"Affordable" Trip around the world - agent required?

[konfusion666]

So... I was thinking of maybe going on a 1 month trip around the world. Not like "see every single country" or something like that, but rather I just want to hit some key destinations I've wanted to visit for a while.

So I entered the following itinerary into expedia.ca and got $8176 (for December)!!!

Flight 1: Toronto, ON (YYZ) to Los Angeles, CA, United States (LAX)
Flight 2: Los Angeles, CA, United States (LAX) to Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (SYD)
Flight 3: Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (SYD) to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB)
Flight 4: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB) to London, England, UK (LHR)
Flight 5: London, England, UK (LHR) to Toronto, ON (YYZ)

I guess it's just a bad idea to use web sites for something like this and just find myself an agent?

[heymikey]

TravelCuts (http://www.travelcuts.com/en/02%20Flights/RTW%20flights.asp) can handle round-the-world tickets.

Long Haul Travel (http://www.airtreks.com/tools/TripPlannerIntro.cgi?ref=LONGHAUL) does as well.

[heymikey]

You can also get a OneWorld pass (http://www.oneworld.com/ow/flight-info/plan-and-book-your-itinerary) since the major airlines flying your routes are OneWorld members. YYZ-LAX (American Airlines), LAX-SYD (Qantas/American Airlines), SYD-DXB (Qantas), DXB-LHR (British Airways), and LHR-YYZ (British Airways).

[pitz]

Flight 1: Toronto, ON (YYZ) to Los Angeles, CA, United States (LAX)
Flight 2: Los Angeles, CA, United States (LAX) to Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (SYD)
Flight 3: Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (SYD) to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB)
Flight 4: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB) to London, England, UK (LHR)
Flight 5: London, England, UK (LHR) to Toronto, ON (YYZ)


The online web sites are typically notoriously bad for giving you the benefit of the full fare rules. And a lot of international itineraries, unless they're explicitly priced as a special 'round-the-world' fare, are very expensive if flown on a one-way basis.

For instance, United has a YYZ-[LAX/SFO]-SYD-[MEL] fare published right now that has fare rules:


08.STOPOVERS
2 STOPOVERS PERMITTED
LIMITED TO 1 FREE AND 1 AT CAD 150.00.
1 FREE IN LAX/SFO/SYD/MEL
1 IN LAX/SFO/SYD/MEL AT CAD 150.00.


But practically no online-booking website will actually 'let' you use those stopover priviledges, because they're not algorithmically 'built' to interpret complex fare rules (and are merely driven off of inventory 'published' by the airlines, and pricing against such inventory).



I guess it's just a bad idea to use web sites for something like this and just find myself an agent?

With the way pricing is right now, you might be better off just splitting the thing into two trips, one to LA and to Australia, and then one to London and Dubai. Especially towards the end of the month, you're getting into the Christmas season, and there's definitely a huge premium attached for travel during that period.

What else can I say -- I don't think its too much of a stretch of the imagination to spend a week in the LA area (even if you drive up to Vegas for a couple nights!), and you could definitely burn up 2 or 3 weeks in Australia. So to throw Dubai and London in there, with 5 or 6 travel days, heck, all you're going to be doing is fighting the jetlag and looking at the insides of planes and airports.

[konfusion666]

What else can I say -- I don't think its too much of a stretch of the imagination to spend a week in the LA area (even if you drive up to Vegas for a couple nights!), and you could definitely burn up 2 or 3 weeks in Australia. So to throw Dubai and London in there, with 5 or 6 travel days, heck, all you're going to be doing is fighting the jetlag and looking at the insides of planes and airports.

Heh, I already thought of that. Yes, I am open to making it a 2 month trip rather than a 1 month trip. hehe :)

Just need to scrutinize my funds a little more, that's all...


I guess December/January is the the most expensive time to visit Australia eh??
That's just weird, having summer in the "winter".

[silentpayne]

not sure how "affordable" you are looking at. I did a 2 month around the world trip last year and spent half a year planning it to maintain the lowest possible cost.

Accommodation: Friends/Family, Priceline.com, Hostels
Flights: itasoftware.com(you can do monthly searches to get the lowest possible price), Kayak.com, if you are a student, try statravel.com, and some good luck (mistake fares, etc.)

A few more tips:

try not limiting yourself to the specific airports or routes.

for example: if you are willing to go through some trouble, BUF-LAX is much cheaper than YYZ-LAX, and you can even try BUF-SFO, BUF-LAS, BUF-SAN, since they are all close. I think the lowest 1 way price I have seen was like $105 USD.

for flights to/from Europe, alot of cities are connected by budget airlines, so when you do Dubai-London or even London-YYZ, try to use other major hubs and then connect with a separate cheap ticket. ie. FRA, CDG, BRU, and etc. I saved quite a bit by flying to Dublin instead of Paris and connect with Ryanair.

