Tip of the Week

If you're travelling to or through London and need to check out buses to/from your arrival or departure main line train station, check out these links.

To and from Euston Station http://www.quickmap.com/movie1eus.htm

To and from Liverpool Street Station http://www.quickmap.com/movie1liv.htm

To and from Paddington Station http://www.quickmap.com/movie1pad.htm

To and from St Pancras/King's Cross Stations http://www.quickmap.com/movie1kin.htm

To and from Victoria Station http://www.quickmap.com/movie1vic.htm

To and from Waterloo Station http://www.quickmap.com/movie1wat.htm

Tip of the Week

In the South East of England, there's a very good way of getting discounted train tickets through Southern Rail. Every so often, they introduce cheaper than normal tickets only for purchase online here http://tickets.southernrailway.com/ - in some cases, a day return from Brighton to London which normally costs £26 and upwards can only cost £7.40 on the website!!!

Now, there are three options for ticket delivery: one is a registered delivery which costs £6 (I think it's within UK only), free first class post within the UK only or what's called "Ticket On Departure" which is also free. For people outside of the UK planning a trip here, that third option is the best one for you.

What it means is, when you order your tickets online, you nominate a mainline station to collect your tickets from. It can either be the station you're departing from OR the station nearest to where you're staying. Then, when you get the booking confirmation page, print it off and bring it with you - it'll have a unique booking reference printed at the top which you'll need.

Then, go to your nominated station (it does not have to be on the day of travel - you can go in anytime) with the booking sheet/reference number AND the credit/debit card you used to pay. Take them to the ticket office and say you need to collect your tickets please. They then print everything off, ask for you to sign a docket to confirm collection (matched against your credit card, I presume!) and then hand you back your card, tickets, booking sheet...... thank you very much, easy peasy, have a nice day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Given the expense of UK train travel, this is MOST recommended!!!!!

Another trip to London!!

Andrea's taking me to London again soon but we can't quite decide what to do. We've found a list of Museums in London here

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/guide/about/museums.html

Which seems to give a complete listing of all the musems. Some of them we've done already, and some of them are actually quite a way away from the centre of London.... but if you would like to suggest some that you'd like to see a trip of, then me and Andrea can pick one (or maybe even two!!) to go visit!! Even Sherlock Holmes is on this list!!!

Tip of the Week

When me and Andrea go travelling, we book accommodation either with the Youth Hostel Association (google that and find the one for your country to join up). You have to be 18 years old to stay in one yourself (I always go with Andrea though!) but there's no upper age limit - we've seen little old ladies with grey hair and lots of wrinkles stay at them too!! They all have self catering kitchens too, so you can do you own cooking in the evening and save a bit of money not having to eat out every night. Sometimes though, if we feel like treating ourselves to a hotel room all to ourselves, we look at http://www.booking.com/ which lists hotels all over the world, from one star to five star. They sometimes have some very good last minute deals too. We found our hotel in Lille, France through that site - but be sure to read the guest reviews on the site before you book. They're pretty accurate!!

Tip Of The Week!

Andrea said that she's taking me to London again soon, and she showed me a thing called Oyster Card. Andrea said it's a prepaid travel card specially to use on London buses and subways! It's loaded up with £20 credit, and then when we get on London Bus, there's a round yellow thing near the door (on Subway, the round yellow thing is near the entry barriers) which you touch with the Oyster Card and it goes "BEEP!" Then the card is deducted with the fare. (On Subway when you come out the other end, you have to touch the yellow thing again to open up the exit barriers) On ours, there's an automatic top up thing so when it gets down to £5 credit, it automatically tops up!!!

Isn't that brilliant!!! (You can order these online or purchase them when you arrive in London.... ask at the subway ticket office)