How to plan a round-the-world trip

Mar 20, 2012 11:31:22 PM

Sarah Baxter
Lonely Planet Author

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Itʼs the ultimate trip: circumnavigating the planet, and stopping off wherever takes your fancy. Great for travellers who want to see it all, or who are just plain indecisive. But booking a round-the-world (RTW) trip can be a complex business. Hereʼs our guide to getting started.

How to do it

The most economical way to circumnavigate is to buy a round-the-world air ticket that uses one airline alliance. Theoretically, any routing is possible, but knowing how the RTW booking system works will make your trip cheaper. For example, the Star Alliance, a coalition of 27 airlines, offers a RTW ticket with a maximum of 15 stops. Its member airlines fly to 1185 airports in 185 countries.

There are rules: you must follow one global direction (east or west – no backtracking); you must start and finish in the same country; and you must book all your flights before departure, though you can change them later (which may incur extra charges).

How long you need

You could whip round the world in a weekend if you flew non-stop. However, the minimum duration of most RTW tickets is ten days – still a breathless romp. Consider stock-piling annual leave, tagging on public holidays or even arranging a sabbatical in order to take off two months, ideally six to 12. The maximum duration of a RTW ticket is one year.

When to go

The weather will never be ideal in all your stops. So, focus on what you want to do most and research conditions there: if a Himalaya trek is your highlight, donʼt land in Nepal mid-monsoon; if you want to swim with whale sharks off Western Australia, be there April-July. Then accept youʼll be in some regions at the ʻwrongʼ time – though this might offer unexpected benefits (for example, Zambia in wet season means lush landscapes and cheaper prices).

Image by Christian Steen

In general, city sightseeing can be done year-round (escape extreme heat/cold/rain in museums and cafés) but outdoor adventures are more reliant on – and enjoyable in – the right weather.

Where to go

The classic (and cheapest) RTW tickets flit between a few big cities, for example London – Bangkok – Singapore – Sydney – LA. If you want to link more offbeat hubs (Baku – Kinshasa – Paramaribo, anyone?), prices will climb considerably. The cost of the ticket is based on the total distance covered or the number of countries visited.

Remember, you donʼt have to fly between each point: in Australia you could land in Perth, travel overland, and fly out of Cairns. Or fly into Moscow, board the Trans-Siberian train, and fly onwards from Beijing.

Pick some personal highlights and string the rest of your itinerary around those. For instance, if youʼre a keen trekker, flesh out a Peru (Inca Trail), New Zealand (Milford Track) and Nepal (Everest Base Camp) itinerary with Brazil (Rioʼs a good access point for South America), Australia and North India.

If budgetʼs an issue, spend more time in less expensive countries. Your daily outgoings will be far higher in Western Europe and North America than South-East Asia; Indonesia, Bolivia and India are particularly cheap.

Tips, tricks & pitfalls

Talk to an expert before you book: you may have an itinerary in mind but an experienced RTW flight booker will know which routings work best and cost least – a few tweaks could mean big savings.
Be flexible: moving your departure date by a few days can save money; mid-week flights are generally cheaper, as are flights on Christmas Day.
Think about internal travel: it CAN be cheaper to book internal flights at the same time as booking your RTW ticket – but, with the global increase of low-cost airlines, you may find it better (and more flexible) to buy them separately as you go.
Be warned: if you donʼt board one of your booked flights (say, on a whim, you decide to travel overland from Bangkok to Singapore rather than fly it) your airline is likely to cancel all subsequent flights.

Further reading

Want RTW inspiration? Grab a copy of Lonely Planet’s new travel pictorial Great Journeys.

