London- transportation confusion

I have checked two of your price quotes and disagree with both. Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms are £15.95 for the adults and all of your children free. http://cwr.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.221 Tower of London family tickets are £47 if bought online, not £32. http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/admissionsprices/toweroflondonadmission.aspx Am I missing something?

Nope, you are right. I posted 15, but meant to post 16 as it was closer to 15.95. I was typing in a hurry. My sheet here says 44 for Tower of London but that was back in the fall, so I guess prices went up. I was trying to type in a hurry because I needed to have a history discussion with the boys, teach math to my girl, etc. Sorry. Christine

Would hve to pay 15.95 for me, husband and my 16 year old. I have to pay for him to get into a couple of things if they don't have a family ticket.

The transport issue is complicated by the age of your children. For the adults its straight forward, an Oyster Card on a Pay As You Go Basis. Your 9 year old travels free on Underground and buses all day Saturday and after 09:30 Friday. Your 14 and 16 year old is complicated if you want child fares. You really need an Oyster Photocard which costs 10 GBP so for 2 days its not worth it. The normal workaround is to buy a 1 day Travelcard which doesn't need a photocard, but as the Travelcard is for calendar days not 24 hours this too may be problematic. You also buy Travelcards by zones. All your travel with the notable exception of the RAF museum in Hendon is in the central zones 1&2.
It might just be simpler to get an Oyster card which seamlessly covers zones for everyone but your 9 year old.

Here is what I've come up with regarding tickets (prices of which are minus the "voluntary donation"): Churchhill War Rooms - £14.50 each for adults, £11.60 for 16 yr old "student", other children are free Tower of London - family ticket on-line £47 or £50 in-person will cover 2 adults and 2 younger children; £17.05 for 16 yr old Globe Tour - family ticket £32 will cover 2 adults and 2 younger children, £10 for 16 yr old (But you may be right that it will be redundant.) Westminster Abbey - £38 for 2 adults and 2 children ages 11-18, 9 yr old is free I'm not sure how your children's entries would be handled if you were using a 2-for-1 deal with a railway issued daily travelcard. On the tube your 9 yr old can travel free with an adult, your other children can ride for lower fares with a "photo" Visitors Oyster card (see tfl.gov.uk). My husband and I have always found the regular pay-as-you-go Oyster Cards to work well for us, especially if going across multiple zones, like your husband and boys will when they go to Colindale. Since the cards don't expire, we just hold on to them for our next trip!
How are you planning on getting from Heathrow to Paddington? When looking to eat near your Paddington hotel - stay away from the ever familiar Burger King - or better yet, go in and look at the prices and you'll lose your appetite. We stayed in that area on our last trip and were disappointed with the selection and quality of the restaurants there. You may do just as well getting something at one of the stands inside Paddington Station for a quick bite. However I do remember a small Italian place on London Street (near Norfolk Sq) that was quite good. And finally, you and your daughter will love taking tea at The Orangery. My husband and I will do so again on our trip this fall. Have a great trip.

Globe: if you are doing the talk and attending a play, you dont need the globe tour. On the Tour you get to try out the seats (not very comfortable0 while the guide explains what the experience would have been like in elizabethan times. I think you will find out by personal experience Horse Guards. One of my favorite things in London is watching the changing of the Guard at Horse guards- probably done it al least 20 times (summer and Winter). Occassionally (probably saturday morning in tourist season) the change is spectacular, the Guard is accompanied by a mounted band (oh those horses) which plays on Horse guards while the Guard is changing. probably the best sight in all of England. I dont know how you can fiund out if it'll be the saturday you are there. But definitely try for it. If not, do it the day you arrive last saturday mornning. I would suggest westmibnster Abbey or if the waether is good, Hyde park, St James park. Changing Guard at St james; National gallery; Lots of places to walk to.

Christine, all the deals available for London transportation can hurt your head. They do mine. In the end, the cost differences are not dramatic. I'd suggest starting with pay-as-you-go Oyster Cards and going from there.

You may be overglobed. The tour, the talk, and the production are too much. Depends on the subject of the talk. ...But, if you want to do all three, and knowing how uncomfortable the seats are (from the tour), you may want to pay 5GBP and stand with the peons until you are tired of "As You Like It". Instead, go to the 7th floor of the Tate Modern for spectacular view of the river and the London skyline. If your Eurostar leaves from St. Pancras Station, here is a suggestion. Check out of your hotel and check in your luggage at the station. Then spend the morning in the British Library (right across the street). The exhibition room has treasures for every age. And, the Kings' Cross station (next door to Pancras) has a platform 9 1/2 from Harry Potter and a great photo moment pushing your luggage cart through the station wall. The HP movie actually shows the beautiful St. Pancras station as the Kings' Cross station. Another photo op. Or....get a look at some things you don't have time to see.
Download the route map for Bus 11 or RV1 and take a ride.

Thanks. Ok, we will skip the Globe. I was thinking that way. I can just lecture them about it a little bit from all of my materials when I taught it in school. I love, love, love the British Museum idea. Plus, my boys are HUGE Harry Potter fans, so we will definitely get our pictures by the 9 1/2. All of you are great!! Thanks. Christine

Christine, Its the British Library next door and the British Museum down the road. Lots of great stuff in the British Library.