Ldnn1

I don't know the answer to your Q, but I would just point out that VAT is 20%, so £75+VAT is actually £90.

In the UK prices aren't (or shouldn't be) quoted ex VAT except in a B2B context.

Graciecatt

Even at £90 more, that would still be less than the posted AAA price for a Junior Suite with Chambers Club access.

DELee

I would post this question directly to the St. Pancras thread in the Marriott Rewards forum. And/or call the hotel or Marriott. And if you do call, to post what you find out to the thread.

David

Graciecatt

Thank you for letting me know - I did post to the St. Pancras thread. The short answer is that I am now upgraded to a junior suite with club access for 80GBP including VAT - and that is added to the AAA rate I booked for their lowest-tier room. So I think I did ok.

DELee

Congrats! When I took my family to London in April for spring break for 7 days (6 nights), I had to book three rooms at Marriott Park Lane on points - a Category 9 property. While I would have liked to have booked at the Renaissance St. Pancras, the upcharge per room per night on top of the massive point deduction would have been ruinous.

Back on topic, if you do have a Harry Potter fan with you, going over to Kings Cross Station may be fun and, now given your lodging, quite accessible!

David

Graciecatt

I have been reading and googling so much that I cannot find where I read this information -

a 12GBP tour of "just the highlights" of the British Museum. I know the Museum is free, but it sounded like such a good idea to have a tour of the most important things (kind of like Art Buchwald's 6-Minute Louvre"

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ute-louvre.cfm

But now I can't find any mention of it again. Does this ring a bell to anyone?

CDTraveler

http://www.britishmuseum.org/visitin...and_talks.aspx

geo1005

Four day visit in October - YES by all means pre-order your Visitor Oyster card now so you will have it loaded and in hand upon arrival at LHR. After your overnight flight (assuming you are coming from the USA) you can depart the airport and head into the city on the Tube - Piccadilly Line.

For four days, I would recommend getting two 30BP Visitor Oyster cards - that will cover the two of you to/from LHR (Piccadilly Line) and then essentially unlimited trips within London proper (zones 1 and 2) on Tube and Bus. There is a daily cap of just under 7BP per day as long as you stay within zones 1 and 2 so the 30 BP should cover you.

Graciecatt

I am in the process of doing the math to figure out if getting a 7-day Travelcard (even though we will only be there for 4 days) that has the 241 offer included is better than getting an Oyster card.

Although if I decide on the Travelcard, I will still need an Oyster card to get me from Heathrow to St. Pancras since I can't buy a Travelcard at Heathrow (T5). How much would I put on the Oyster just to get us to St. Pancras/Kings Cross? I am not spending the $$$ for Heathrow Express.

We'll be seeing and traveling to attractions each day and a number of those we are interested in are on the 241 offer. Since the price of a 7-day Travelcard is less than 35GBP, which is the amount I would put on the Oyster card to start with anyway, the Travelcard might be the better idea.

Does this make sense? Have I read things properly?

The only issue is:

- I am unsure if I have to specify a particular date on which to use the 241 voucher or if I can just pre-download and print the vouchers I know we'll use at some point during our trip??? On the 241 website, you have to put in a date in order to print out the voucher. I don't want to tie us down ahead of time not knowing how things will play out.

CDTraveler

I did similar math before our trip, and there comes a point where the potential savings isn't worth the headache of the math, especially for a 4 day trip. We opted for ordering Oyster cards in advance and then had zero worries about getting around once we were there. I printed a bunch of 241 offers that could have been used with our rail passes, and ended up using only one because a) there is too much to do in London, and we were there for a week, not just 4 days, and b) everything you can imagine doing in London takes more time than you think it will. The city is crowded, the streets are congested, attractions are crowded, even in October. I've been there in January and things were crowded even then.

Unless you are absolutely, positively committed to doing things with the 241 offers, simply your life and get Oyster cards.

Graciecatt

How important is it to buy train tickets ahead of time? I'm on http://www.traingenius.com and their banner ad says to book ahead to ensure that tickets will be available and also that the price goes up on the day of travel.

We are only going to use the rail system instead of the Tube twice - once to go from Windsor and Eton Central one way into London Paddington and on another day from London Euston to Bletchley round trip.

I'll be happy to buy those tickets now if I need to. Should I just book on the http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/servic...journey/search site instead? Are there price differences on different rail websites?

Thank you!

:D!

All train operating companies on Great Britain sell each others' tickets for the same prices with no added fees (but sometimes train operating companies have special offers on their own fares). There are other websites selling tickets which add booking and/or credit card fees and you should not use them.

On these routes, only walk-up fares exist, so there is no advantage to buying in advance (unless you want to gamble on the USD to GBP exchange rate). You will need to collect your tickets at the station anyway so might as well buy at the station. You can also buy at the station ticket machines the evening before, or on any day from any staffed ticket office (check opening hours).

The price for Windsor&EC to London one-way is £10.10.

The price for London to Bletchley return is £16.20 if you depart from Euston later than 9.15am and return the same day. If you need to depart before 9.15am it is £37.40.

If you are not returning the same day, then it is £29.70 with the same outbound restriction plus you cannot arrive back into London before 10am. (If you need to arrive into London before 10am, then you must get 2 one-way tickets at £19.30 (though the outbound, if you depart Euston after 9.15am, could be £15.50... ))

Graciecatt

Thank you! Train fares have so many options! We will make a point of leaving later than 9:15 am. We will be back the same day - just going to tour Bletchley Park.

Graciecatt

What do the letters after London bus stops mean?

I'm plotting out the best way to get from place to place according to our planned itinerary. Sometimes a bus route is quicker and more direct. (Example - St. Dunstan-in-the-East to Covent Garden).

What do the letters mean after the bus stop name? Are there multiple bus stops in the same place and that's why they're designated with letters? How do you know you're in the right place?

Example - on the above-mentioned route, the stops are:

Monument (Stop J)

Cannon St Station (Stop MA)

St. Paul's Churchyard (Stop SH)

St. Paul's Cathedral (Stop SJ)

Etc. (there are more on this route).

Ldnn1

Yes, many locations have multiple bus stops so they are designated with letters. The letters are clearly shown on a red lollipop at the top of the bus stop sign, so you'll know you're in the right place. The streetview image here of Monument stop J shows what this looks like.

Citymapper - which is the app you should use when in London - pinpoints the location of each lettered bus stop on the interactive map.