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Comments

9 December 2011 9:11PM mobal_al Report this comment
It's a good idea to take an international cell phone with you - or a satellite phone if you're going to somewhere wild.
21 December 2011 7:31PM sacvoyage Report this comment
very supported recommendations I found here
6 January 2012 5:30AM beaant Report this comment
One in ten drivers will take one or more passengers, think of all the free spaces of just ten cars, now think of the spaces of 806 million small vehicles on our roads today and growing at a catastrophic rate per year. Without be-a-ant we will grind to a halt and poison ourselves with pollution by the year 2020. Just watch India and China. So do not hesitate, sign up now and be one of the pioneers of the future of automated natural transportation with www.be-a-ant.com.
6 January 2012 5:32AM beaant Report this comment
With be a ant.com you can travel the world carbon free.
13 January 2012 3:27PM hilron Report this comment
Somehow in any way traveling means using petrol.
16 January 2012 11:28AM beaant Report this comment
Not if the vehicle is going your way anyway,
22 January 2012 5:26AM richardday Report this comment
Is it easy to meet people on travels? will it be lonely traveling on my own? is it dangerous?
22 January 2012 8:51AM kidsmeetworld Report this comment
I disagree that the "best" way to do an RTW trip is with RTW tickets. Often you can find much much better deals planning your own itinerary. We're planning an RTW trip for four using mostly air miles. I think we'll be able to do it for under $2k for all four airfares.
[kidsmeetworld.com]
22 January 2012 11:46PM soulchic Report this comment
@ richardday. I'm looking for a travel partner Richard. If yr interested please contact me - catsatonamat@gmail.com
24 January 2012 11:24AM _tuna_ Report this comment
I agree with kidmeetsworld, RTW tickets may only be economical if you are travelling to very popular & modernised destinations. We sought to include South Amercia in our RTW trip and found that because of this it was significatly cheaper (half the price) to book each leg separately.
24 January 2012 11:32AM its_about_time Report this comment
I disagree with RTW tickets being best. Perhaps if you have limited time and want to stay on the main stream path. We found that including Sth America and Africa means that RTW tickets are ridiculous. Also for those with open time scales we found that there was not enough flexibility. Booking tickets for 6 months time was impractical. We saved heaps just by using low cost carriers and buying specials when they came up.
24 January 2012 1:42PM fatboythin Report this comment
Only a schlump would buy a RTW ticket on the terms suggested in the blurb on this site. And the terms sound like they were written by a citizen of Oz doing everything within their power to discourage people from buying a ticket. Buying local products and services is often the way to go because when you travel the road is never in a straight line. Unlike the poor dear's perception who wrote the rules about you're not allowed to do this; and your not allowed to do that. And if you do this it is going to cost you this much and if you miss this leg of the journey you'll lose the rest of your remaining journey. It sounds like Australia in 1950.
24 January 2012 9:08PM madan17 Report this comment
wow, what a great idea, why not cover each continent like asia,africa,europe,north america and south america in turns in each round of a month once in year that will be more exciting, tks again
25 January 2012 2:39AM ypooiling Report this comment
We're in our 3rd month of RTW trip and we've booked our flights separately instead of using an alliance. Reason being, we've compared prices for the routes we wanted and found we could get cheaper flights esp for Asian countries since budget airlines abound while Europe flights we managed to get some good deals by booking early. We travelled overland while in the US and from Central America to South America, we flew, which ironically still cheaper than RTW tix.
The idea is not to see everything but to have specific itineraries; ie. Machu Picchu in Peru, Copacababa in Rio, Mt Cook in New Zealand. Everything else is a bonus of sort..
25 January 2012 2:40AM ypooiling Report this comment
We're in our 3rd month of RTW trip and we've booked our flights separately instead of using an alliance. Reason being, we've compared prices for the routes we wanted and found we could get cheaper flights esp for Asian countries since budget airlines abound while Europe flights we managed to get some good deals by booking early. We travelled overland while in the US and from Central America to South America, we flew, which ironically still cheaper than RTW tix.
The idea is not to see everything but to have specific itineraries; ie. Machu Picchu in Peru, Copacababa in Rio, Mt Cook in New Zealand. Everything else is a bonus of sort..
29 January 2012 1:22AM barbahrooba Report this comment
Wow! Burma has such great architecture and natural beauty. I saw a little bit of Burma from a video on www.travelexplosion.com before and loved it. It's on my list of next vacation destinations now.
10 February 2012 6:28PM muskokafoundation Report this comment
I saw a posting regarding Burma by "barbahrooba", yes it is a place of beauty. And there are many other countries nearby you can visit in one go!
Another great thing to do as you're traveling world wide is to do good along the way, volunteer your skills and time to help communities along the way. I got to volunteer a bit as I was visiting Burma last year.
Volunteering abroad isn't always easy, as you would want to find credible communities and needs that match your skills. Many organizations will charge you to volunteer with them.
The organization that I'm with provides willing volunteers with specific skills, curriculum, and equipment to carry out the good work, at no cost to them. They also do not ask the volunteers to go outside of their itineraries but they always try to work with their itineraries and find trusted communities that can benefit from their skills.
-- Daniel Anggara www.themuskokafoundation.org
27 March 2012 3:49AM altol Report this comment
Being a travel agent myself and having actually travelled the world on a RTW ticket I can honestly say that they are value for money. There are various alliances that offer RTW fares. One World Explorer, The Global Explorer, Skyteam, The Great Escapade and of course Star Alliance. Between all these alliances the whole world is covered, so it all depends on where you want to go, as to which alliance best suits your needs. Also having recently refreshed on a RTW fares course all of the alliances are very competitive.
3 April 2012 10:24AM soultravelers3 Report this comment
The BEST advice we got before we left on our open ended RTW family world trip was that a year was NOT enough time and I heartily agree.
http://www.soultravelers3.com/
We've been to 44 countries on 5 continents on just $23/day per person and could have done it for less so slow travel also keeps costs down. It is easier today than ever before to work and school ANY where.
Doing RTW ticket or booking your own? Depends on where you want to go and how long...do your own research and compare. We've done it both ways.
4 May 2012 2:20PM vasenka Report this comment
Find at least two 14 hour flights in the same direction...?
At least that's how I did it...
Chicago to Delhi to Singapore to San Francisco to Chicago
15 May 2012 1:00AM santorini_hotel Report this comment
I think it is best to use Star Alliance since they have the most companies under their umbrella. Depending on the time you have for your holiday. You can get many stop over flights. Travelling this way is really great since you see many places with a low price.
22 May 2012 10:41PM bluemaverick Report this comment
agree that booking flights on your own may be cheaper. in fact that s what i am planning to do, as i wanna travel trouh south america and south east asia. the only problem that is concerning me is the return ticket issue, that is airlines company may ask you to proove a return ticket otherwise they would not let you bosrd