London Travel

[Pheebs]

Omg.

I am sooooooo utterly confused.

I am trying to plan my trip up to Surrey and around London for the beginning of October and it is just not simple!

Basically, this is where I need to get to from Exeter:


Wednesday 10th October:
14:00: Meeting with Ignition Licensing in Weybridge, Surrey.
After meeting: - London (I'm not sure where in London, but hopefully will be kipping over with friends / relatives) For the sake of things let's just say central London

Thursday 11th October:
14:00: Meeting with Start Licensing at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Lancaster Gate.


Friday:
Anywhere that wants me until the evening!

Saturday:
Anytime - London back home to Exeter.


I have no rail cards or coach cards .... I'm not a student .... nor am I an OAP. How would people recommend I travel for these few days?! I'm so so confused - and it's all really expensive :(

Help me BD! You're my only hope! :)

Wubbles xxxx

[Mark]

OK. Weybridge is on a line about half an hour out of London Waterloo IIRC. Not been there for a year or so but I'm sure it was a station beginning with W or V and that eliminates most options. :)

You're also young enough to qualify for a Young Person's Railcard, so it's worth working out if you'd save money using that. I'm not sure how long they take to apply for though so best be quick.

Grab me on MSN and I'll gladly help with route planning. I don't live in London but I go there often enough to know where to find stuff. :)

Edit - just checked National Rail Enquiries. It was Waterloo. :)

[Garp]

www.tfl.gov.uk

Makes life easy for the precise details.

An open return to London would probably be a good idea. IIRC it should be possible to come up to Waterloo via Weybridge. You can get on and off along the route your ticket is valid for. Depending on how much you're expecting to travel on the tube, how many days, and which zones you'll be in it may well be worth considering a 1 or 3 day pass to make life easier.

[Will]

For town get yourself a travelcard for the Thursday, and then get yourself one for Friday. You'll probably only need Zone 1-2 if you're staying in central london., For weybridge just get a return for the day.

This has all the tube and zones on it. (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/colourmap.pdf)

As much as I hate the public transport in London (because it's ****) it can work Okay sometimes. It is over priced though.

[Mark]

I'm not sure on the range of the combined ticket/travelcards, probably south east only, but if available those might prove advantageous as well. Decisions, decisions. :)

[Will]

Problem is she leaves all the way down in the south west (Exeter) - driving from there is a bit of a pain.

[BBx]

I would suggest driving to the meeting in Weybridge and back again then getting the train for the other two days in London.. but tbh it would cost the same...

...So....this is what I would do :) get the train (v early though! To London Waterloo - buy an Apex return for £22.90 - open return valid for a month) then get a train from Waterloo to Weybridge for the meeting - £7 day return.

When you get back to Waterloo after your meeting if its after work I can meet you (if you don't have any other options!) or I will send you an Oyster card and you can bung some money on it (cheaper than without).

Depends what you want to do on the weds :)

So...

Exeter St Davids to London Waterloo
Apex return £22.90 one month return valid on the 8.25am to London Waterloo and its a direct train arrives at London Waterloo at 11.49

London Waterloo to Weybridge
12.20 from London Waterloo to Weybridge arr 12.57 - £7 Cheap day return :)

Train back from Weybridge to London Waterloo
They are fairly frequent - 36,43,13,06 past the hour e.g. 15.36 arr London Waterloo at 16.06

Journeys for the other two days
I can mail you an Oystercard so you can bung some money on it which will cover for the days travelcards - you will save money as the price cap will only be £3 as you are travelling off peak when you come back from your meeting :)

But for arguments sake say £5 per day (this is about the price for a days travelcard which is valid on trains, tube, dlr and buses)

OR

Otherwise you can get the 3 day travelcard - £16.40 peak which will cover all your journeys for the time you are in London.

