On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:05:26 -0000, peter wrote:

Thanks for all the info. Getting a PAYG card with £20 on it, may be the
way
to go as you correctly say it will cost me under £22 (yes it does include
postage), and I will be able to avoid the queues. (and no curency
exchange
cost as I will pay in AUD) Then at a quiet time, after a couple of days I
could find a machine and add a 7 day travel card to the oyster. Can you
specify the start date from the machine, say tomorrow?

I believe that is possible. It certainly is if you buy from a human so I
can't see why not.
You should also be relieved to know that, in my experience, the LU staff
are very helpfull and are more than willing to guide customers through the
top-up proccess at the ticket machines. There should be plenty of staff
hanging around at the Waterloo underground stations. The machines can seem
a bit confusing to a newbie but step by step instructions appear
on-screen. Make sure you touch your card to the machine reader at the
start AND the end of the transaction and confirm it has been updated.

Enjoy your visit.

--
Fig