London logistics questions

As noted, you can't buy an Oystercard for your sons unless you buy it three weeks ahead of time and send photo i.d. Last summer for our 15 and 12 year old boys we bought the discounted youth rate tickets each day. It was not at all difficult to do. Each morning at our local tube stop we waited in what was usually a fast-moving line with only a couple of people in front of us. By the third day the boys stood in line and bought their own tickets. A great way for your boys to learn travel skills and feel independent. For what it's worth, for my husband and I we bought point to point tickets at Heathrow for our trip from the airport to our tube stop, then bought travel cards at Victoria Station the next day (our first full day of sightseeing) so that we could take advantage of the 2 for 1 deals at the Churchill Museum and Tower of London. We bought a few pounds at the airport before leaving the states so that we could buy the tube tickets at Heathrow, then used our debit card to get cash once we'd checked in at our apartment. You'll hear different opinions on whether to bring currency with you, but that way we didn't have to worry about finding a true cash machine at Heathrow just after arriving. You will have a fabulous time!

Also, do the British Museum over the British Library. But hit it early because it can get very crowded. The maps that you get at the museum are great, and it is easier to navigate than the Louvre. Be sure to do the Egyptian sections, the Elgin Marbles, the Asyrian stuff (our boys liked the panels of lion hunting). Definitely do the Churchill Museum and war rooms. Leave yourself plenty of time to do the Imperial War Museum. It has an incredible and very moving holocaust exhibit that you don't want to rush through, and that had a lot of impact on my 15-year old. The London Eye didn't do a lot for me but the boys loved it so you may want to think about adding it.

If your flight is at 10:45 am. then you'll be buying Underground tickets about midday and checking into your hotel about 1:30 pm first day. Oyster Cards are fine but don't buy from Visit Britain, get them at Heathrow. It'll be cheaper and the Oyster Cards in London are better products, you get your deposit back for instance if you hand them back at the end of the trip. On the Thursday you could save some money by buying 1 day Travelcards instead of using your Oyster and using it to get 2 for 1 admission to Tower of London. Buy a 1 day Travelcard from a mainline rail station like Kings Cross and you'll get 2 for 1 entry to places like the Tower of London with the 2 for 1 promotion. The 2 for 1 promotion also applies to City Cruises on your list, plus Kensington Palace. See: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ The savings on admission will easly outweight minor savings on buying Oyster over Travelcard. BUT you have to buy from a central London mainline station, not Heathrow. Your 14 and 16 year old qualify for child fares but you need a photocard that costs 10 GBP and takes 3 weeks to process ordered on-line so probably not worth it.
Your 14 year old could get a 1 day Travelcard each day which doesn't need a photocard and only costs 3 GBP a lot cheaper than an adult Oyster

It seems like the family deal is nearly as good as the 2 for 1 and a lot less hastle. Example: Tower would be 19.8 plus one free, 19.8 plus a child free, then a child for 10.45. So it would be 50 pounds. The family ticket is 47 pounds ahead of time. City cruises 13.5 and one free, 13.5 and one free, child 6.75 which equals 33.75 which is the same as a family red rover ticket. It seems like it would be easier to do the family ticket than to worry about having to get the travel card and such...

Not familiar with the existence of any family deal on Oyster. Family deals in London for public transport itself were all pulled a couple of years ago when free child travel was introduced. By the way you cannot use Oyster on the Heathrow Connect train(or Heathrow Express train) just the London Underground from Heathrow

Just a warning... do you have seats for As You Like It, or are you going as grondlings? It's a long time for kids, and they can't sit down as groundlings. I saw it at the Globe around 2 years ago, and as a Shakespeare nerd, I loved it. However, 3+ hours for kids, I could see them getting very, very bored. Heck, I have a hard enough time teaching Shakespeare to high school students, let alone a 9 year old. If you have seats, I'd bring a book or two as backup in case they cannot follow the play. For kids I'd choose the British Museum over the Library. And why not buy a few pounds in advance? It's one thing if it's just you and your husband, but with kids, having that cash on hand can be handy. Even 20-50 pounds is a good investment.

The British Library is very close to both St. Pancras and King's Cross Station, so you might have time to add a quick visit of the Treasures Room. An hour is enough time for it and the items on display are quite amazing.

A nit-picky clarification: the Orangerie is a separate building in the grounds of Kensington palace- it is not "in" Kensington palace. (Werent sure if you were aware of this). It is really easy to fnd- you pass it on the way to the main building. Also when you are there, check out the formal gardens in front of Kensjington palace- they also often have exhibits (always seems to be court dreses whenever my wife wants to go) I also strongly agree- British Museum rather than the library. So many different exhibits, you are each bound to find something that appeals

Sorry, Christine, no Oyster cards on Heathrpw Connect. From their website: "Please note that Zone 1-6 Travelcards are not valid between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow Airport.
Pre-pay Oyster cards are not valid on Heathrow Connect (between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow Airport only)." You can buy online before you travel or at the ticket window. Sorry...

