London

Getting About

Getting about in London - hmmm. Whose big idea was it to get me to write a piece on this? If you live in London and are a student then you will find that, within reason, by foot is the best way to get around. But if you're lazy, or like me, you're too used to your armchair to walk, you have numerous other options.

Underground: The tube is the most used method of public transport in the city. The only problem is that it's smelly, scabby, full of bloody buskers, expensive, full of bloody tourists, always late, full of bloody tourists and buskers and always jam-packed. Other than that, it's a perfect way to get around. A Zone 1 trip, whether it be from Earl's Court to King's Cross (about 5 miles) or from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square (about 5 meters) costs the same bog standard £1.50 single. A return is double (obviously).

The best option, if you're going to be going around town on more than one return trip, is to get a Zone 1 & 2 travelcard, which cost about £3.60 or something, but which you can use on the tube or on the bus, or the train. Which is nice. The main problem is that there are frequent delays due to bomb scares, suicides (not very nice to see), or flooding or track problems, so you can often get stuck on the train or on the platform for a considerable length of time. Signal Failure is the most used excuse from London Transport.

Despite all it's faults, the Underground remains the most effective way of getting about, and, if you avoid it at rush hour in the summer, it can actually be quite a pleasant and quick trip.

Buses: If you have a travel-card, whether it be yearly, monthly (which is actually worth it) or daily, you can use the card on the buses as well as the tube. There are loads of buses in town and in the area, I don't know how many exactly, but just enough for there to be two go past once you've decided to walk.

You can get from anywhere to anywhere else using only two buses in theory, and although it's cheap with the new flat rates of £1 in Zone 1, and 70p in any other zone, it can take a while to get where you want to go. Tubes are somewhat faster. Give up on trying to take a bus down Oxford Street, Regent's Street, or in fact anywhere in Zone 1, because it is definitely quicker to walk. But if you live out of the centre, or not near a tube station, the bus is a very good way to get around.

Train: Again, if you've got a travelcard for the respective Zone, you can use the train. Particularly useful if you live slightly out of town in the Home Counties. There is a rarely used train called the Silverlink that goes from Richmond in the South-West to Woolwich in the East via North London. Cheap, regular and often empty, and definitely a smart way to get around.

There are lots of main hubs or terminals or whatever they're called in the centre, Euston, KX-St.P (King's Cross), Paddington, Marylebone, Liverpool Street, Farringdon, Moorgate, Waterloo, Victoria and Charing Cross and the rest. If you live in East London you've now got the benefit of the DLR and the new Jubilee Line, which shorten your trip considerably.

Car: Forget it. Get a moped or a Bike. But watch out for nutter cabbies.

Air: London has lots of airports - Heathrow (South-West), Gatwick (South), Luton (North), Stanstead (also North) and City (City - East). The last three are the cheapest and are good to get to. If you're going for a quick jaunt into Europe, you can get good cheap flights and train tickets to the airports. Only go to Heathrow for Intercontinental travel, only go to Gatwick if you're a package holiday-maker.

Boat: Without a shadow of a doubt, the most amusing and relaxing way to get to Uni in the morning is to take the river. Boats leave from Richmond and beyond and go into the City via a few stops every morning at various hours, and are faster than taking the car, and underused which means that you won't get the sweaty armpit in the head like the tube. But much more worth it in the summer.