LONDON - Monthly Tube And Bus Pass - 126 Pounds

The map of the London Underground is considered a work of art.
Find our Warwick Avenue Station on the brown line.

This is an Oyster card we had left from the 2012 Olympics.
We loaded the monthly fee on it at a card reader machine.

In London - the Tube and the Big Red Double Decker Buses - are the world standard of a great transportation system. Think New York City - but 100 times cleaner. The transportation system is one of the hallmarks of the Capital of the Free World.

Thanks to our generous gift from Delta Airlines - today we bought a monthly pass to ride all over London. For 126 pounds (1 pound = $1.30) - we can hop on and hop off any bus or subway. The Oyster is our key to freedom. When you get on the bus or go through the subway turnstile - the computer reads you card and gives you a green light. I am able to store my Oyster card in the slot on the back of my iPhone - I can use the card without removing it.

Each subway line is a different color. We live along the brown line - they call it the Bakerloo Line. Underground you can change from one line to another and keep going. On the surface - red buses go all over. Our favorite is to get in the front seat on the top of one of the new quiet hybrid buses. You can ride for hours and see so much. It is so quiet.

On Google Maps on our iPhone - you type in where you want to go. It will tell you what bus and/or subway to take. It will tell you exactly how long it will take to get there and how far it is. The blue line takes you all the way to the Heathrow Airport.

We just came back from the FSU center. We took the red line - then changed to the brown line underground at Oxford Circus. We were home in minutes. Our Warwick Avenue station is within sight of our front door.

One cash ride on the subway is 4.90 pounds - with an Oyster card is is 2.40 pounds. We paid 126 pounds for our monthly Oyster card. One day - I plan to take 53 rides on the subway - it would be worth 127 pounds - we would get our money's worth in one day :-)  That sounds like a pretty good story.