London Oyster/Travel card question?

Do you mean Leeds or Leeds Castle? The former is a city in Yorkshire, the latter a castle in Kent. Assuming you mean the castle, an Oystercard won't get you there, nor Windsor. Depending on which sort of Oyster you get, you'll need to get rail tickets from the edge of London, to Hollingbourne for Leeds or one of the Windsor stations for Windsor Castle. If it's a pay-as-you go top-up card, you might be better keeping your credit for other trips in London and just getting return tickets from London for those two jaunts.

Does your wife have a contactless bank card or Apple Pay/Google Pay? If so, use that.

If not, buy an Oyster Card at LHR and put £20 on it. Add more money when or if needed.

You’ll need additional train tickets for Leeds Castle and Windsor Castle.

A 7 day Travelcard was/is aimed at the same regular journeys i.e. commutes. The differences between Travelcards and pay as you go have eroded over the years.

When you leave London, cash-in the Oyster card and get the fee and any balance (less than £10) refunded.

It’s more straightforward than you think.

"Should we pre-order the visitor pay as you go Oyster card"
Don't bother with the visitor oyster as it's a more restrictive product and you have to pay postage.
https://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/oystercard.htm

Thanks guys. So if I understand correctly, my wife can simply get a Non visitor Oyster card and then load it up with some money via a credit card. Whatever we don't use, then we get back as form as a credit back into our CC balance account? Also...the Oyster card automatically applies the discount and daily cap fees depending on where we go? Does the Oyster Crad cost anything to purchase on top of the money we put on it?

Also..I will check on the no contact method. Any advantages for that?

• "So if I understand correctly, my wife can simply get a Non visitor Oyster card and then load it up with some money via a credit card." - Yes. Load up using the machines at any tube station, or in some small shops. By credit card or cash.
• "Whatever we don't use, then we get back as form as a credit back into our CC balance account?" - Yes. Or you can hang on to it for your next trip. It never expires.
• "Also...the Oyster card automatically applies the discount and daily cap fees depending on where we go?" - Yes
• "Does the Oyster Crad cost anything to purchase on top of the money we put on it?" - Yes, £5. See here: https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/buying-tickets-and-oyster
• "Also..I will check on the no contact method. Any advantages for that?". Advantage - you don't need to buy an Oyster card up front, or bother about getting a refund at the end. Disadvantage - Your card is charged once per day. If it is a foreign card (non-UK) your bank may add a Foreign Transaction Fee.

Every time you use the card, a little display shows the remaining credit.

When you cash in the Oyster Card you not only get the balance back but the deposit too. No so on a Visitor one.

If you cash out the Oyster and keep it (dunno if you can do that, but hey ho) you wouldn't get the deposit back.

Since it is so easy to top up an Oyster - 15 seconds maybe to tap the machine tap top up, type in how much, pay with a card, tap the Oyster again to register - and you are back in circulation, don't put too much on at once. Put what you think you will use. When it gets down it will tell you on the tiny tiny screen at the gates, or you can always just tap a top up machine and the first thing it tells you is the credit remaining. Then you can top up or walk away.

Thank you guys!!
My wife will simply buy an Oyster Card when she gets there.

One advantage of the contactless payment method is weekly capping, which happens over a set Monday-Friday period. This may or may not be of value depending on the days of your visit.