On Fri, 07 May 2004 01:51:39 -0400, "S. Sen"
wrote:

Hi,

My wife and I will be travelling to London from Philadelphia and plan to
make extensive use of the public transportation system while there. We
will be there for 7 days. We will be staying at Leatherhead, Surrey
which I understand is Zone 6. Thus, we would be coming into the city
proper each day and going back fairly late in the evening.


Leatherhead is outside the travelcard area so isn't in any zone. If
you get an ordinary zone 1-6 card then you will need to buy, in
addition, individual return tickets (round-trip in American
terminology) from Leatherhead to the outside of zone 6 every day. Go
to the station at Leatherhead in the morning, show them your
travelcard, and ask for a return to the outside of zone 6.

I would be most grateful if anyone would answer these questions for us...

1. What kind of pass should we get? After scouting around, it seems it
is the weekly travelcard allowing travel across all 6 zones?
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...s-period.shtml



You should be able to get a ticket which is both a one-week 6-zone
card and also a season ticket from Leatherhad, and should be able to
buy this from a national rail (not London Underground) ticket office

2. If the above is true, how do I get a 'photocard', as the site
mentioned above says we need for a weekly travelcard? It is too late for
me to get a visitor travelcard mailed to us - we are leaving in 24
hours. Is one issued on the spot? Can non UK residents get it? Is there
a office at Heathrow issuing such photocards and travelcards?


For a photocard, just turn up with a passport photo and one will be
issued on the spot. If you don't have a spare passport photo, many
underground stations including those Heathrow have machines that will
take one. There's no problem getting one as a non-UK resident.

3. If weekly travelcard is not an option, what is our best bet?



I think given your imminent departure a weekly card issued in London
is probably best

4. Is public transportation fairly safe? Late in the evening?


Yes

Martin