Ok, first the family tickets have nothing to do with the Oyster Card. If you look on every attractions website, they generally have a family ticket for 2 adults and anywhere from 2 to 6 kids depending on the attraction. It is generally cheaper than buying the tickets individually. Now, about the oYster card..ok, so we can't use it on the Heathrow express and I shouldn't buy it ahead of time. We'll just try and figure it out when we are there. i was just going to get the teenagers adult ones as there wasn't much of a discount. What do you mean that you had them get in line for their discount ones...for every single trip you took on it??? Didn't that take a lot of time? So they would buy one to Westminster then buy another one to the Tower, then another one to the war museum??? I was trying for easy.. and somewhat inexpensive.. If easy costs me a few bucks more, it would be worth it. If it costs me 50 dollars more, maybe not. Christine

OH and yes, we have seats for AS You Like it already. I also thought we might want to sit after a day of sightseeing, so we opted to pay more to have seats. Christine

A 1 Day Child Travelcard for a 14 year old is 3 GBP. The adult daily cap on Oyster is 8 GBP (15 GBP if you travel from Heathrow in zone 6). Less than half price sounds a pretty worthwhile discount to me! If you are staying 3 days its actually worth applying for a child Oyster Photocard on-line for 3 days in advance for both your 14 and 16 year olds and collect it at Heathrow just for the savings on child fares that result from it. You do not need to buy a Travelcard for every 2 for 1 admission. You can print as many of the 2 for 1 vouchers as you like and use them all under the same Travelcard as long as the Travelcard is valid. Family tickets, the Tower of London is typical in calssifying a child as being under 16. Thus your party is 3 adults and 2 children which doesn't qualify for a family ticket which only allows 2 adults. If you are not going to use the London Underground from Heathrow and use the Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect train from Heathrow you cannot use Oyster or Travelcards on these trains.
Both trains terminate at Paddington Station where you can buy Travelcards that qualify for 2 for 1 from the rail ticket office.

You don't buy the kids a tube ticket for each trip. It's a discounted all day ticket.

I always buy an Oyster Card early the next morning at my first Tube station. Keeps things simpler. Putting 20 pounds on each one seems reasonable. Don't fret about buying some weird combination of Oyster Cards and TravelCards to save a few bucks. It's an arcane hurt-your-head mess and the final cost won't differ that much. I also like to buy 100-200 pounds before I fly, at the airport. I don't get the best rate, but I like the security just in case. If you buy the cards ahead of time, are you sure there is enough time for them to be mailed to you? Airmail from the UK seems to take upwards of a week or more here. Of course, there are ATM's in Heathrow. Here's the URL of the airport's "official" site: http://www.heathrowairport.com/

London is great place to just walk. I found the buildings were so different than I was used to. also just seeing the different street and other names that I hasd seen in books (and English monopoly boards). Its easy to end up walking miles and not even noticing it. Just be sure to look around at all the different sights as you walk

It looks like my 16yo couldn't get the child travelcard. I just don't see how a 10 pound charge for the photo Oyster makes sense for 3 days. Another variable, the boys will be going to Colindale which isn't in zone 1 or 2. We will walk to Hyde Park for our tea. Also, we like to get places early so we will arrive at the Tower at 8:30 which means traveling during peak time, so would a child's travelcard work.. I thought they were off peak. Also, it looks like we will do the connect so nothing works. We will use the Tube to get to Westminster from Paddington then walk the rest of the time until it is time to go home. ( so 2 tube rides each) We'll take the tube to the Tower, but then we'll be taking a boat if we do the red rover ticket. We can probably walk from one of the stops to the Imperial war museum, the boat back to the Globe.. so once again 2 tube rides each?? Friday- tube rides to Westminster of Imperial War then daughter and I will take it back to Orangy while boys all go to Colindale. Daughter and i will explore Hyde Park and walk back to hotel. Saturday.. I still don't know about this day. We are early risers, but not much is open. We will need to put our bags in St. Pancreas??? then take our Harry Potter Pictures at Kings Cross and get to the British Museum when it opens at 10...stay until 12 then find a place to eat and retrieve our luggage in time for 1pm check in for our Eurostar?? Am I accurate? We tend to walk a lot on vacations whether it is in a National Park or wherever. Christine
Christine

Christine Colindale is in zone 4. Have you thought of doing some of your transport in central London by bicycle? Boris' Bikes, as they are known, are really cheap, fun, easy to use, and convenient. I have a call in to Barclays who sponsor the show to make sure that swipe credit cards will work in case its only chip&pin.

"Just be sure to look around at all the different sights as you walk" ---Brian (L.A.) But be sure to look to the right as you cross the streets!
I always end up walking more of London than I expect. It's just a great city to explore. Have a great time.

Last week we, 6 adults and 7 children, traveled from Heathrow to our hotel in London. We were there for 3 days. The nice man at underground information at Heathrow told us not to buy Oyster cards because of the grief involved in getting our deposits back. Rather, he told us to buy 1way tickets to town and day passes for the other days (except of course for the return to LHR) I paid no attention to what the one/ways cost but for 6 adults times 3 day passes cost £118.00, which I did not think was a bad price for essentially 13 people using tube or bus. zones 1&2. BTW did you know that by pressing alt 0163 you will get a £ sign?

For groups of 10 or more there are Group Tickets. Unlimited travel on buses and trains in all zones 1 to 6 which includes Heathrow for 4 GBP per day adults, 1.50 GBP for under 18's per day.
Downside is the group have to travel together and you have to buy a new ticket each day.

Christine - Buy a carnet of Paris Metro tickets at St Pancras before boarding the Eurostar. You can hit the ground running in Paris.

We walked from The British Museum to Covent Garden along Drury Way. It was a nice walk on a Tuesday morning, and barely anyone was around. Old street in London near Covent Garden: http://hull534.smugmug.com/photos/378921285_foYw9-L-1.jpg