London Transportation Options

Ginger No "plan" will get you from Harwich to London. You need a train ticket which you can get when you arrive. You may find a discount ticket but you would have to plan on an exact train at a specific time or the ticket is worthless. No "plan" will get you from Victoria to Gatwick. You need a train ticket. Southern takes a few minutes longer, for a bit less money. Gatwick Express is faster, nonstop, and a bit more expensive. Within London you need to decide if there are 2 of you and if you will use lots of 2 for 1 coupons with a rail issued travelcard. If so, that may be the way. Search around here for recent threads on the deals. The question has been answered many many times. If you won't use an Oyster Card. Same advise about previous threads applies.

Wednesday-Sunday is five days. A seven-day, zone 1-2 travelcard is cheaper than five one-day travelcards. Whether you buy them at a Tube station and load them on Oyster cards or buy paper travelcards at a National Rail station so you can take advantage of National Rail's 2for1 offers, they cost the same. For a comparison of the advantages of each card, go here.

Tim: Thank you! I will purchase a seven day Oyster (zones 1 & 2) at a National Rail station and take advantage of the 2 for 1. Nigel: Thanks for the therapy -- my posting uses the word "plan" a few times too many. That says it all: I'm planned out! The blogs, travel books, and bookings have become a blur. Time to go with the flow.
UNLESS someone has something I need to know:-)

Ginger, Oyster cards are reloadable plastic cards and are only sold at Tube stations. To take advantage of the 2for1 offers you will need to buy paper travelcards with the National Rail logo on them at any National Rail station. To see a list of offers go here. You can print out offers on the link I gave you or you can pick up a brochure at National Rail stations after you arrive in London.

Tim: So no Oyster, purchase 7-day, zones 1 & 2 at a National Rail office? This will be a paper ticket with many 2 for 1 offers (I read the list). I'm sorry to be so slow in understanding this part. Truly, I thank you.
G

Right. No Oyster cards. Unless you can catch the early morning direct train from Harwich to London, you will need to make a connection in Manningtree. In either case you will arrive at the Liverpool Street station in London. Buy your National Rail travelcards there. Your travelcards will not be good on the Gatwick Express, but they will be good on Southern trains. If you take a Southern train from Victoria station to Gatwick, your travelcards will be good for the first portion of the ride in zones 1 & 2. Buy extension tickets at Victoria to cover the ride from the edge of zone 2 to Gatwick.

The only station in zones one or two on the line leaving Victoria to Gatwick is Clapham Junction. In order to use a valid zones 1,2 Travelcard towards Gatwick you will need a fare from Clapham Junction to Gatwick (saves around a quid or £1.50 depending) and your train must actually stop there.

Your train tickets from Harwich to London and from London to Gatwick can also be used for the Days Out 2 for 1 offers. "If for example you are buying single tickets, e.g.Advance tickets to London for a one-way journey on a Monday, and Advance tickets for departing London on a Friday you will be able to use the vouchers during the Monday-Friday period, provided you show both outward and return tickets (remember to tell the train company staff that you need to keep your outward tickets!)." http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/faq Do not feed your ticket into a turnstile when arriving in London, go through a manned gate and keep the ticket.

Thanks to everyone! I followed your suggestions, bought the rail pass, and transportation was perfect! The train ride from Harwich to Victoria Station was pleasant (got the early train so did not have to change trains), we enjoyed many bus rides around London, and we added to the ticket to get from Victoria to Gatwick really the ticket gave us good options for every where we wanted to go and was very convenient. When you add the 2 for 1 promotion savings of about $60 the rail ticket was an excellent value. You were right that London is a big city and grouping our attractions by location saved quite a bit in travel time. Your responses and the Rick Steves guide book helped make it an awesome trip!

Sorry. That was Harwich to Liverpool.

Really glad that went well, Ginger. Did you take the overnight to Harwich on the traditional ship, or the day voyage on the jet ship? How was the crossing? How did you enjoy it? If overnight how was the accommodation? How did you find getting on and off the boat? Thanks .... now you can answer questions and become one of our regulars. Thanks for posting....

Nigel, We arrived on a cruise ship. Boarded in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Friday and the following Friday we stopped at Ponta Delgada, Portugal. Stops in Brest and Cherbourg followed. Getting off the ship and onto the train in Harwich could not have been easier. I expected to at least walk a block or so but the train station was at the dock. I believe the cruise line charged around $125 for transportation to Heathrow with a bus tour of London included. We rode the same train as the ship tour. We met several people who had wintered in Florida and were using the cruise as, "just transportation" to London. The 12-day cruise did cost less than our one-way flight home even with the flight from Michigan to Florida included in the cruise cost. We especially liked adjusting to the time change slowly on the ship. When we arrived in London we were well rested and ready to tour. I don't know if I have enough travel experience to qualify as a regular but it feels good to give back.
G

That's interesting. We have had a recent poster who wanted to arrive in Europe by boat. It sounds like what you did would suit him. I see that a little planning put you $$$ ahead of your shipmates. Congratulations. Would you recommend cruising?