Personally I think if you got the time to mess around with the tools, you can keep your spendings really low.

[trajancavalous]

Some really good tips above but imho 'around the world' trips suck. You usually just end up paying way too much for the privilege of being able to say 'I went around the world.' It's usually a way better deal to do a long round trip with multiple stop overs. Do that headed east and return, then go west. The two round trips will likely be much cheaper than a round the world.

For instance, we are going to Dubai this spring. For $1250 we can go Seattle-Reykjavik-Amsterdam-Cairo-Dubai and return (Icelandair and Air Egypt, separate tickets). That price allows for stopovers at each place. Or for $1325 we can go Vancouver-Beijing-Dubai and return. Neither is round the world but both will take us to some far out places for pretty cheap.

If you go this way be flexible. Put in your departure city and a distant destination into something like kayak.com, look at the options and see where there are stop overs. Then if you are interested in the stop over city see if you can turn it into a longer stop. Sometimes you need to call the airline directly or visit the airlines site.

[konfusion666]

well like i said i'm not going on a "trip around the world" just for the sake of it.
i have valid reasons for visiting each city on my list... Sydney for example, because i have family there. London too. Dubai because i've always wanted to visit. L.A. because its on the way to sydney. etc.

[mkjr]

this link will provide you with a source of more information than this site "ever" could....

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld-411/

for 8K, you should be flying in business class if you work it right and pick up the RTW in a good country....Korea and South Africa come to mind and even getting there can be done on a good deal with points or some cheap fares.

keep in mind, in Canada you can buy a RTW ticket that starts in another country and pay the local fare...again, go to the thread above and read and read and when you think you have read enough, you probably will want to read more, i am not expert but there are many many there would have two RTW tickets going at the same time...

i also know the AA RTW desk is the best to book the same at once you have confirmed the valid iten with the Oneworld tools....i know nothing about *A RTW tix since only OW is of interest to my BA points program.

[porphyra]

well like i said i'm not going on a "trip around the world" just for the sake of it.
i have valid reasons for visiting each city on my list... Sydney for example, because i have family there. London too. Dubai because i've always wanted to visit. L.A. because its on the way to sydney. etc.

Honestly though, in all of Asia, you could not come up with anything better than Dubai? It's arguably one of the most overrated destination in the world.

And as mentioned, flyertalk will get a lot of help if you post something similar there.

[bilibulu]

And as mentioned, flyertalk will get a lot of help if you post something similar there.

Flyertalk is WAY better and more informative than RFD as far as travel is concerned. I didn't learn anything about travel in RFD but I learned a LOT from just reading, not even participating, in FT.

[konfusion666]

Honestly though, in all of Asia, you could not come up with anything better than Dubai? It's arguably one of the most overrated destination in the world.

And as mentioned, flyertalk will get a lot of help if you post something similar there.

i'll check out flyertalk.

so... any suggestions over Dubai?

i guess i want to see what all the fuss is about, that's part of my reason for going there... i wanted to go somewhere in the M.E. so please dont suggest bangkok or something. and i'm indian so nothing near the indian subcontinent interests me.

btw which is a shorter flight, vancouver to SYD or LA to SYD?

[bilibulu]

i'll check out flyertalk.

so... any suggestions over Dubai?

i guess i want to see what all the fuss is about, that's part of my reason for going there... i wanted to go somewhere in the M.E. so please dont suggest bangkok or something. and i'm indian so nothing near the indian subcontinent interests me.

btw which is a shorter flight, vancouver to SYD or LA to SYD?

Go to Dubai.

I've been there 6 times since 1988. Every time I went, there's something new. If you don't want to go to DXB, try Muscat. Similar but a bit more laid back.

LAX to SYD is a slightly shorter flight, not by much though.

[mudd_stuffin]

Similar to Heymikey's post, try pricing out your itin using www.staralliance.com.

[mkjr]

i'll check out flyertalk.

so... any suggestions over Dubai?

i guess i want to see what all the fuss is about, that's part of my reason for going there... i wanted to go somewhere in the M.E. so please dont suggest bangkok or something. and i'm indian so nothing near the indian subcontinent interests me.

btw which is a shorter flight, vancouver to SYD or LA to SYD?...shorter....longer dude....the longer the more miles you get.......:lol: yup..FT is the bomb....but it is addictive...

[trajancavalous]

Didn't mean to be snarky. If it's what you want to do it's what you want to do.

Not sure if this will help but Asia Air is having a crazy sale on flights around Asia including some to Australia and even on to Dubai.

http://airfare.travelzoo.com/international-airfare/675039

[M08006899]

Flight 2: Los Angeles, CA, United States (LAX) to Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (SYD)Oceanic 815

[konfusion666]

Oceanic 815

:cheesygri

[trajancavalous]

heh 815 was going the other direction. ;)