Grey, gray and efficient

Storyline: 50 years later

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This is Alex’s first revisit after 50 years and Diana’s first time in England. First impression – dull, grey and efficient. Very efficient from a Canadian perspective. The public transportation system, that is. Sleep deprived and exhausted from a redeye flight from Toronto we found it very easy to navigate through London’s maze of trains, Tube and buses. It was early morning there, and by the end of the day we had to be in Manchester.  We had chosen, yes you guessed it, to take a train. And no, it wasn’t for that train that we booked the transoceanic flight to London, not to Manchester. If was the cheapest flight that would take us to UK and then bring us back from Bulgaria.  

Traveling on a lean budget requires a bit more research and planning. We had pre-booked most of our trains in the UK from home, with a 33% of senior’s discount for which we needed to buy our seniors’ railcards at the first train station. We had plenty of time! We already knew that the cost of taking the Heathrow express train was not worth the 20 min we would save. Thanks Mr. Google! It was much cheaper to take the Tube (‘metro’ for most or ‘subway’ in most of North America). There are three underground stations at LHR that practically connect every terminal with the City. Don’t bother buying Oyster cards, especially from Canada. Entering a station, you can tap in your credit card (if it has a chip, which most of the Canadian ones do) and tap it out at the exit. It is the cheapest way. And… it works! Hello Metrolinx/Presto implementers in Toronto. You could have saved loads of money if you had studied London’s Tube system.  Price depends on the time and zone you travel. In April 2018, when we traveled it was £2.80 for peak hours, zones 2 to 6. We could have waited at LHR for off peak hours and paid £1.50, but we would have spent a lot more on coffee and breakfast.

We took the Tube to Kings’ Cross railway station. One can actually change there and continue on another line to Euston, but we elected to walk a bit after the long flight. At a service counter we chatted with a smiling and polite clerk and learned that we could have actually saved £30 minus the price of two photos if we had indicated “Two together” railcard instead of two “Senior” railcards in our online tickets shopping. Well, we’ll know better for next time (or year, because a rail card is valid for a year).

During our short walk to Euston the only thing we saw from London was a strike. The rest of our day is best described in Alex’s post .

If you go… (travel tips)

1. London Tube: Use your credit card instead of buying an Oyster card. If it has a chip you can just tap it in and out. It will save you the cost of the Oyster card, the hurdle of charging it and then getting the remainder of your unused pounds back. Other than that, a trip using the Oyster card costs exactly the same.
2. If you plan to travel a lot by train in the UK, you can save a substantial amount if:
   • You are eligible and buy a discount railcard
   • You use the ‘advanced fare’ rates, available if you pre-book.

More on online booking and the UK railway system to come soon.