The Tube

A City in size and population, you will be surprised that the traffic in London is not that congested as compared to Kuala Lumpur . Why? The London Tube , of course.

It is an expensive affair to drive in London and worst still is when you have to engage a cab. But the Londoners are lucky to have such an efficient tube connection and the Oyster Card is the saving star. Get it if you are in London for at least a week and enjoy the benefits of limitless times of the use of the tube to get you from one end to the other. Sara got the sisters and her parents a card each and it was a good plan.

Arriving at a date earlier than the parents, the girls commuted between Reading and London via the tube which saved them quite a bit.

But if you are in with the mad morning rush, be prepared for quite a nightmare. People trudged around like robots and all they wanted was to get to their destination as charted by the system. Step to your right on the escalator if you are not in a rush to allow others who have more urgent appointments. The tube during the mad rush is not meant for the weak in physique and spirit.

On one occasion I saw a young lad having to put up with pain when the door slammed at his head; poor thing.

You are lucky to get a seat during the peak hours; sardine-packed.

The oyster card also allows you to pop into any coach along the routes of your choice. So while in Oxford Street, Sara and us hopped in and out of the coaches...it was fun; especially so when all you have to do is to swipe the card and not 'pay'. Otherwise if without the card, it will be quite a hefty sum.




Many things are nice in London; the food, shopping, buildings. friends and universities. There is one thing however that is not so nice here. If Malaysia has been frowned because of snatch-theft; guess what London is guilty of? What were we looking for?



Yes the direction that would lead us to the nearest police station. Our trip was marred by a little incident; pick pocketed ! Grace after meeting a Singapore friend walked back to the apartment not realizing that the wallet had left the handbag. It was a subtle move and quite professionally handled.




It was mandatory that a police report be made because all her essential cards went missing too ! So you can imagine the amount of trouble she had to go through to get the cards back. Strange that there was a huge urgency before the trip within me to get some insurance policies for the family. So we managed to file some claims and though it did not cover the total loss, the insurance company made a payment worth claiming.

The Tube
The Oyster Card
Pick Pockets

Remember them when in London.