Advice on round the world flight tickets
A RTW ticket is a series of pre-booked single flights that form your chosen route over your chosen time period. Most people choose to take in either Australia or New Zealand as well as South East Asia and North America, but you can choose to go wherever you want.
Tips for booking your round the world ticket
1. Write down a list of all the places you want to go
2. Arrange your destinations into a rough geographical order. Some back-tracking & zig-zagging is OK. You might end up altering your route to save money, so make sure you know which are “must do’s” and which stops are “would like’s”. You don’t have to go “round the world” – you can go out and back, or whatever you want.
3. Call our Round the World travel experts on 0871 468 0679 for advice and a quote. It will make it much
easier if you have a map of the world to hand when you call.
There are two ways to travel round the world:
Clockwise – via South East Asia, then Australia & New Zealand, then visiting the Pacific Islands and returning by either North or South America
Anti-clockwise – out via North or South America, then the Pacific Islands followed by Australia & New Zealand, and returning via South East Asia.
Going straight to Asia is more challenging and you will experience more of a culture shock than if you visit North America first. Some people prefer to leave the countries that are cheapest to live in until last as their funds are likely to be low and will stretch further in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
Surface sectors
You don’t have to fly in and out of the same city – it’s more interesting and can keep
costs down if you fly into one and out of another at the other end of the country. The
cost of the overland or ‘surface sector’ is not included in the price. You would travel by
public transport or with a pre booked arrangement, eg.
Trans Siberian Railway. Some popular overland routes are: Bangkok to Singapore, Sydney to Cairns, Auckland to Christchurch and New York to Los Angeles. If you are looking for a more adventurous bit of travelling, try: Moscow to Beijing via the Trans-Siberian Railway, Rio de Janeiro to Lima, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Hanoi, Islamabad to Beijing, Cairo to Istanbul, New York to Santiago and Bangkok to Hanoi.
Ideas for your Route
Before you start spinning a globe and sticking pins into it, take a moment to assess
what you’d really, really like to see. Your RTW ticket offers a whole world of
opportunities, so now’s the time to think about where your priorities lie.
Perhaps you want to plan your route around
charity work in countries that need it most;
perhaps, on the other hand, you want to pack in as much hardcore shopping as you possibly can!
Fancy the eco-wonders of South America?
Combine a
US summer camp with the vibrant colours of Brazil, Argentina and Chile, with
recuperation in Mexico before flying home. Maybe you’d rather mingle with the jet set
than the sea turtles? Take a more glam route via the cities of New York, LA, Cairns and
Singapore.
Perhaps culinary inspiration is top of your list? Plan a route to take in the
gastronomic highlights of India and the Middle East – make sure Bangkok, Delhi, and
Istanbul are on your list. Don’t forget that you can book a RTW ticket to see as
few or as many places as you choose. Although it is a great way to take a whirlwind tour of
the globe, you could miss out on a lot of special sights that way. If there’s a country you’ve always longed to see, give yourself plenty of time to explore it thoroughly. There’s no rule that says you have to include every city on your itinerary,
and you’ll probably have more fun if you take less flights and
more time on foot. (You could even go overland all the way!)
Where should you book your RTW ticket?
Call our Round the World travel experts on 0871 468 0679 for advice and a quote.