RTW Trip For 2

I would begin by reading up on the subject.

There are various guides that deal with RTW trips,or cover the 'highlights' of the various possibilities.

There is also a lot of info.on this and other sites.

I have use Thorn Tree to assist in planning every trip we or I have taken in the last 10 years -- great info!

However, the experts on Thorn Tree need help from you to help you. Questions that will help the experts help you:

How do you like to travel: expensive, mid-range, or cheap? by plane or bus? are you going to use an around the world plane ticket which requires you to decide which airport/cities/countries you will use as a base? are you city people or outdoors people? budget: $20,000 or $50,000 or $100,000? interests: birding, diving, eating, culture, historical, etc?

For starters you may want to think about:

Japan -- 3 weeks
Southeast Asia -- 2months
India -- a month (we did seven weeks)
Nepal or Bhutan or Tibet/China -- 2 weeks (we did 58 days in China without going to Tibet but did 16 days in Bhutan)
Turkey -- 3 weeks
Egypt -- 2 weeks
Tanzania -- 2 weeks (we are doing 35 days in Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar in a couple of months)
Zanzibar -- 1 week
Europe -- 26 weeks

Two years ago I drove from the U.S. to the end of the road in Panama and flew home -- 4+ months
We both backpack/bus through South America for five months and only saw Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Brazil eight years ago.

As I started this post, we need you help to help you.

Take a look at this excellent planning website:

http://www.travelindependent.info/

I have done 3 around the world trips starting in Australia the first being 18 months, another 12 months and the last 7 months.

Most people on this forum recommend just buying each flight leg of your journey singly. From Australia it is not really cost effective if you are visiting South America and Africa. If you were not going to those 2 continents I would agree with purchasing each flight as you go.

I have used the Oneworld around the world fare and it was by far the cheapest way for me to travel at the time. It has increased dramatically in price in the last 5 years so do you own research to see if this is the most cost effective for you.

I would recommend $30000 per person is a comfortable budget, budget (also depends on where you go at what you do), More money means more choices, not having to skimp when you do not want to eg: Diving. But you can also do the trip a lot cheaper.

Visiting 4 continents in 12 months means you have to pick you places you want to visit in each. So do not try to pack in to much. 3 months in South America is enough for maybe Peru, Bolivia and maybe Ecuador with a side flight to Rio.

Have fun and maybe give more specific questions if there is a particular pint you are stuck on,

we live in Australia and would really like to see alot of Asia & Europe, and also parts of Africa and South America. That's a hell of a lot to do in 12 months. Consider S.E.Asia, I'd recommend the following minimum stays as: Thailand: 3 weeks, Laos 2 weeks, vietnam 3 weeks, cambodia 2 weeks, Burma 3 weeks, Malaysian peninsula 2 weeks, Borneo 2 weeks, Singapore 3 days, Indonesia... 3 months? 6 months? Even without Indonesia (and I didn't mention Philippines, E. Timor, Brunai or PNG) that's over 4 months on minimum stay.
Now consider that the above is fine for a short holiday, if you're going to travel long term you need to stop and take a break from time to time to recharge your batteries. After 5 weeks you'll want a break and about once a month after that. You'll need to stop somewhere a few days and do nothing. So now we're looking at 5 months.
OK from here say you go to India - 3 months, Nepal, 1 month, Sri Lanka.... you get the idea.
Point being, you're going to have to decide what you would most like to see and do. Have you always wanted to trek in the Himalayas? dive in the South China Sea? go up the Eiffel Tower? go on safari in Kenya? Go to the Oktoberfest in Munich.....
At first you'll have a very long list. Then you'll start reading about those places and and places around and your list will grow longer. Then you start to whittle down your list. You realise that this place is a little too far out of the way, that place is out of your budget... It's at this point that you can come back here and start asking questions. If you post an itinerary and it gets ripped apart as too long (which is the most common rookie mistake) then accept that and work on it.

In the end I would, personally, get a cheap flight SEAsia from Aus and see where you end up, chances ar it won't be around the world but a great trip at your pace not what you thought your pace was going to be.

Although 12 months sounds like a long time, it's not really long to visit 4 continents. If Europe and Asia are your pririoties, plan around those - maybe 6 months in Asia and 3 in Europe as a quick guide. Then think about taking side trips to Africa from Europe (you can get good deals on packages from Europe if you only want to go to a couple of places in Africa), and heading home via S America. You may be restricted in some places by visa issues (eg. Schengen visa area)

I would recommend $30000 per person is a comfortable budget
Agree with this as a VERY rough rule of thumb.