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PART 1: Tips on Visitors coming to London: Transportation
A great way to see London would be just buying an Oyster card for 3 £ and then topping up as you go along. You can register your card online, just in case it gets lost. When you aer done using your card your £3 deposit will be given back to you. Your Oyster Card is King in the travelling business in London. The bus is the cheapest route to see London, it's just £1 one way. It's also the the best way to see London, high on the second floor of the double decker buses you can see all of London. Here you can see the architure, people, fashionistas, tourists,great monuments, parks and more people. You can just sit back and relax and see it all from the vantage point of the big double decker bus!!! You can also use the tube to get around the only thign is tube can be quite expensive, usually £2.00 one way. Also, the tube is hectic and cumbersome, they are high traffic areas. During rush hour it's hard to get a seat, so what you do is pretend like you are a Londoner and always always carry a book. This way you can pretend your deeply entranced in your book and can avoid any eye contact with people. Just in case, if they want to ask you where you are from, or ask you for directions or maybe complement you or strike up a conversation. If you hide behind your book, you look chic, intellectual. Reading a book on the tube is the height of sophistication. And,like you can't be bothered.
Another key note, many major cities in the world have the exact time arrival of the trains and departures, here in London, all you have to do is stand by the platform, and look at the screen as a guide. As far as schedule times, forget it. Just know that each tube takes about 2-3 minutes between stops. So, let's say if you are going to Oxford Circus on the Picaddily Line and you start at Greenpark. You'll arrive in just 2 minutes. Those trains are bloody fast. If you are changing lines, you have to allot for time travel inside the tube station itself, that could take another 10 minutes depending which tube station you are at. If you are at the major stations where other trains go outside London, it might take you ten minutes to go from one side of the station to the other. The major train stations are Waterloo, Paddington, Kings Cross, and Victoria.
Also, these train stations are enormous by the time you reach your destination, you'll probably have to use the loo at this point you'll want to make a beeline to the bathroom. They weren't kidding when they said London is an expsensive city, because once you get to the Bathroom or as the English say TOILET( taken from the French, as an American I still think the word bathroom is more elegant, I detest saying the word Toilet), there is gate that will charge you 30 pence each way. If you have to go to the bathroom on your way to depart the train station and then upon arrival, that could cost you just 60 pence just to pee. Multiplied by 5 days a week, that could be £3 a week. Multiplied by the many weeks in a year, that 's about roughly £10 a month. That's about £120 a year in Bathroom usage. (That's enough money to buy a one way ticket from LA to NYC) See, I told you London was expensive. Anyway, keep a lot of spare coins just in case you have that irrisistable urge. On a positive note, it's a good thing they also have showers just in case you want to be fresh for your next meeting or hot date. I think that cost about 1£. But, on a positive note, the pound you spend on a good old fashioned shower, is probably worth it, because by the time you are done running around the tube and train stations like a chicken with your head cut off, dodging stressed out people with their luggage, handbags and big umbrellas, not only are you ready for a pint of Guinness you are ready for your second shower of the day !!
Another key note, many major cities in the world have the exact time arrival of the trains and departures, here in London, all you have to do is stand by the platform, and look at the screen as a guide. As far as schedule times, forget it. Just know that each tube takes about 2-3 minutes between stops. So, let's say if you are going to Oxford Circus on the Picaddily Line and you start at Greenpark. You'll arrive in just 2 minutes. Those trains are bloody fast. If you are changing lines, you have to allot for time travel inside the tube station itself, that could take another 10 minutes depending which tube station you are at. If you are at the major stations where other trains go outside London, it might take you ten minutes to go from one side of the station to the other. The major train stations are Waterloo, Paddington, Kings Cross, and Victoria.
Also, these train stations are enormous by the time you reach your destination, you'll probably have to use the loo at this point you'll want to make a beeline to the bathroom. They weren't kidding when they said London is an expsensive city, because once you get to the Bathroom or as the English say TOILET( taken from the French, as an American I still think the word bathroom is more elegant, I detest saying the word Toilet), there is gate that will charge you 30 pence each way. If you have to go to the bathroom on your way to depart the train station and then upon arrival, that could cost you just 60 pence just to pee. Multiplied by 5 days a week, that could be £3 a week. Multiplied by the many weeks in a year, that 's about roughly £10 a month. That's about £120 a year in Bathroom usage. (That's enough money to buy a one way ticket from LA to NYC) See, I told you London was expensive. Anyway, keep a lot of spare coins just in case you have that irrisistable urge. On a positive note, it's a good thing they also have showers just in case you want to be fresh for your next meeting or hot date. I think that cost about 1£. But, on a positive note, the pound you spend on a good old fashioned shower, is probably worth it, because by the time you are done running around the tube and train stations like a chicken with your head cut off, dodging stressed out people with their luggage, handbags and big umbrellas, not only are you ready for a pint of Guinness you are ready for your second shower of the day !!
