3 weeks to go - What to buy + London tube

There are three weeks to go before my trip. I am quite excited about it. Can't wait to see

Europe and the interesting people I will be sharing it all with. There is at least one fellow Jew travelling. Her name is Lisa and she is from South Africa though not for much longer. I understand she wants to move to Australia.

So three weeks to go and still much to be done. Need a bunch of clothes, backup camera battery, large memory card, a converter for the electric plugs, etc. etc. I also need to plot what I will do with my time in London.

One thing I know is this. Understanding Tube (subway for us Canadians) prices in London is like acquiring a new bachelor's degree. It's not easy. If you get it wrong, you could find yourself paying the equivalent of $6.30 a ride (GBP 3.00) for a few stops. That's horrible.

London's tube is divided into zones and there are six in all. To go a few zones costs more than if you just stick to one. Contrast with Paris where for the equivalent of $2, you can ride from any station to any station at any time. No zones. No fuss. Smart Parisians.

To make matters more difficult in London, you pay more if you board the tube before 9:30 am than if you do afterwards. Pre-9:30 is called "peak" and post-9:30 is called off-peak. The savings can be as much as 50% if you go off-peak. As I will be arriving at 7:30 in London, I may be tempted to burn 2 hours at Heathrow. Don't know if that's worth it.

Apperently for London there's something called an Oyster card which you can get and it makes rides cheaper. One ride can cost around $3 (GBP 1.50 instead of GBP 3.00) with an Oyster card for Zone 1, which is the main zone where I will be doing the bulk of the travel. A significant savings. The Oyster card costs GBP 10 plus a GBP 3 deposit. You can get the deposit back if you return the card. The card is also transferrable which is good if I wouldn't need it anymore. I could just sell it to a fellow traveller.

The card is ideal if you travel a lot. It has something called "capping" where you will never pay more than the maximum day-pass rate (that varies with zones). Anyway, here is the website for the card.

Happy travels