Fine Tuning London Trip Tube ?’s

If you're coming to London you're going to have to decipher the tube, but it's really not difficult. Heading to the V&A, it's only a five minute walk from South Kensington station, so not sure where the 16 minutes is coming from. Lines are referred to be names rather than colours, so to be clear, you can take Circle or District lines from Aldgate. Tower Hill station is on the same lines, so same route. Obviously not knowing exactly where your accomodation is, can't comment on how long it will take to walk to Aldgate or Tower Hill.

Uber Boats follows set routes - payment by contactless or Oyster.

Is there a link you can provide for the tube that make it easy to plan?

You are correct!! Actually, you are in a really good location for tube access. From Tower or Aldgate stations you have access three different lines and most importantly, the yellow line takes you to pretty much any place in the city that you need to with only one transfer. Since it runs in a circle around the city, you can easily transfer to a different line and get pretty much anywhere. Hope you have a great trip!!

https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube

I recommend CityMapper app when you are in London to help with Tube navigation. Will you have data coverage while you are traveling?

I also agree with Simon that you need to look for District or Circle line names as well as colors.

Will both you and your daughter have a chipped CC or a phone with ApplePay or GooglePay? This is the easiest method of paying for tube transport. Just tap your card or phone and go. You will need to be able to tap separately for you and each person in your group and will also need to tap out on the same card at the end of your journey.

I would go to Tower Hill, board the Circle (yellow) or District (green) lines westbound, travel to South Kensington, and the V and A is all but across the street- 2 or 3 minutes (5 at most).

In London all signage will point you to the line names (Circle, District etc) not the green (or whatever) line.
But the signs will also show the line colours, below the line name.

Unlike NYC where I believe the lines are referred to by their numbers. Never been there, so maybe I have that wrong.

If you are staying between Tower Hill and Aldgate I wouldn't have thought anywhere was 15 minutes walk from Tower Hill, but hey maybe it is.

If it is called the Thames River cruise then it sounds like one of the narrated boat trips, not the Uber boat.

PS- the District (green) line does NOT call at Aldgate as stated above-it calls at Aldgate East (a different station)

In terms of apps, I'm fairly old fashioned and often just look at the map in the station, but Google Maps shows public transport routes and times including the tube.

I agree about the Citymapper app. It will make your travel much easier.

The tube in London, and probably every other subway in the world, is easy compared to the NYC subway system!

Another recommendation for the CityMapper app.

The London Underground is brilliant. You aren’t in Kansas anymore and the Tube will get you everywhere in London. If you find a train too crowded simply wait for the next one. First and last cabins of the trains are often less crowded.

Use your smartphone and take a picture of the Tube Map. Or see, if per chance, any pocket sized tube maps still exist.

Haven’t taken the Thames River Cruise. Hopefully, another poster can advise.

Thames Clippers run the "Uber boat" services. The only connection with Uber is through sponsorship, so Uber have their branding on the side. Kinda confusing. They are not a cruise as such, but a means of transport, fairly well integrated with the rest of the transport system. You can tap on and off to pay with Oyster or contactless credit / debit cards, much as you would do for a tube journey.

The route covers quite an extensive part of London from west to east. You an check out the route map to see if any of the places named take your fancy as a destination, or take a round trip for fun. I used them a lot between Millbank and Bankside as part of my working day for a while and it's a fun way to get around. You pass some impressive sights, including the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. It's largely a commuter service so there's no tour guide, narration etc that you'd find on the tourist boats which can be boarded at Waterloo Pier and other central locations

There is also an underground tunnel, for walking purposes, between the South Kensington tube station and Museum Row-- the V & A, the Science Museum and the Natural History museum. No need to get wet if it's raining.

The NYC subway lines have either numbers or letters. Ans they ate not called "lines." So you wouldn't take the "A line," you'd take the "A train." (Duke Ellington even wrote a song about it.)

In London they all have names. On a map, they have different colors to distinguish between them. Put in reality, they are referred to by their names.

We used the transit option in Google Maps to find the Tube routes and directions in London. Worked well for us! We found the Tube easy to navigate and not as confusing as other cities.

Amazing people.

Citymapper! It works well in NYC as well.

The bus is another option in London - easy to climb on and off - you can often determine where they're going by the destination displayed at the front.

I am joining the Citymapper chorus. It makes a huge difference. It shows you options, tells you how to walk to a bus stop. Will often show a picture of the bus stop and follows your journey along in real time alerting you when it is time to get off. London becomes quite easy to navigate.

It works in most of the major cities around the world and I use it here at home in the Seattle area as well.

The bus is another option in London - easy to climb on and off - you can often determine where they're going by the destination displayed at the front.

I was going to say "You can always determine where the bus is going from the destination displayed at the front."

Then I remembered...

Whilst you can pay for the Thames Clippers with a contactless card just like the tube or bus the rides are outside the capping system.

Whilst you can pay for the Thames Clippers with a contactless card just like the tube or bus the rides are outside the capping system.

I neglected to mention that in my previous post. I'm not sure of the cost these days. Been a bit since I've been on one.

You can also buy Uber boat tickets in the Uber app and you get a small discount on child tickets this way. You can buy the tickets ahead of time and just activate them when it’s time to board.

You can also buy Uber boat tickets in the Uber app

I did not know this. It feels slightly unsettling to me, like Uber are trying to sneak in the back door to London transport through their sponsorship. I'd much rather TfL was the "sponsor". [/boring London transport politics]

I wonder which is cheaper- booking through Uber or buying a family River Roamer ticket through the Thames Clipper own website, when children travel for free. Logically the latter.

Whether it’s cheaper or not will of course depend on the makeup of your group and how many journeys you want to make. For me the app was best as I was 1 adult travelling with 1 child for 1 journey. You can also buy the family rover ticket on there for the same price as the Clipper website.

It’s just another option. If you have the Uber app already it’s very easy to buy that way.