-
The 60+ card looks good https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard
More than a little annoying when your local station is within zone 6, but you live a mile outside the London boundary and so aren’t eligible.
I can see how that’s annoying.
Presumably you’re not living within one of the London council boroughs? Afaik they fund it together with City of London, whereas the council for your area doesn’t pay anything. Even if they allowed councils ‘on the edge’ the option to pay to opt in, I suspect their more remote rate payers would complain.
I’ve had the 60+ one a few years now, don’t use it often but it’s handy to have, just wish our glorious mayor hadn’t stopped it giving free travel before 0900 weekdays.
If you use national rail, there’s a discount card for that too: https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/ never bothered to get one as business is either in London or outside UK, but I did a couple of surprise business trips in UK by rail last year and would’ve recouped the three-year price on the first trip.
If I had been waiting that long for an inheritance to pay off a mortgage etc when I was 61, then I would not have been doing things right with my life. So the kids shouldn’t be hanging on hoping for a massive inheritance. So I no fears about blowing their cash.
Kids can’t “hang on waiting” for an inheritance, and they are not due one *by right*.
But nevertheless, the enormous sums held in investment gains – especially on property – by the older generations represent a tax on the young.
I’m not saying this is your or the OP’s situation, but I couldn’t jet off around the world in J on my investment gains while my children had both partners working 40 hours a week to pay a crushing mortgage on a poky hole.
The 60+ card looks good https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard
More than a little annoying when your local station is within zone 6, but you live a mile outside the London boundary and so aren’t eligible.
I can see how that’s annoying.
Presumably you’re not living within one of the London council boroughs? Afaik they fund it together with City of London, whereas the council for your area doesn’t pay anything. Even if they allowed councils ‘on the edge’ the option to pay to opt in, I suspect their more remote rate payers would complain.
I’ve had the 60+ one a few years now, don’t use it often but it’s handy to have, just wish our glorious mayor hadn’t stopped it giving free travel before 0900 weekdays.
If you use national rail, there’s a discount card for that too: https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/ never bothered to get one as business is either in London or outside UK, but I did a couple of surprise business trips in UK by rail last year and would’ve recouped the three-year price on the first trip.
Not a London borough, though we are so near we changed the cars for electric, OHs would have fallen foul of the ULEZ zone.
We have Red London buses and a train station in zone 6, but are outside the boroughs. The senior rail card doesn’t become cost effective as there is a minimum fare on one day travel cards into London.Very interesting thread. I’ve just now fully retired at 58 having spent the last 12 years working as an interim manager so have been able to pick my contracts and have worked on average 6-8 months a year so full retirement is not such a big change. I got into interim management having been made redundant after 30 years commuting into The City – the one massive travel opportunity that gave me though was being able to take a 6 month sabbatical to do a RTW trip. With hindsight redundancy worked out to be the best thing ever as I’ve since worked for some great companies and met some very interesting and inspiring people. I’m now looking at voluntary work to keep some structure to my weeks – good point made previously about keeping in touch with younger people.
In terms of travel we have 2 BAPP cards (for the 241 vouchers), Amex Plat (for the opportunity to earn transferable points and for the benefits. I’ll only retain if I can still make cover the annual fee), Virgin free card for non-Amex spend, the voucher and Euro spend, Chase debit card for non-Euro overseas spend. I’ve never been a fan of churning so will probably keep these cards going forward.
We don’t earn enough Avios naturally to make full use of the 241 vouchers so I use the subscription option to keep our balance topped up to make the long-haul redemptions we want.
A very similar experience to me. I retired 18 months ago at 56, following a ‘redundancy’ a few years earlier when I became a freelance IT Manager/Consultant. Going freelance, with very low overheads, allowed me to push a lot of cash into pensions which, following both professional and personal advice, allowed myself and wife to retire. Two BAPP, a Virgin plus and Amex Plat. I keep a spreadsheet to ensure all are value for money. Unlikely to churn any for a while, as proof of income a bit trickier now, but have ‘threatened’ cancellation to get renewal bonuses. A subscription gives us the volume of Avios to make best use of the vouchers. I’ve got over 1.5p per Avios value for Lees than 1p per Avios spent. Planning on buying loads of Avios soon via boost and continuing subscription to fund a round the world trip using the partner reward chart, focusing on the Pacific. I worked out I would save approx £8k on business class fares that way. Anyone know how to get to Tahiti on Oneworld? I also use IHG a fair amount but only get 2 or 3 n8ghts free a year. Using BA shopping on VRBO, Airbnb and Booking.com has proved very lucrative. I’ve heard from so many people that they’re busier now thsn when working and could have retired earlier. I can’t imagine working now, I’m way too busy with family, friends (mostly retired), hobbies and travel. My hobbies (football and tennis mainly) keep me very connected with younger generations.
I think Qantas and Fiji Airways may be your best bet for getting as near as possible on OW.
I started taking more A levels to keep my brain active and as mentioned deliver tutoring programs in state schools which keeps me connected to young people – as does being the parent of an 18-year-old!
OH does 3 days per week working on IT projects but can work remotely so it doesn’t interfere too much with travelling!
We currently hold between us a BAPP, Virgin MC, Barclays avios MC and HH Visa, which give us plenty of points. OH’s main (i.e. most expensive!) hobby is scuba diving so we’re hoping to visit some new diving destinations now we have more flexibility to travel – Mexico Pacific later this year, then hopefully further afield – Singapore/Shanghai then on to the South Pacific would be amazing. There’s also a whole host of cities we haven’t visited yet, or would like to re-visit. Adding a city break on to the start or end of a longer trip is always fun and a cost-effective way to take advantage of ex-UK pricing!
Interesting discussion. I am hoping to retire by summer 26 at latest to travel more! I emptied my Avios account in summer 19 for 2 of us to go F return to Chile on the old 241. Now that was a redemption! I’m back up to c270,000 points and wondering what to do re cards. I have both free Barclaycard and Amex and spend enough for Barclays voucher but used it for extra avios. Being in the NW there’s limited use of voucher plus 241 limited to economy. Thinking of ditching Amex and then wait 2 years and apply for paid for Amex before I retire and can show income. Hopefully get a sign up bonus then who knows? I can then get a 241 for use in business. Thoughts on this? I know I could do better with paid cards now but for various reasons travel has been restricted over the last few years ignoring the obvious so have not really been focusing on maximising points generation ( me bad!)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
