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* Get yourself an Oyster Card - you can get one from the tube stations at Heathrow Airport and are valid on most public transport in London including all Underground (tube) trains, all local (red) buses in London, some "overground" (i.e. not tube) trains (from 2nd Jan 2010 almost all trains in London will take it) and some river-boat services (the river boats are not cheap but can be a great way to see the sights along the river). You have to pay a £3 deposit plus whatever credit you'll want to start with, but you can get that back plus any unused credit by surrending the card at a tube station when you leave.

* If you're flying into Heathrow and you don't have too much luggage, then the tube to central London is by far the cheapest option. There are also two "overground" rail services, the non-stop Heathrow Express (15 mins to central London) and the stops-at-local-stations Heathrow Connect (25 mins to central London). Both are rather more expensive than the tube, the Express especially so, and neither take Oyster. There used to be an Airbus services from Heathrow to central London but that stopped a few years ago. National Express run some coach (long distance bus) services to/from central London that call at Heathrow but they will be the slowest option and you may need to book your tickets in advance.

* If flying in to Gatwick, then your best choice is rail to London. There are two services: Gatwick Express is a bit more expensive but faster and has more luggage space. Southern is likely to be a bit cheaper and not quite as fast. Be aware that although the two services are run by the same company, tickets on one may not be valid on the other. Neither will take Oyster as Gatwick is well outside the city boundary of Greater London. In the unlikey event you fly into Stansted (which doesn't have many flights to/from North America) then the same applies to the Stansted Express rail link. There are cheapish coach links from Gatwick and Stansted but they will be a lot slower.

* Wherever you fly into, DON'T take a taxi into London unless you really need to and have LOTS of money! Having said that, if you're not sure how to get to a particular place, London cabbies have to spend several years learning "The Knowledge" and will always be able to get you to where you want to go, for a price.

* I second the motion to go to Bletchley Park. This is outside of London but only about 45 minutes from Euston railway terminus by train. It is an absolute must see for any geek: not only does it have working replicas of the Turing "Bombe" and Colossus machines, but it has subsidiary museums on site of computing and other technology.

* Amberley Chalk Pits museum in Sussex might be of interest to you too, with displays of agricultural and industrial technology, transport and communications (TV and radio museums). It's about an hour and a half from Victoria railway terminus.

* If you're interested in transport, then the London Transport museum at Covent Garden in the centre of London is a must see.

* If you do travel outside of London by train, then unless you're going long distance (more than a couple of hours from London) you won't need t

I was in Amsterdam for the Sellaband New Year Concert and had a bunch of change from previous European trips (mostly Spain as it 'appens). I was in a coffee shop (actually buying coffee!) and picked out ten 1 eurocent coins as part of the payment. The chap behind the counter took the change and threw it in the bin saying that people just throw them away (other customers all nodding in agreement). So, unasked, I obviously offered him a 10 eurocent coin in replacement and he wouldn't take it! Man the Dutch are nice people. I pretty much had to force him to take an extra large tip!

I just throw the suckers away now too, and they are a lot smaller than the US 1 cent coin too. It does seem silly, but perhaps in London we might get over the whole change issue when the Oyster card stuff is rolled to shops and cafes for transactions under 10 UKP.

London's is called Oyster, for those who are interested.

RFID cards may not need batteries, but their range can decrease over time.
My Oyster Card for the London Underground used to function fine when hidden in my wallet, but now it needs to be forced into the reader uncovered for it to work. I guess the aerial inside has broken a bit.

In London all the underground trains only have a driver, and all works pretty well. The doors open and close by themselves, other passengers will scream at you if you try to hold the doors open (not to mention that they are REALLY strong doors). The train automatically does the announcements without the need for a conductor and you can see when your next train is coming by looking at the electronic boards which show the time tot he next train and it's destination.
The DLR line even has driverless trains all computer controlled, it is great fun to sit in the front of the train where the driver normally would be and look out of the windscreen.

Things dont need to be that complex though, when I lived in Brussels the Metro there just had a map of the line hanging from the celing with little LED's along the route, they showed where the trains were so you could guess how long you would have to wait.

You want oyster cards next, now they really do rock....

You know, legally, as in the credit card contract that YOU signed, you can't do that.

Your signature on the back of the card is meant to match what's on your driver's license, or valid ID. Nothing else. "See ID" is not okay!

I used to work at Nordstrom, where we DO check the signatures, we DO ask for ID (When it says See ID, even though....), but yet we DO offer good customer service. I've had several customers thank me for checking their ID, and only one REALLY freak out (she was crazy anyway).

Also, the under $25 is in action right now. California state law says that you don't need to sign for transactions under $25 (or maybe $20, I'm unsure). I learnt this while I was working at Starbucks, and you should notice that they rarely ask you for your signature.

Personally, I like the touchless system - On the london underground they have something similar, called Oyster, (www.oystercard.com) which works just fine, is pre pay, and honestly, because I rarely have to even take it out of my wallet, I am faster through the gates, don't have to buy a ticket, don't use any paper, can't lose the ticket (without losing my wallet at least) and use the underground easier, since I never have to worry about having change.

The cryptography will keep it secure, merchant IDs will prosecute phishers, and still Credit Card companies will protect you from fraud.

What are you all worried about?

You mean like an Oyster card?

Don't forget to add the "oyster" cards used on London transport to the sevalance net. All have a unique IDs in them and the data is retained for 5 years. Every time you get on a bus, train or on or off a tube the date and place is record, to make people use them the are increasing the price of single tickets relative to "Oyster" prepay and of course you need to give a name and address to get one of those cards.

You are forgetting one thing...oyster cards are transferrable if they are pre-pay only (and season tickets aren't transferrable for the usual reasons). See here:

Registered or unregistered, all Oyster cards with Pre Pay only are transferable and can be used by any other adult that you want to give the card to. Where you have both a valid season ticket and Pre Pay on the same card, you cannot lend the card to another person for their use.

-- Pete.

Very true. Currently, you rarely (if ever) get asked to show ID in the UK. However, if they combine these ID cards with your travel pass, then they get the ability to hook into a swiping activity that most of us who commute into London currently do several times every day without thinking. The oyster-card that most of us are already carrying could very easily be replaced with the new ID card. Then, hey-presto, you've gained the ability to track a large proportion of the non-driving population of London. Of-course, it would be easy to by-pass those checks by not using public transport, or by jumping over the barriers (*so* many stations are poorly supervised by staff), so those who seek *not* to be tracked will simply travel by different means or find new tricks. Road blocks or road-side swipe points are the only way to force people to carry and use these cards, and I think they would create too much of a sense of a police state to go down well with the public, whether we're living with the threat of terrorism or not. And, of-course, who's going to stop people swiping their friend's card instead of their own. Unless you confirm bio-metric data at every swipe point, are they really going to be certain that the person carrying the card is the person to whom it was issued?

London's heading that way: they now have the Oyster Card system that uses a wireless smart card. (Not RFID alone, the card actually holds more detail.) The online & offline forms for getting one of those ask for all kinds of unique personal information, which gets checked, so they can tie your address and identity to the card. After that, every time you use the card at a tube station, that info is logged and can be made available to the police "if required by law" (buried in the terms & conditions). In short, they can get full details of where you've been for the asking. Oh, and they also make the information available to third parties for "marketing and research purposes". I'm just waiting for someone to say "if you're innocent, you have nothing to fear"..!

Actually they are already live (going under the name of Oyster). Presently you can only get them online here.

I read that they're going to be available from the ticket windows etc... in about a months time.