Round The World flight ticket - anyone done it ?

Murphy_The_Cat

CKhalvashi said:

Murphy_The_Cat said:

Its really useful to hear from people who have actually done a RTW ticket and snippets like "look at starting from Paris".

We have quite a lot of pre-bookingbprep to do (time of year, length of time away) and then once that is done, we can get down to more of the nitty gritty.

The more RTW experiences that can be posted, the better !

Looked at something for my mother recently and if you're looking at Star Alliance, Poland was the cheapest option (if it's a LOT destination).

Also at the moment (but not directly relevant to RTW), legacy carriers are often cheaper than budget carriers for positioning. I fly to Belarus a few times a year, usually Wizz to Vilnius (with WDC) and Belavia to Minsk was the cheapest way, however last December and again at the moment, LOT and Austrian are coming out cheaper on most dates than the 'traditional' mix (this is for hand luggage only fares, taking into account the cost of a budget 'Priority' booking.

Thank you for the Polish suggestion.  Even more so if we can enjoy some time there before/after the big trip. Getting a positioning flight to start our trip from Poland wouldn't be an issue.

Voyager2002

Murphy_The_Cat said:

If it was a school task, she would have got an "E" with the comment "please make sure that you understand the question, before attempting to answer it"

I work in universities, where students are expected to understand the reason for the question rather responding mechanically. The question was from someone who clearly wants a special break, a long and varied holiday, but does not really understand much about travel and does not realise that there are sensible alternatives to RTW tickets. I have learned through experience that one's taste for travel becomes jaded (my limit is about six months) but will spare you the details in case you accuse me of willy-waving. Or perhaps not, since you guessed my gender wrongly.

Murphy_The_Cat

Voyager2002 said:

Murphy_The_Cat said:

If it was a school task, she would have got an "E" with the comment "please make sure that you understand the question, before attempting to answer it"

I work in universities........................................... Or perhaps not, since you guessed my gender wrongly.

Work in a University, that explains a lot.

As for your gender, I rotate my replies to people when I don't know them - he/she/they.  The dice was rolled and you became a she .

For the removal of doubt.  I'm not a Cat and my name isn't Murphy.

sazaccount

I've done 1 full around the world ticket - 2009-2010 original fights were: London - Shanghai over land to Bali - Perth overland to Sydney - Christchurch over land to  Auckland - Cook islands - LA over land to Orlando - London. It was with Star alliance because of the Cook islands if we had done fiji it could of been one world. We ended up booking with Thomas cook but got quotes from STA and Flight center. I didn't end up doing this full route, changing dates and departure/destinations after we had left the UK and it was a little complicated the first time changing the dates and routing, but once I knew what information and how the airlines wanted it was easier the 2nd time. There was a cost to change the flights but I can't remember now how much. I had a working hol visa for Aus
My 2nd ATW trip I just booked a one way ticket to India and booked as I went along with just a vage Idea of where I was going and what I wanted to see, just winging it, it was fun! I had a working hol visa for NZ so didn't want an ATW ticket at they only last for 12 months.
My 3rd (3.5) trip I booked a multi stop ticket as I have a working hol visa for Canada so again am going to be away for longer than 12 months, I did London - Cebu over land to Manila - Tokyo, then original plan was Tokyo to LA however I was going to be flying out during golden week last year and even a few weeks before all of the accommodation was being booked up around Tokyo and other major cities so changed it to somewhere else in Japan to LA , This one was booked with STA and I had added on a 29 GBP extra for 1 no fee flight change I just had to pay the flight cost difference which was something like 12 GBP, relly easy and straight forward to change all done online and via email. I had also done it this way as both the Philippians and Japan require evidence of onward travel before they let you though immigration. All of these flights were with Philippians airline, which was really nice.

Murphy_The_Cat

cheers sazaccount.  I'll add flight centre to the list of places to have a close look at.

Your advice about having proof of onward travel - nice one.

Doshwaster

Murphy_The_Cat said:

cheers sazaccount.  I'll add flight centre to the list of places to have a close look at.

Your advice about having proof of onward travel - nice one.

Yes, many countries and airlines will need proof that you have onward travel booked within the visa limits for your arrival country. If you really don't know where and when you will be flying next there are some workarounds - just buy the cheapest budget airline ticket to anywhere which can be thrown away if not used or there are a number of sites which will effectively "rent" you a ticket confirmation for a few days.
More info here: https://expertvagabond.com/proof-of-onward-travel/

KATEANDMARK

You may want to think about where you want to see and work out an itinerary then talk to an agent and do a comparison. There will be places that major airlines don’t go and so you will need to factor in possible extra flights. For instance if you want to go to Machu Pichu you will need to fly on a local airline from Lima and there is no business class or travel several hours by road. 

Murphy_The_Cat

KATEANDMARK said:

You may want to think about where you want to see and work out an itinerary then talk to an agent and do a comparison. There will be places that major airlines don’t go and so you will need to factor in possible extra flights. For instance if you want to go to Machu Pichu you will need to fly on a local airline from Lima and there is no business class or travel several hours by road. 

Thanks KateandMark.  Once we've nailed down "the basics", e.g which continents, we can start looking at the countries.  From the little chats we've had about it so far, its been quite surprising (to me) how closely aligned we are as to where we would like to go and just as imprtantly, where we don't want to go !

We've got quite a while before we get even close to the booking stage, so lots more to consider

IvanOpinion

Hi Murph, I can't answer your query in relation to flights (so be gentle) but, just to throw a curved ball in your direction, have you considered going around the world by cruise ship rather than plane?  It could take a lot of the planning hassle away, and there are several different routes that you could take, depending on your fancy. There may even be some good deals out there in the near future.

Murphy_The_Cat

IvanOpinion said:

Hi Murph, I can't answer your query in relation to flights (so be gentle) but, just to throw a curved ball in your direction, have you considered going around the world by cruise ship rather than plane?  It could take a lot of the planning hassle away, and there are several different routes that you could take, depending on your fancy. There may even be some good deals out there in the near future.

Hello Ivan.  Thank you for the suggestion, but it's a complete non-standard for us. For every person that absolutely loves cruising, there is someone else who is the polar opposite and won't even consider the idea.  I reckon that you could be the former and I (&Mrs Cat) are definitely the latter.  In no way whatsoever do I knock the people who go cruising, it's just not for us.