了解倫敦交通 無難度!

英國的鐵路四通八達,今次主要說說倫敦,倫敦的鐵路圖非常複雜,包含了Tube (地鐵)、DLR、London Overground、TfL Rail和National Rail服務。如果要您現在找出其中一個站,都真的很考眼力!

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Source from: TfL

倫敦鐵路以一環一環劃分為九個區域 Zone 1 至 Zone 9 , 總共15條線路,大部分主要景點在Zone 1 和 Zone 2 之內。

我自己以Piccadilly Circus為中心,通常去酒店接朋友、China Town吃飯、Theater看表演、找個好地方開會、去Private Club見朋友,都在這個車站的範圍內。

Piccadilly Circus

一般來說車程橫跨越多區域,車費亦越貴,建議大家到達倫敦機場時先購買一張Oyster Card,鐵路及巴士都能用,它就像香港的八達通,讓你之後便暢行無阻。

Oyster Card 怎麼操作

大家購買Oyster Card時會被收取£5 deposit,這£5在持卡後一年才自動退回卡中,所以來英國短期逗留又不想付£5的人可考慮用Contactless (銀行卡、電子錢包) 付款,不過海外銀行卡會被加收手續費 (請向你的發卡銀行查詢) 和匯差,大家可自行衡量那個較便宜。

Contactless 跟Oyster Card 用法相同,更省去增值的麻煩。總括付款方式如下:

  1. Contactless 銀行卡
    銀行卡上有這個contactless符號,便能直接使用                               
  2. 電子錢包
    • Apple Pay
    • Fitbit Pay
    • Google Pay
    • Samsung Pay
  3. Oyster Card
  4. 以現金購買單程車票 (價錢比其他付款方式貴2-3倍,除非您只逗留兩三天,否則不建議。)

記得入站出站要使用同一付款方法,否則機器無法辨識,會重複收費。

如果一天裡多次乘搭,Oyster Card和Contactless Card 都自動設置了每天收費上限的功能,Contactless 更設每星期上限。而每天上下班都需要搭鐵路的人,則可考慮購買Travel Card月票或年票,享受更高的優惠。

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以上比較Pay as you go (單程票、Contactless)和Travelcards (周票、月票或年票)的費用

票價根據Zone、距離、時段而有所不同。

繁忙時段: 週一至週五 06:30至09:3016:00至19:00
非繁忙時段: 所有以上的其他時間、週末及公眾假期及 週一至週五16:00至19:00從1區以外的車站前往1區的車站

例子1: 坐Tube由Oxford Circus (Zone 1)到Canary Wharf (Zone 2)

Contactless / Oyster Card繁忙時段: £2.90 / 非繁忙時段: £2.40
現金所有時段: £4.90

例子2: 坐Tube由Heathrow Airport (Zone 6)到Covent Garden (Zone 1)

Contactless / Oyster Card繁忙時段: £5.10 / 非繁忙時段: £3.10
現金所有時段: £6.00

倫敦巴士

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(按這裡下載倫敦Bus Map)

巴士只接受用Oyster卡或Contactless付款,不可以現金支付,亦沒有售票機,票價劃一收費£1.5,每日車費上限為£4.5,換言之您付£4.5就能一天內無限次乘撘巴士。

詳細的收費可按以下連結查詢:

用Contactless付款最方便,不用選區,不用充值,而且比單程票便宜,會自動計算每日的車資上限,但記得倫敦巴士的車資上限與Tube是分開計算的喔!

最後介紹大家一個非常實用的App:

只需輸入出發地點和目的地,Citymapper便會提供各種可行途徑,只要點擊其中一項,便會清楚顯示路線、轉車站、費用、時間和下一班次,您亦可選擇指定出發或到達時間。

Tube裡信號不好,記得進車站之前就搜索好喔!

英國物價 之 超市篇

waitrose
高級超市
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大眾超市
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網上超市
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英國有高級和大眾超市,大部分都設有送貨服務,足不出戶都可以享用新鮮食品。而中高階層是高級超市的主要目標客戶,價格相對較高,但品質有保證,被譽為英國中產階級指標,大家也認為那裡有Waitrose,那裡就是商業區和高尚住宅區。

如果喜歡網上購物的朋友,不妨成為Amazon Prime的會員,每月£7.99 或每年£79,不但可享用Amazon Fresh超市即日送貨,以及數百萬種商品的翌日免運費送貨服務,更可免費觀看電影、音樂、書本等。

而中國超市亦遍佈倫敦,例如優西商城、和興、天天超市、龍鳳行、榮業行和七畝田網上超市等等,亞洲食品應有盡有。

不要以為歐洲物價一定很貴,英國農業尚算發達,可以自給自足,因此蔬菜和水果類別比香港更便宜,種類繁多而且非常新鮮。肉類方面,蘇格蘭牛肉尤其著名,您可以合理價錢買到上乘的牛扒和紅酒。而因為飲食文化的不同,雞胸和雞柳反而較雞翼和雞腿貴。英國四面環海,相比某些歐洲內陸國家,海鮮選擇亦比較豐富。

為了讓大家更具體了解兩地超市的差別,我們今天在香港百佳和英國Waitrose的網上商店揀選了一些基本食品和日用品作比較:

香港百佳 This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-39.png英國Waitrose
西冷牛扒This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-38.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-26.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-27.png
雞胸肉This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-33.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-31.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-32.png
豬扒This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-53.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-54.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-55.png
香蕉This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-37.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-28.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-29.png
西蘭花This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-34.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-35.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-36.png
牛奶This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-42.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-40.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-41.png
醬油This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-47.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-48.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-49.png
衛生紙This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-44.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-45.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-46.png
牙膏This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-50.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-51.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-52.png
Source from: ParknShop, Waitrose

從上述的比較可以看到肉類、蔬果、奶製品都比香港便宜,甚至同一款的萬字醬油價格也略低。但生活用品,衛生紙及牙膏的價格就比香港稍高。

另外,就網上商店的貨品種類而言,香港百佳超市的新鮮肉類選擇不多,只有少量可供送貨,反觀英國超市網上商店的產品種類可說是跟實體店舖沒有分別,大家安坐家中收貨即可。