Subject: IETF 101 travel tip

From: "John R. Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Jan 2018 18:46:13 -0500

If you're planning to go to IETF 101 in London, by far the fastest and 
easiest way to get from Heathrow to the Metropole is to take the Heathrow 
Express to Paddington in 15 minutes, then a 10 minute walk to the hotel or 
if you have too much baggage, a very short taxi trip.

The downside is that the HeX is absurdly overpriced, walk up price £27. 
But if you buy your tickets ahead it's a lot cheaper.  It's too late for 
the 90 day advance fares, but you can get 30 day advance for £8.80 if 
you'll be arriving Sat or Sun or £14.30 if you're arriving during the 
week.

Buy here with a credit card: https://www.heathrowexpress.com/

You can take the underground which is cheaper, but is much slower and 
requires a change at Hammersmith or Earl's Court.

R's,
John

PS: For people with a horror of public transportation I'd suggest an app 
called Gett which is like Uber except that it hails real licensed black 
cabs rather than random guys without insurance.  It's also like Uber in 
that they run at a loss and often pay the driver more than they charge 
you.

PPS: If you want to go to the theatre, you might want to check those 
tickets too.  Hamilton is hopeless, sold out in January, but there's lots 
of other shows.

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From: "Andrew G. Malis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 09:20:26 -0500

John,

In London, I’ve also used the myTaxi app to get a black cab. I have no idea
which is better, perhaps locals can help?

Cheers,
Andy

On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 6:46 PM, John R. Levine <[email-masked]> wrote:

> you'll be arriving Sat or Sun or £14.30 if you're arriving during the week.
>
> that they run at a loss and often pay the driver more than they charge you.
>

---

From: "John R. Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Jan 2018 12:15:09 -0500

> which is better, perhaps locals can help?

The taxi drivers I talked to said they used Gett and Hailo, which seem 
pretty much indistinguishable.

For the most part, it's faster and easier to use your Oyster card on the 
underground or a bus, but taxis are useful if you have trouble walking or 
have a lot of stuff.

Regards,
John Levine, [email-masked], Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

---

From: Bob Hinden <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 09:32:33 -0800

Hi,

When I was in  London in October I found by using the map app on my
phone (Apple in my case), it was easy to use the bus system.  After
entering your destination, it tells you where the nearest bus stop is,
the bus number to get on, where to change, and importantly where to
get off.  It was nice getting to see London from the bus, vs being in
the underground.

Bob

---

From: Christian de Larrinaga <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 17:59:53 +0000

You can use an Oyster card with buses, as on the tube (underground) and
for travel outside London.
Details at

https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do
https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/

recommended.

Christian

-- 
Christian de Larrinaga
@ FirstHand
-------------------------
+44 7989 386778
[email-masked]

---

From: Dave Cridland <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 18:20:31 +0000

> for travel outside London.

So I don't think you need an Oyster card anymore - if you have Apple
Pay or Android Pay, or an NFC bank card, it should work fine.
Certainly that's what I use around the tube these days.

---

From: Jeff Tantsura <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 10:34:52 -0800

Last time I visited, beginning of December, Uber still worked, how about now?

Thanks!

Regards,
Jeff

On Jan 21, 2018, at 09:15, John R. Levine <[email-masked]> wrote:

> The taxi drivers I talked to said they used Gett and Hailo, which seem pretty much indistinguishable.
> 
> For the most part, it's faster and easier to use your Oyster card on the underground or a bus, but taxis are useful if you have trouble walking or have a lot of stuff.
> 
> Regards,

---

From: "John R. Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Jan 2018 13:41:32 -0500

> Certainly that's what I use around the tube these days.

Dave is right.  I have used my US issued Amex card on the tube and it 
worked impressively well.  They charged me once a day for the total of my 
trips on that day.

Be sure your card has a contactless chip since most US cards don't.  The 
logo is a set of concentric arcs, sort of like a simplified wifi logo.

R's,
John

PS: On the other hand, if you are an auld pharte with a Senior Railcard, 
you can only tie that to a physical Oyster card, not a credit or debit 
card.

---

From: "John R. Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Jan 2018 13:45:24 -0500

> Last time I visited, beginning of December, Uber still worked, how about now?

Uber lost its license to operate in October, but is operating semi-legally 
while they appeal.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uber-still-working-in-london-is-ban-uk-england-legal-transport-not-down-night-bus-a7998436.html

But if it's OK with you that your driver is likely breaking the law and 
doesn't have insurance, sure, go ahead.  Otherwise, check out Gett and 
Hailo.

R's,
John

---

From: Tim Chown <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 18:56:55 +0000

> On 21 Jan 2018, at 18:34, Jeff Tantsura <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 

As an experiment, I tried using Uber in December, and after 3-4 cars just vanished after being assigned to me, I gave up.  Looks best to avoid.

