Get an Oyster Card
You can still buy paper tickets from ticket offices, and ticket machines at stations but an Oyster is quicker to use and works out much cheaper. An Oystercard is a plastic card containing a chip that you load up with money, and then the cost of the journey gets taken out each time you use it. The best thing is that it works on buses too, and you never pay more than the cost of a daily travelcard no matter how many journeys you make in a single day, the cost is capped, likewise with buses the cost of a bus journey paid with cash is almost twice the cost of the same journey using your Oyster. You can usually buy an Oyster at almost any newsagent, or ticket office in London. For more details check out the TFL website

To use your Oyster all you have to do is touch it against the round reader at the top of each ticket gate and it will open and let you through. Much faster than fumbling to feed a paper ticket through a little slot and wait for it to appear again. When you do touch the little reader always remember Slappy Slappy not Slidey Slidey , hold the card against it flat for a second until the light turns green, otherwise it will beep at you angrily and not let you through, and if there are people behind you, you will almost hear their collective sigh as they wait for you.

Mind the Gap
You will hear this announced often at many stations, and if you dont pay attention you probably will fall down between the platform edge and the train. At some stations like Bank on the Central Line the gap is huge and if you dont look down while you climb on the train, then you are going to fall down.

Platform Etiquette
Remember people have to get off too. There is nothing worse for the seasoned tube travelle is waiting at the doors when the train pulls into the station, to suddenly be faced with a wall of people blocking their way onto the platform. Its pretty obvious but it does help if everyone stepts to the side to allow a small path through the crowd at the front of the doors, because if people dont get off then you arent getting on.

On the Escalator
You might be travelling with your friends, but remember if you are standing, step to the right. The space at the left of the escalator is for all those fit people who decide they want to charge up the escalator rather than wait with the rest of us lazy people.

Map Reading
Its a big tube, and you probably do need a map to find your way around, but stopping at the bottom of the escalator and taking your map out is probably not the best idea. Step to one side please. Likewise if you decide to read the many maps on the walls, dont stand as a group and try to block the whole passage, remember some of us have to get places.

Its not so bad really, remember most lines have only two platforms usually marked in the direction of travel, and you can see if you are travelling east, west, north or south by looking at the tube map and deciding if you are going left, right, up or down. The only thing to remember in central London is that lots of the stations are really quite close together, and if you are feeling adventurous, it might be much quicker to walk between them above ground.