This is the cheapest and cost effective way to do it that I can find - I would much rather get on a direct train for 3 hours from Exeter St Davids to London Waterloo and not worry about having to change - can sleep!!! :D

London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids
There is a direct train from Waterloo to Exeter St Davids at 12.20 arriving at 15.42 or the 14.20 arr at 17.36

Its still £46.30 but cheapest route I could find :)

BB x

[Will]

Is Pheebs driving up from Exeter? If not then the whole driving thing is a bit of a highway to nothing. :) If she's staying in London getting to weybridge for 14:00 isn't too difficult as Mei's pointed out.

I've worked out for myself, taking a travelcard works out cheaper than using an oyster card by quite a lot. The 3 day travelcard is genius though :cool:

[Mark]

All around fab plan there Mei. :)

Will, did you take the price cap into account on Oyster? Mei is correct when comparing with all zone cards, but not sure about the limited-zone ones.

Just a note that Apex fares should be booked ASAP, as when they're gone, they're really gone.

[BBx]

Yeah I just realised that Mark... think the £22.90 may only have been into London... but it says Apex Return :/ am confused.

BB x

[Mark]

Apex looks fab to me. It's a return ticket.

DESCRIPTION - Cheap Advance Purchase ticket available on selected journeys over 150 miles. At peak times there will be very limited or no availability.

BOOKING DEADLINES - Must be booked at least 7 days in advance (at least 2 days in advance for First Scotrail Apex) of outward travel subject to availability.

CONDITIONS - Quota controlled ticket valid for 1 calendar month. However, journey must be made on dates and times specified on ticket. Reservations are compulsory and made at time of booking.

[BBx]

Here's what I saw - I would give them a call asap honey :) 08457 484950

Call me if any probs!

BB x

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3842/trainba0.jpg

[Mark]

Ah - I see what you mean. You have no ticket options for the return journey. That's easily fixed if you can get up early. :)

Currently Apex tickets available:

Outbound - 08.25 and 10.10
Return - 09.20, 10.20, and 11.20

Calling ASAP is a good plan though.

[BBx]

Well she would have to get the 8.25am out to get to her meeting on time :)

Oopsy... silly me... I put in the date of the 14th which is the Sunday not the Saturday... sorry Pheebs!

There is a direct train from Waterloo to Exeter St Davids at 12.20 arriving at 15.42 or the 14.20 arr at 17.36 - but remember you have to allow time to get to Waterloo and its easier to get to from mine ;)

Therefore as long as you select the right trains it is £22.60 from Exeter to London Waterloo :)

BB x

[Will]

Will, did you take the price cap into account on Oyster? Mei is correct when comparing with all zone cards, but not sure about the limited-zone ones.

.

It caps it at "less" than a day travelcard depending on the zones you travel in. However with pre-pay I can't use it on overland trains - therefore I still need to pay a £3.60 return to my stop. So if you add that to the maximum "capped" of £5.20 (off-peak, zone 1-4) for an Oyster it comes to more than the £5.70 I'd pay for a 1-4 travelcard which covers me for my train into town, busses and tube. Whenever I go into town I don't use my oyster extensively enough to clock up a "capped" fair, and I've noticed that a couple of times despite touching in and out and all that, that when I use a bus it seems to have used a lot more than the £5.20 capped it should have. I did a check and it was indeed case owing to the type of travel I do :/ Anyway, if lived closer to a tube it would make sense, but as I don't it doesn't :)

Sorry for the OT Pheebs!

Mei's done a great job for you there :cool:

[Mark]

Could that, just possibly, be a hint? So much subtlety around here tonight. ;D

[Pheebs]

Wowee! Thank you people you're all stars!

I have a slight problem at the moment... my work are being bum-cheeks and they're not saying whether or not I have permission to take the time off (apparently the chances are "slim" - see this thread.. (http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?p=149522#post149522))

So canny book anything for now.

I am currently thinking I will drive to Poole (after sweet talking my Father into driving me up to Surrey on the Wednesday) and then training it to London CC and purchasing me a 3 day travel pass thingy. Then I will either coach back to Poole on Saturday or train (depending on prices!)

Still... canny action any of it yet until I find out from my work.

They're a-holes aren't they.

[BBx]

www.megabus.com (http://www.megabus.com)

:D

BB x