You can indeed use credit cards to get on/off the tube to pay-as-you-go.  I'd assume if you card lets you through the barrier then it's ok :)

There's also a nice app called Moovit that is an alternative to Google Maps for directions.

Take a look at https://tfl.gov.uk/, for tube maps, London travel statuses, etc.  Note that the tube map is abstract; it's often faster to walk than go into the bowels of the tube, along, and up out again.

For trains check out http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

Tim

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From: Ross Finlayson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 08:01:29 +1300

For the benefit of the many of us who will *not* be traveling to London - could you please move this discussion to the IETF 101 ‘attendees’ mailing list.

	Ross.

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From: "Andrew G. Malis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 14:02:15 -0500

John,

Hailo is now myTaxi, see
http://www.cityam.com/260771/hailo-merges-daimler-owned-mytaxi-take-uber-london
(and elsewhere).

Cheers,
Andy

On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 1:45 PM, John R. Levine <[email-masked]> wrote:

> https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uber-still-
> working-in-london-is-ban-uk-england-legal-transport-not-down
> -night-bus-a7998436.html
>

---

From: Ole Jacobsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 11:25:52 -1000

Apple Pay or any contactless card is fine, but will usually incur foreign transaction fees unless it is linked to a UK bank.

Ole J. Jacobsen
Editor & Publisher
The Internet Protocol Journal
Cell: +1 415 370-4628
T-Mobile: +1 415 889-9821
http://protocoljournal.org

Sent from my iPhone

> On 21 Jan 2018, at 08:20, Dave Cridland <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

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From: Shigeya Suzuki <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 07:37:17 +0900

Ole,

Since you're an expert on this.. :)

Do you think a Japanese localized AppleWatch or a Japanese localized
iPhone with a Japanse credit card work in this context? (I will use
iPhone 7 plus  or Apple Watch 3)
I always have doubt to use ApplePay while I'm traveling outside Japan.
Thus I will bring my oyster card anyway...
shigeya

On Mon, Jan 22, 2018, at 06:25, Ole Jacobsen wrote:
> Apple Pay or any contactless card is fine, but will usually incur
> foreign transaction fees unless it is linked to a UK bank.> 
> Ole J. Jacobsen
> Editor & Publisher
>>> You can use an Oyster card with buses, as on the tube (underground)
>>> and for travel outside London.>> 
>> So I don't think you need an Oyster card anymore - if you have Apple>> Pay or Android Pay, or an NFC bank card, it should work fine.
>>>> entering your destination, it tells you where the nearest bus stop
>>>> is, the bus number to get on, where to change, and importantly
>>>> where to get off.  It was nice getting to see London from the bus,
>>>> vs being in the underground.
>>>>
>>>> Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> In London, I’ve also used the myTaxi app to get a black cab. I
>>>>>> have no idea which is better, perhaps locals can help?
>>>>> For the most part, it's faster and easier to use your Oyster card
>>>>> on the underground or a bus, but taxis are useful if you have
>>>>> trouble walking or have a lot of stuff.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards, John Levine, [email-masked], Primary Perpetrator of "The
>>>>> Internet for Dummies", Please consider the environment before
>>>>> reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Christian de Larrinaga @ FirstHand
>>> +44 7989 386778 [email-masked]
>>>>>

---

From: "John R. Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Jan 2018 21:32:13 -0500

> I always have doubt to use ApplePay while I'm traveling outside Japan.

It entirely depends on your bank.  My US banks' cards work fine in the UK 
via Android Pay.

> Thus I will bring my oyster card anyway...

That's certainly safer.

Regards,

---

From: Tony Finch <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 12:30:08 +0000

There's a third alternative, Heathrow Connect, which also goes direct to
Paddington but is cheaper and slower than the Heathrow Express.
https://www.heathrowconnect.com/tickets

(Do they still have the infuriating TVs on the HeX? If so the Connect has
the benefit of being much more peaceful.)

Tony.
-- 
f.anthony.n.finch  <[email-masked]>  http://dotat.at/  -  I xn--zr8h punycode
Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides: West or southwest 6 to gale 8. Rough or
very rough, occasionally high. Occasional rain or showers, squally later.
Good, occasionally poor.

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From: Mary B <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 09:01:23 -0600

I used to use the Heathrow Connect, but if you buy the tickets for Heathrow
express early as John suggests, the Heathrow express the price is the same
or less.  But, you'll need travel dates to do that.  If you're traveling
with family, another reason I would use the Heathrow connect is that it
used to be that you had to pay for kids on the Heathrow express, but under
15 are now free.