Hello to the community of travel helpers, it has been a blast to read this forum off and on for months while we've prepped for our trip, which is in two days! Just wanted to toss out a few questions for last-minute verification. We'll be in Bath and then Cotswolds for about a week, then heading into London for six nights. Arriving in the Paddington train station we plan to buy 7-day, paper, travel card tickets so that we can use the 2for1 promotion. We'll bring passport size photos. And plan to print out a few vouchers at home. After going back through the old threads, and reading Tripadvisor, this seems to be the program. But I recall at least one person raising the issue of the paper cards not always working, maybe the strip became weak? Just wondering if others have had that as an issue and would it, could it mean we need a work-around such as finding an employee to help? Or are people finding the paper cards work just fine for the week's duration. And if I've botched the travel card rules please let me know.
Also, we will do a cruise to Greenwich and I've penciled out much of a day as it sounds like a nice place to wander once we've seen the main sites, what do you think about timing, is it realistically the bulk of a day to do it well? or do most people make it a 3- 4 -hour visit and that covers it just fine?
And In Moreton - is the train station so close to the bus station (maybe they are one in the same) that if we arrive by train and have about 10 minutes to catch a bus to Stow can we make it easily - or is that way too tight - timewise?
thanks again for everyone's input for all of us making our way there. It has been 28 years since I've been to London and my husband has never gone, so this will be a grand adventure, aided by you all. R and R
Posted by
6 posts
You will find London very easy to get around.
Don't know what travel cards you are speicifically using. IBut as a visitor & subsequently lived there for a period of time, I found any of the cards to be operational >90% of the time. If you encounter any problems, you can always find a staff member at the turnstiles (or close to them) for assistance. They have always been quite helpful.
Posted by
Hampshire, England.
1075 posts
To save typing it out again, I've copied my reply to another question about mag stripes on travelcards that stop working:
"We've had several instances of the magnetic strip on the paper Travel Cards losing the coding which becomes a real hassle at tube stations."
Yes, I've not long retired from the credit/loyalty card industry, from memory I'm pretty sure that National Rail still specify "low coercitivity" magnetic stripes on their travelcards (it's cheaper) which are easily corrupted by magnets (speaker in a mobile phone/clasp on a handbag etc), hence why "high coercitivity" mag stripes are used on credit cards, as you can encode a more resistant magnetic code onto them.
Posted by
824 posts
I was probably one of those people raising concerns about the paper travel cards. On two trips to London, my wife's travel card lost its magnetic coding probably due to the magnet in her purse's closure. I also had mine travel card go dead on the last trip - probably because I absent-mindedly placed it in the same pocket as my phone one day. On my last trip to London, my mother's card also died for unexplained reasons.
The good news is travel cards have their valid dates imprinted on them. When getting on buses - merely showing the card to the driver worked fine (just get on using the front door). At tube stations, it was a little more complicated because you needed to find a free attendant - not always easy to do during peak travel periods. (This must be done entering AND exiting the station.) But, we were never turned away.
Posted by
Long Beach, California, USA
3398 posts
Every time I've purchased a 7day travelcard they also give me a small plastic pouch to keep it in which protects it. If they don't give you one then you can buy a cheap one at many kiosks around the stations and around town...some of them have great London graphics on them and make a nice souvenir!