Before I begin: yes, I have spent some time looking through the archives,
but I'm just as confused as ever, if not more so!

I may be visiting London for a day trip early in the New Year. So I
looked at the TfL site and saw the new ticket prices from January onwards
(£4 single! Wow), and the sledgehammer "get an Oyster card now, you
pitiful fools!" stuff. But the point is this: when I visit London I
sometimes like to change my plans on the spur of the moment, I sometimes
get lost in the Tube, etc etc.

Something that I've always found incredibly convenient is having a ticket
- a one-day Travelcard being what I've always used before - that has
*unlimited* validity. I do *not* want a card that I either have to: a)
top up beforehand like a mobile phone; or that b) is only valid for a
limited number of journeys. As far as I can tell, that's what you get
with Oyster cards.

I do see that one-day Travelcards are continuing, albeit at a slightly
higher rate than Oyster fares, but what I can't tell is what I do with
them at stations. Are they still the National Rail-sized card tickets to
go in NR-style barriers, have they been changed to "touch in and out" in
an Oyster-style way (something I've never done, having not been to London
for several years), do I have to go to the side gate and show actual
staff, what?

Also, there seems to be an implication that paper Travelcards' days are
numbered. If that's so, then will there be no *unlimited-validity* day
tickets suitable for day trippers like me who don't want either a PAYG
system or an "account"? And will there be any way to have a ticket valid
on (nearly) *all* London National Rail services, as I see Oyster cards
are not. If not, why not?

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.