Getting around London podcast Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That's English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course. To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages. Kate: Hi Drew! How are you? I haven't seen you for ages! Drew: Yeah. I've been away on vacation. Kate: Really? Where have you been? Drew: I've been to London. Kate: Was is it your first time there or had you been before? Drew: Well, actually I went on a school trip when I was about fifteen, but I don't remember much from then, so it was really like the first time. Kate: Well, what did you think? Did you have a nice time? Drew: Yeah - it's a great city - there's so much to see and do. I went to the usual sights, you know - Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square. I saw the Changing of the Guard and I went on a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich... Oh, and I also visited Hampton Court Palace. Kate: Oh, what's that like? I've never been there myself. Drew: Oh, it's really beautiful. It's really like two palaces in one. You have the Tudor palace, from the time of Henry VIII and the 17th century Baroque palace, part of which was designed by Christopher Wren. You know, the architect that built St. Paul's Cathedral. Actually, after I saw the palace I decided to go there, too. Kate: Wow! You've certainly seen loads of things. Where did you stay? Drew: Oh, I stayed with Maria. She's a friend of mine from New York. She's doing a PhD at the London School of Economics. Kate: That's lucky. Hotels in London are so expensive. Drew: That's true. But she doesn't live downtown, of course. I caught the subway into Central London every day. Kate: You must tell me about the best way to get around London. I'm going on holiday there in the summer and I don't know whether it's better to buy an Oyster card or a Travelcard. What did you do? Drew: Well, Maria advised me to get a Visitor's Oyster Card before I left home. Kate: And how did you do that? Drew: I bought it on the Visit Britain website. As I was there for nearly a week, and I knew that I'd be travelling around a lot, I bought a £50 card. In fact, it cost me £53 because, however much credit you put on the card, they always charge you an extra £3 activation fee. In any case, there's this feature on the website where they recommend how much credit you will need, depending on how long you plan to stay and which travel zones you'll be going to... Kate: Oh, that's useful! Drew: Yes, it is. It's great because you can use it on the subway, buses and trains and you get a discount on the river boats. If you run out of credit, you just top it up at the ticket machines in the subway stations. In any case, in Central London you never pay more than £6.60 per day. So it's much cheaper than buying single tickets and you don't have to be queuing all the time. Kate: So, what's the difference between the Oyster card and the Travelcard? Drew: Well, I looked into that, too. The 7 day Travelcard is better value for money if you are staying for a week and you are only going to use it in Central London, in zones 1 and 2. In my case, it was better to get an Oyster card because Maria lives on the outskirts and I was only there for five days. Kate: Oh, I see. Drew: It's also better to avoid travelling during peak times, you know, when people are going to work in the morning or leaving in the afternoon. Kate: And which times are considered peak times? Drew: I think it's from 6.30 to 9.30 in the morning and between 4.00 and 7.00 in the evenings. Oh, and you should also have a look at the London Pass. Kate: Oh, what's that? Drew: Well, you can get it as an app for your cell phone or an actual physical card that you have to pick up from the London Pass office near Leicester Square. You can buy it on the London Pass website for, I think, like one, two, three, six or ten days? Something like that ... Kate: And what are the advantages of it? Drew: Well, it gives you access to over 60 tourist attractions at a reduced rate and to the hop on/hop off sightseeing buses. Kate: Is it really worth it? Drew: Hmmm...Good question. It really depends on how long you are going to stay and how much you want to see? Kate: Why is that? Drew: Well, the longer you stay, the more you save. The problem is that you only really save money if you see at least four tourist attractions a day. So, if you are the sort of person that likes to see things in a leisurely fashion, you simply won't have enough time to really enjoy the benefits it has to offer. You have to remember that most places in London close around 5.00 or 5.30 pm. Kate: Mmm...I see. Drew: But if you are pretty light-footed and well-organised, I think it's worth it. It saves you having to queue for tickets in each place. You also get an online guide and maps and they send you special offers and even free cinema tickets. So it really depends. Just be careful, though, because they count each day as a calendar day, not as a 24-hour period, so to make the most of it, you have to try to get an early start every day. Kate: OK - I get your point. It's not the best option for people who like having a nice, leisurely breakfast or having a mooch around museum shops, like my husband! Yeah, I don't think it's for us. But I am going to recommend it to my sister. She's also going to London later this year with her family, and they love to see as much as possible. Thanks a lot, Drew. Drew: My pleasure, Kate. You 're welcome. Kate: We hope you have found this podcast interesting and useful. We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That's English! Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!