Round-the-World tickets

zagfles

blindman wrote: »

Really confused at this.

Money and time is no object so why try to RTW for only 6 weeks?

Going to NZ alone needs 6 weeks!

You itin suggest what you are really doing is going to NZ with a couple of stopovers on the way there, so no need to complicate things with a RTW fare IMHO.


Shanghai in Feb\March will be very cold.

Air NZ is a good airline-Are you flying Business or Economy?

IMHO RTW needs 6 months-not 6 weeks:D so if you are retired with loads of do$h why not do it properly?

I'd agree with this - 6 weeks is far too little to see several countries. We had 3 weeks in NZ and that wasn't enough for the north island...

I'd suggest you consider it a holiday to NZ with a few stopovers, then you can get a feel for the places you stopover in and if you like them, return sometime for a proper holiday there.

Doshwaster

Agree with the above. This is a holiday to NZ with stopovers on the way there and back rather than a RTW trip with several stops of similar lengths.

Air NZ have a good multistop booking tool where you can play around with routes and dates
https://flightbookings.airnewzealand.co.uk/isbook_en_GB/book/initNewMultiStopSearch.do

I've just put in some random dates for London-Shanghai-Aukland-Fiji-London and got £1500 in economy,

Beenie

Husband agrees with all the above and has extended our trip to 10 weeks.

We have friends in Australia so we thought we'd go see them on the way to NZ. You only need 5/6 days at each destination, so we think that Shanghai, Los Angeles, Fiji are doable add-ons. Trailfinders can do a premium economy ticket for £3000 each. Thank you to Doshwaster for suggesting that company.

blindman

Beenie wrote: »

Husband agrees with all the above and has extended our trip to 10 weeks.

We have friends in Australia so we thought we'd go see them on the way to NZ.

You only need 5/6 days at each destination,
I'm assuming you mean the stopovers :cool:

Trailfinders can do a premium economy ticket for £3000 each. Thank you to Doshwaster for suggesting that company.

IMHO if you are going to Shanghai and you have time and money then it's worth doing the Triangle of cities for about 10 days (Shanghai-Biejing-Xian (warriors) Shanghai) as the Visa cost £80 (IIRC) unless you stay less than72 hrs when it's free.

Weather
Feb will be cold but relatively rain free in Shanhai
Beijing Very cold and dry


LA-Give it a miss

Fiji-Never been so can't comment.

NZ
Takes at least 6 weeks to do both islands quickly

Trailfinders can give you an idea of what flights\routes to plan etc but you can probaby DIY cheaper.
Depends on your travel experience :cool:

MSE Tip
Starting your trip from a NON UK airport (DUB? AMS) can save you £'s in taxes.-Though you have to weigh up the hassle factor of getting to the starting point.

Enjoy.

zagfles

blindman wrote: »

IMHO if you are going to Shanghai and you have time and money then it's worth doing the Triangle of cities for about 10 days (Shanghai-Biejing-Xian (warriors) Shanghai) as the Visa cost £80 (IIRC) unless you stay less than72 hrs when it's free.

Weather
Feb will be cold but relatively rain free in Shanhai
Beijing Very cold and dry


LA-Give it a miss

This depends what the OPs interests are, for instance for some people doing the tour of the star's homes, seeing Hollywood and the walk of fame, Disneyland, the beaches etc make LA a great destination...though personally I'd go via SF given a choice.

Fiji-Never been so can't comment.

NZ
Takes at least 6 weeks to do both islands quickly

Agreed.

Trailfinders can give you an idea of what flights\routes to plan etc but you can probaby DIY cheaper.
Depends on your travel experience :cool:

What I've found is that the prices are similar but going direct to the airline gives far better cancellation/amendment terms.

agrinnall

I don't know if things have changed since I did my RTW trip in 1990 but it was my belief that no single airline can offer it as they are not able to fly across all oceans - for example, BA might fly east to Australia and west to California, but they have no flights between Australia and California. That's why every RTW trip requires the use of at least two airlines, and why using one of the airline alliances offers the most flexibility on destinations.

One other things is that if there's a destination that you particularly want to get to but can't include in your RTW ticket, check out either short return flights on local airlines from a destination that you can get to, or do two one way flights with the required destination as an intermediate stop between two RTW cities. It'll cost a bit more but in places like the Far East you can often pick up low cost flights at a reasonable price.

PompeyPete

blindman wrote: »

I
NZ
Takes at least 6 weeks to do both islands quickly

Did a month campervanning on both islands in 2003. I'd rather of had 3 months and give the place the time it deserves.

Beenie

We have already been to China so don't need to see Beijing or Xian again. A few days in Shanghai will be enough for us.

Similarly with San Francisco, already been there but haven't seen LA and the studios/Hollywood stuff.

It looks like a rush, but we are used to packing a lot into our trips - the only thing we weren't sure about was which airline to choose. Now that we've learned -with your help- that a single airline does not go everywhere, we are happy to let Trailfinders sort it out for us.:beer:

zagfles

Trailfinders are good and the agents tend to be very experienced travellers themselves, so can often give you loads of advice about the places you want to visit.