Essential London resources - Miss Alice

Question of the week: What are some of the essential London resources that you use?

"I could write an essay for this one, so I'm going to go for a specific topic - getting around town.

First - the obvious - the Transport for London journey planner. If I had to only pick one, it would be this, although there are a few tricks to getting really good routes out of it. Specifically, scroll down the page and pick your settings - what types of transport you want to use, how far you're willing to walk, and the all important 'I'm happy to walk if it makes my journey faster' button that stops the planner trying to send me on a three-bus 45-minute trek to avoid the 15 minute walk to my local tube station.

Secondly - walkit.com, which calculates walking routes around the city (like googlemaps, but optimised for walking) You can find the shortest route, or go for 'less busy' or 'lower pollution' routes, and as well as maps and turn by turn directions, you'll get an estimate of how long it will take at different walking speeds. They're expanding to cover more and more UK cities, so this one's worth making a note of when you're travelling as well.

Thirdly - Cabwise. Text 'home' to 60835 and get phone numbers for three local licensed mini cab companies and a black cab. Everyone should have this number in their phone, even if you don't ever plan on taking a cab, because you never know when being able to summon a safe way home will come in useful. If you go to the Cabwise website, you can even have them text you the number and instructions.

Fourthly - the other travel number to put in your phone, and another TfL service - London Travel Information. This is the phone-version of their Journey Planner service - just call 020 7222 1234, 27/7, and get details of how to get from a to b around the city. You can also get this service by text - just text A to B to 60835, where A and B can be postcodes, full station or full bus-stop names, in any combination.

Fifthly, and finally, - sign up for TfL's London Loop weekly email, which will give you info on some of the many things going on in London every weekend, as well as how the planned engineering works might impact on you getting to them. Even if you're out of town for the weekend, knowing if the line between your flat and your airport or mainline station is out of action can be very useful indeed!"

- Miss Alice

* Photo by incendiarymind, used under Creative Commons.