Latin America, Africa, not quite around the world

Personally..unless you have very large budget ;-)...I would choose one or the other.

The countries you list for 'Latin America' already need at least 5 months to have a good look at..and they are very spread out,so you will have a lot of travelling (including flights) without adding Africa as well.

Same if you decide on the African part.

I'd do the one that appeals most,and save the other for next time....

If you skipped Cuba, i think the answer would be quite clear: two open jaw tickets (one: Outbound: Europe-Brazil. Inbound: Chile-Europe. Two: Outbound Europe-Cairo. Inbound: Tanzania-Europe).

Indeed, you'll probably find out that the cheapest option is to return to Europe between trips. Though I also agree that you could easily just stick to one continent in that time frame.

For Africa you don't really need many flights, one to Nairobi and one to Cairo.

The African open-jaw ticket assumes that the OP wants to go though Sudan and Ethiopia too...do you?

I wouldn't be looking at air passes for a trip like this as it's not a popular or sequential routing. I'd work out which legs you want to travel overland and which you want to fly, then look at one-way flights.

As #3 says, you may find the cheapest option between S America and Africa is to go via Europe anyway, even if that doesn't seem logical.

The African open-jaw ticket assumes that the OP wants to go though Sudan and Ethiopia too...do you?

No, it doesn't. Maybe, I wasn't clear enough. It assumes any other flights needed would need to be booked separately. I know in that case I could have suggested to look for an open-jaw outbound to Cuba inbound from Brazil but I think the price of the leg from Cuba to South America should make the OP consider if he wants to visit Cuba this time; specially as they are planning to visit too many countries in a too short time.

I think the best way to book an RTW ticket is with a multi destination ticket at any travel site...

eg Yahoo...with Star Alliance or some other combination of route sharing agreements among airlines..

I think a multi-destination ticket will give you a cheaper deal than buying the tickets individually...

Also it makes a difference where and how you combine your destinations...and if you can "gap" your tickets and take a train or bus between booked flight destinations...

If you book to San Francisco...you may get an Air China flight... There is a tendency to return you to their "hubs"...but with a little pecking around on the site you can find a way to go around the world...on one ticket...and that will be much cheaper than buying separate tickets...

Largely agreed with Anillos; look into one open jaw ticket Europe -- South America, and one to Africa. Possibly you can do Kenya/Tanzania on one trip (return or open jaw), then return to Europe, and do a separate trip to Egypt. You can find ridiculously low airfare to Egypt sometimes with charter/budget airlines.

A RTW ticket would NOT MAKE SENSE AT ALL cost-wise in your case.

Vasenka, I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about with "one ticket", a standard alliance round-the-world fare yes? What routing are you thinking that would hit OP's countries? How much money do you imagine that would cost? I think you are mistaken, but feel free to surprise me :)

And yeah, cost-wise it'd make sense to focus on one region, be it Latin America or Africa. But I can understand if you want to split your time over two continents. I think comments like "you need X months to do these countries" are silly. You need whatever time you need. Everyone's different.

Different points of view max...

For me it is 'silly' to fly from continent to continent in the shortest possible time,just to check off countries on a list.

Yes..possible,But not an intelligent way to spend your money,and not a good way to see places either

If all you care about is bragging how many countries you have 'been to' (even if that means you flew in one day to see the Eiffel Tower) then yes.......everyone's different.That may be a good way of travelling for some.Not for me.