BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey guys,

I'm going to be in London for one month before my teaching pay kicks in. Any ideas how much money I'll need? I have about two weeks accommodation and can live fairly cheaply. Realistically will need food and one or two beers and transport a day. I don't know how much transport I'll need so thinking about just buying a one month pass for the tube or something. Any ideas anyone? Thanks.

Well a month pass for zones 1 and 2 is about £90 I think...so it depends on which Zone's you're going to be using...

If you can avoid Zone 1 it's much cheaper...for example, my Travelcard is a Zone 2-4 and it's £77 for the month.

As for food...if you live from Supermarkets and buy things cheaply like bread and cheese to make sandwiches then you CAN live quite cheaply.

A loaf of bread (which should last 3 or 4 days) will set you back about 60p. You can buy an enormous hunk of cheese for about £3 and then some butter for about £1.50 or Mayo for pretty much the same as butter.

As for drinking I'm afraid I can't help you there...I don't drink very often but I think a Pint is about £3???

I hope that helps a little...

It's much cheaper to travel by bus (1 quid with an oyster card), and they have dedicated traffic lanes, so you can get around reasonably quickly. The tube is much more expensive.

It's well worth getting an oyster card (3 quid refundable deposit plus what you charge it with, available from many news agents) as I think that it will automatically convert to the cheapest fare (e.g. a travel card or bus day pass) after you have made a certain number of journeys.

Eating out and going to pubs is expensive, but there are a number of cheap-ish buffet restaurants and small-style eateries as well as plenty of fried chicken joints. Health-wise, you'd be better off with food from supermarkets, though. The Wetherspoon chain of pubs has cheap food and drink offers.

[EDIT: I just realised that you'll be working during that month, so maybe you'll need a monthly travel card, but I think that many inner city commuters also use oyster cards nowadays. Not that oyster cards are not valid for most train journeys, and some parts of London can only be reached by train or bus. Where are you going to be based?]