a couple of Oyster cards at Heathrow.

Thanks for all the help.

Camden Lock canal boats https://www.camdenmarket.com/journal/camden-lock-take-a-canal-tour

We took the boat from Camden Lock to "Little Venice" (sounds grander than it is) and back. Little Venice is very close to Paddington Station. It was very enjoyable and serene - which is unexpected in the middle of London.

 

Camden used to be a fantastic place for street food but they are, unfortunately, closing all the places down for "Redevelopment". A real shame.

 

For Portobello Road I would exit the tube at Notting Hill Gate as that then takes you down the hill and generally "with the flow" of people. On our first trip we made the mistake of getting out at Ladbroke Grove and trying to "swim upstream" to Notting Hill Gate. Lesson learned!

 

As I said in my other response, don't use a travelcard, just use your AMEX or an Oyster card.

 

We have only done on Thames trip and I'm not sure we used the Clipper so can't really be of more help there. Definitely worth doing at least once though.

 

 

We got on at Westminster Pier where you can buy tickets from the booths, and got off at Greenwich. We used The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to get back from Greenwich, this is covered by the Oyster card (or AMEX) and counts towards the cap.

We are staying in Notting Hill so Portobello Road should be pretty easy to get to. :)

What I'm thinking about doing is getting up early on Fri and heading to Tower of London, then Tower Experience then Greenwich. If there is any energy left, head back to Tate Modern (open late Fri) for a short visit before heading back to Notting Hill. Trying to group the farthest from where we are staying into one (long) day.

I really appreciate all the advice.

No you don't.

 

You can collect tickets anywhere irrespective of which station you said you would.

 

The only purpose of the drop down list of stations is to check it has a machine which prints booked tickets.

 

And yes you can print them in advance of the day of travel.

Thanks, we will be at Paddington a couple days before and having our tickets already really ease the stress getting to Southampton.

When you booked your tickets online, did you choose Paddington as the station to collect both tickets? If not, I think you may have to print out the Waterloo tickets at Waterloo station.

I don't remember it asking me where I was going to print tickets. If we have to do Waterloo then obviously we will, I was just hoping to stay some time on our way to Southampton.

Trying to make sure I understand before we go (and know what to buy/setup in advance)

London May 30/June-6 Transportation arranged for getting to and leaving London

Staying in Notting Hill area

Will visit Greenwich one day (prob June 1st) would like to take river boat

Will be visiting Windsor June 4

If time allows may visit KEW

Am I correct that our best option would be an contactless Oyster Cards with one day Travelcards if we decide to go to KEW?

There is no Concessions (+60) rate for visitors using contactless Oyster?

We need separate train ticket for travel to Windosr?

River boat will use our Oyster Cards but cap will not apply?

We can use our AMEX cards (2 cards, one each) as contactless payment instead of physical Oyster cards with no need for deposit?

For contactless we will need two Oyster accounts, one for each of us?

Thanks for the help

As a native of the UK (but not London) I'll throw my tuppence in.

 

Do a HOHO early in your trip so you can get an idea of where everything is.

Use Citymapper to help you get around using the Transport for London (TfL) buses, tube and overground trains.

Don't bother with Stonehenge. Its a fair trot out and you will be disappointed (just my opinion of course)

If you have time after doing the "must see" attractions already mentioned by others then a couple of things that we enjoyed on our trips to London are a visit to Portobello Road market (check days when the full market is on) and a canal boat trip from Camden Lock.

 

Oh, and if no-one else has mentioned it (I may well have just missed it) Greenwich is well worth a visit.

You just made my day. Our Stonehenge excursion post-cruise had to be changed and I hadn't yet figured out a way to get there in the time we have. Now I don't feel so bad.

Portobello Road Market was one of the first things I added to my "London list"

Don't remember ever hearing about the canal boat trip from Camden Lock.

Greenwich is what I'm trying to figure out now. Transport for London with Oyster Cards and Travelcards and now Thames Clippers confuses the heck out of me.

Thanks for the reminder.

You can also write the tour operator and see what they say. I'm sure they've had a lot of experience with ships that tender.

Yes we have communicated and are going to discuss time after they have been a couple of ships this year so he has a better idea. This is a private excursion.

Generally, I set times for private excursions at least 2 hrs after arrival time if tendering.

 

So you should be fine with 9-9:30 am

Thanks, this is the stop I'm anxious about since it's DH's bucket list item.

Sorry to hijack post but I also have tickets TO Southampton from London Waterloo, which is probably one of the big London Terminals. Will I be able to print out my tickets prior to the day of departure at Paddington, when I print out tickets for Windsor? Probably a silly question, sorry

It should be noted that this is a US only

Offer as I can’t find it in my AMEX account in Canada...which is really too bad....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It wasn't in my Delta card AMEX offers but someone posted a link earlier in the thread telling how to add it. Might not work, anyone but worth a shot.

I've really appreciated all the tips. Some I knew but I've picked up some good ones that I hadn't thought about. I never would have thought about changing into comfy clothes. And I hadn't really thought about lip balm although I did know about drinking water.

Thanks to all the helpful posters.

I was able to use on both cards for the 2 of us that pays for our gratuities with enough left over for some internet usage.

Thanks to everyone that helped.

Tower of London and Tower Bridge are at the same place (most likely tube stop you want to get off of is Tower Hill).

 

TFL website will let you add a 'Via' location (ie. you could search for directions from Tower Hill to your hotel via Greenwich), you need to select 'Show preferences' to be able to add this detail. But honestly, it would be easiest just to map each segment as you'll obviously be going to Tower of London / Tower Bridge for some time, so you don't need to know exactly how long it will take to get from point A to point D when you won't be doing that journey all in one go.

 

Tower Hill is maybe 20 minutes on the DLR (take Tower Gateway to Cutty Sark). Another fun option would be to take the river boat service from the Tower down to Greenwich Pier -- much more scenic and always a good time (if the weather is good). Costs a little more but totally worth it -- much less expensive than most river boat cruises.

I thought there must be a via options but I sure couldn't see it. Off to look again.

Riverboat is what we are planning. Trying to do a little of everything, walking, bus, tube, train and boat.

I googled to confirm that was the river referenced in the Gerry and the Pacemakers song. I see the ferry crossing is an "attraction" now... :)

One of my all time favorite songs, when I found out I could actually Ferry 'Cross the Mersey I knew Liverpool had to be in my itinerary.

Does anyone know of a site that lets you plan a route with multiple stops. Google maps does but I have to tell it I'm walking or driving car, doesn't seem to work for transit.

TFL gives me start and stop for only one destination, unless I'm missing a setting somewhere.

For example, I want to go to Tower of London, then Tower Bridge, then Royal Observatory in Greenwich and back to hotel AND how long it will take, with directions. Does anyone know of an app that will do it? Google is not being my friend today.

Thanks

Sandi

I wouldn't be so sure. St Martin's only seats 500 odd people, and when I checked just now (10am Saturday) there were no seats for either performance today.

I think I'll probably just order the tickets I want.

after 30+ years waiting to see Mousetrap in London, I'd hate to miss out now.

Thanks, Bob

Sandi

TKTS (originally The Official Half Price Ticket Booth) is the one to look for. There are dozens of ticket booths around the Square and some of them are complete rip-offs. Of course, if the show you want is a sell-out, they won't have any tickets available.

Thanks. I suspect Mousetrap probably won't be sold out.