I had it all planned out. We would leave London early morning, and get to Oxford around 10am. I already knew that driving into Oxford was a bad idea because of parking, and had decided on Thornhill Park n’ Ride as gateway to the university town.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous. My two girls (10 & 8) in the back seat, my 70 year old mom in charge of navigating, and me driving on the left hand side for the very first time. Not necessarily a dream combination. Nevertheless, we made it without a scratch and in good spirits.

Oxford’s Park n’ Ride was managed a bit different from what I knew. First off, instead of remembering your parking spot number you had to remember your license plate. Once at the parking meter, you enter that number and a camera then searches for your car on the lot which hopefully you will recognize. You choose your car and then make a payment. The meter was supposed to accept both, credit cards as well as cash, however, it did not want to accept any of my cards. I would hence suggest to bring some cash as it appears to be the safer bet.

The bus fare into Oxford is extra, and less than £3 for a roundtrip. Children are free. The ride takes about 15 minutes and takes you right into the center of the university town. Before you hop off, you might want to ask the driver where the return stop is, as it can be a bit tricky to locate it among all the different buses and stops.

This is a photo-log of our day in Oxford. Enjoy!