On 30 December 2025, I did the “Christmas Parks Challenge”, which is an annual challenge of visiting all the park stations on the London Underground network, 24 parks in total. The rules of the challenge are follows: Before doing this challenge, the only kind of transport challenge I had done was the Random 15 challenge, in which I am a regular participant. It is a challenge where everyone departs together in form of a mass start, and the stations to…
National Rail will change the rules for train ticket refunds for tickets purchased on or after 1 April 2026, which will result in a loss of refundability on flexible tickets on or after the validity start. The change Under the current rules, an unused flexible ticket (Anytime, Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak) can be refunded up to 28 days after its validity ends, subject to an administration fee of at most £5. If the ticket is partially used, the difference between…
After a five-year hiatus from diving, I embarked on a transformative trip to the Maldives. Experiencing challenges and camaraderie, I reconnected with their passion for the sea. Despite not reaching my depth goal, the journey reawakens my “waterman” spirit, leading to a desire for future explorations, particularly to Gibraltar.
A year has ended and it is time to me to review what I have achieved in the year. Last year’s resolution Here is a direct quote of last year’s post: Among these 4 items, I have done only one of them, the English Channel relay swim. I pulled out from my home purchase after finding a flat because there was an unresolvable issue on the ground rent from the mortgage provider, and I lost my job while in the…
Update 3 March: the contactless expansion will be introduced on 8 March. Due to how the fares are set up, as explained in this article, significant split ticketing opportunities are available to undercut the through fare or contactless fare between Stansted Airport and the city. Most Stansted Express trains call at Bishops Stortford which can be used as a split point, apart from a few early morning / late night trains. You are advised to buy e-tickets immediately before travel…
A high profile class-action lawsuit, the Boundary Fares claim, has been dismissed by the court. The class representative alleged that Southeastern, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR, trading as Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern) and SWR had an abuse of dominance position by failing to make Boundary Fares sufficiently available and/or to take reasonable steps to make customers purchasing tickets aware of Boundary Fares. The case was decided against the claimant’s favour, but it highlighted a few key points for…
The beginning – simple, zone-based fares When the Oyster Card was rolled out in London, it was designed to always give the best value fares. Oyster cards can operate in two ways – as a holder for Travelcards, or as a holder for PAYG credits. A Travelcard is a prepaid ticket, valid on most public transport in London, including National Rail services. Without a Travelcard valid for the journey, PAYG credits are deducted for travel instead. When used in PAYG…
I swam from Penarth to Clevedon on 5 September in 6 hours and 7 minutes, my second channel swim in the UK. Motivation I felt so bad in my English Channel swim. It was well beyond my ability at that time. I didn’t think of anything else and was hoping to get better in competitive swimming first, as good channel swimmers are all high level competitive swimmers. However, I started getting jealous seeing my friends swim more channels, like Wen…
I participated in the Dock2Dock event the 3rd consecutive year, which is the 10th anniversary of the event. There was a 20 km event on this year, which was the first time this ultra-marathon distance was available. This year I decided to do the 10 km because I felt it was too much for me last year, and hoped that I could get a better result. Apart from me, I also got a few friends doing it as well: Ingrid…
In London, although National Rail and London Underground are separate transport networks, it is possible to buy a ticket for travel for single or return journeys on the other network, including tickets for journeys involving both networks. If your journey starts at a National Rail station outside the London fare zones 1-6 and ends at an Underground station (or vice versa), it is usually (but not always) cheaper to buy a ticket for the National Rail portion and use Oyster…