Getting around Cheaply in London- An insider's guide

Here is the chapter one of my series; Insider's guide to survive cheaply in London!

I start with GETTING AROUND IN A CHEAP WAY, and try to put up other stuff when I have time.

London can be a really expensive place to move around, if you do not know how to. Getting around takes up a big chunk of your budget, if you are not careful in planning it.

GETTING around Cheaply in London- An insider's guide.

1) Find out more about transport in London!

Before your come, spend a while getting an idea of how the transport system works, and you can save a bundle. Travelling around can be expensive, and taxis and cabs are not an option, except to those really loaded people. Checking out www.tfl.gov.uk, the Transport for London website is a MUST DO. You get information about Oyster card, the prices of various travel options and give you interactive maps. Those maps are really impressive, they guide you point to point, and come with an estimated travel times.

2) Use the TUBE to get from the Heathrow Airport to Town.

Want to try the Black Cabs? Forget it. It cost about £48 to get to South Kensington very early in the morning. If you stay further east, you pay more! If you are caught in the rush hour, fish out that credit card.

You don’t have to worry about walking to your hotel or hostel with your luggage. In London, you see people pulling their luggage ALL the time. Some areas have more tourists than locals.

3) Buy OYSTER CARD!!!

Ignore this advice at your own peril. Serious. Buy Oyster card->the first thing when you do when you arrive. Then use this card to go from Airport to the hostel. The Oyster Card is the cheapest way to get around London, and the difference between using card and cash is worth it! Imagine, you pay £1.50 cash, £0.80 by card for non peak bus travels. And from 2006 onwards, it is cheaper to use Oyster Card than travel cards. So, it is worth buying even if you just stay for a few days!

4) Use the bus

Those double-decker red buses are the best way to see London. If you go for those hop-on, hop-off tourist buses, you see about the same thing, but pay a lot more. With buses, you have a cap of maximum £3.00. Remember, buses in London charges a flat rate, no matter how far you travel. It can also be safer than tubes, as some tube stations can have no staff at night, and a favourite crime spots.

5) WALK

London is the perfect place to walk. Most major tourist attractions in centre of town can be covered by foot. I have acted as tour guides, and brought friends from the South Kensington Museums, to Hyde Park, to British Museum via Oxford Street, and then to Piccadilly Circus and Soho/Chinatown via Regent Street. The weather is perfect, and the traffic at Oxford Street could be bad. So walk!!

6) Get a good, detailed MAP

You can either spend £1.50 to get a map on the tube stations on your way in, or check out the tourist centres. The “Police Post” at Piccadilly Circus also hands out free tourist maps of central London. (but slightly less detailed)

Other related posts:

London is expensive? The insider's guide to do it in a cheap way.

EAT WELL, EAT CHEAP in London

SLEEP WELL, SLeep SAFELY and CHEAPLY in London(coming soon).

CALLING HOME CHEAPLY from London!!