Oyster Cards and Debit Cards

Rick,

For the Oyster Card--Go ahead and buy the normal pay-as-you-go as opposed to a day pass or a week-long pass. That will be more economical for you.

For the Debit Card: It would be a good idea to give the credit union a call and have them flag your card with a notice that you'll be using it in Britain from x date to y. Then there will be no nasty surprises if they should freeze your account because of suspected fraudulent activity.

It may pay to get paper one day travelcards from a rail station on your return to London so you can take advantage of the 2 for 1 offers available at http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ . 2 for 1 on the £17 admission to the Tower of London or the £14.95 admission to the Cabinet War Rooms makes the slight inconvenience of buying from a rail station ticket agent worth it. With a little luck you could buy one day travelcards in advance at Kings Cross rail station. If "several days" is 4 or more, buying a 7 day paper travelcard from a rail station makes more sense than buying one day cards.

"Several" is 2.5 days. We will get into London around mid-day on a Tuesday and have all day Wednesday and Thursday, leaving for home on an 8am Friday flight from Heathrow.

Thanks to all for the info.

As already suggested, check out the daysoutguide site, see if they offer 2for1 deal for any of the places you want to go, also includes some dining. If so, plan on getting a travelcard for zones 1&2 for your days in London from a national rail station. Paddington is where we bought ours, though it doesn't say its national rail, it was First Great Western (or something similar to that)
Print out 2for1 coupons in advance, don't worry about the date you put when it asks during print request time. You can also pick up their brochure, but it only has 3 coupons for you to fill out.

You go to the regular ticket counter, show your coupon, and your travel cards, both people need a travel card with the rail logo on it.

And yes, your debit card will work and you will get pounds. Make sure to let the CU know you will be travelling so they don't cancel for fraud.

I found last summer during a trip to Quebec that my Chase debit card only worked at certain ATMs such as at banks, but not generally at ATMs (but was OK to use at stores and restaurants). Some of the ATMs only accepted debit cards from within specified banking systems. A debit card from a credit union might be less universally recognized by banks outside the country - you might want to check with the CU to see if other memebers have had any trouble using their cards while traveling. Also, because I had not told the bank that I would be using my debit card out of the country, eventually the card was frozen and I had to call the bank to sort things out.

I have successfully used VISA branded debit/ATM cards in London, last September and again last month. No problems. I notified my credit union in each case, that I would be using it in Britain on certain dates.

I actually carried and used cards from two different CUs with which I have accounts. I arranged things that way so that in case something went wrong with one card I'd have a backup. I used each of them at least once to get cash from ATMs, and more than once to make purchases.

I'd not bother with pre-ordering an Oyster card. I had to wait maybe 3 minutes in a queue at the counter (at Heathrow in my case) to buy mine. Unless you want to take advantage of those 2-for-1 offers, there's no need to buy paper travelcards, just get the Oyster and go.

Happy trails!

Thanks much to all for the info. I'll definitely notify my CU before we go.