From Baker Street Station, I catch the 08:11 Eastbound Jubilee line to work in the morning. I aim to be on the platform, waiting for the train, by 08:05 – if I miss my usual train I have to wait a whole ten minutes before the next one comes, which is a lifetime to wait for a tube service. Most trains on other tube lines come every 3 to 5 minutes.

There aren’t very many passengers and I usually find a seat, or at least, a strategic place to stand when I board. Everyone sits huddled over their papers, books and iPods. It takes about 13 minutes to get to London Bridge Station, where I leave the underground chaos of the tube and change for the Thames Clipper.

Most Londoners don’t even think about the river as an option when they commute, but taking the Clipper is an underrated transport option. I prefer it to the dirty and claustrophobic tube, even if it is slightly more expensive. I use a monthly season ticket that costs £100. Oyster card holders get a slight discount on Clipper tickets, and from November 2009 commuters will even get to touch in and out like they already do on buses and the tube. I have the added plus of not worrying about tube strikes and the like – as long as I can get to London Bridge or even to Westminister or Waterloo, the Clipper will take me straight downriver from these stops to Greenwich, whether or not the tube lines are running.

My boat comes at 08:32, and I catch the Clipper towards Queen Elizabeth II Pier. It is a pleasant morning journey, taking approximately 20 minutes depending on the tide. We call at Tower Pier, pass the brooding Tower of London, skim underneath Tower Bridge, then stop at Canary Wharf with its glossy, glassy skyscrapers, then at Greenland Pier and before arriving at my final destination – Greenwich Pier.

Join this journey from Baker St to Greenwich

Stop at St Pauls. I love those old Underground clocks. Chancery Lane, nobody really getting off. Empties a little at Holburn. Nearly my stop. Need to check my email as soon as I get outside. Arrive at Tottenham Court Rd and walk through the crowds on autopilot, typing as I go…

At rush hour, the Southwest service comes every three to four minutes but each carriage is filled with commuters coming in from Woking, Guildford and Chessington, to name but a few of the outer suburbs. I jump on the 08:14, which will get me to Waterloo by around 08:35, and head for a strategic handhold near the middle of the carriage. At , two stops away, most of these sober, dark suited workers will alight for other Overland trains to other London destinations and sometimes if I’m lucky I manage to snare a seat. It takes almost twenty minutes from Wimbledon to Waterloo, as passengers push, jostle and shove to get off or on the train, so a seat is a rare and treasure thing for sore, aching feet.

After Earlsfield, Clapham Junction, and Vauxhall, the train pulls up to Waterloo. I jump off the train, diving into the mass of humanity that flows out of the station, head out the barriers and down escalators into the bowels of the London Underground.

Here the fun really begins. The Underground station at Waterloo is a mess of neon lights, people, buskers, “travelators”, and escalators. Pick the wrong entrance and you could find yourself wandering around following “This way to the [insert name] line” signs for what feels like ages. I dodge the traffic across Waterloo station, head past the benign, life-size elephant made from chicken wire and go down the escalators towards the closest entrance to the Jubilee Line. This little manoeuvre saves me time threading through the traffic below-ground.

Counter-intuitively, the closet tube stop to Borough Markets is actually not Borough on the Northern Line as many would have expected, but London Bridge. From Waterloo it is only two stops to my destination, a short journey which takes three to four minutes on a good day; five to six if there are delays. My total journey time from the south west to south east takes about half an hour, inclusive of transit times.

Join me on my journey