Imagine walking the Great Wall in China, bungee jumping in New Zealand and visiting the Taj Mahal in India all in a matter of weeks. Well that’s exactly what travelling around the world is all about – getting a taste of different cultures, interacting with the locals and visiting off-the-beaten-track places. Round the world flights give you the chance to stop off at a certain number of destinations as you make your way across the globe.
When planning your trip round the world you can decide exactly which countries and cities you want to visit and which you’d rather skip – it’s bespoke. But to make planning your trip a little easier we’ve found the best way to book round the world flights and tips on finding the best routes.
Finding the best round the world flights
It’s great to day dream about continent hopping: visiting a different country or city each month, but the reality of it can seem daunting. You may be asking yourself how easy it is to find a round the world flight? There are a few different ways of going about this. The easiest, but sometimes the most expensive, is to book a round the world ticket which has stops at a certain number of destinations along the way -typically between four and six. Many of the major airlines offer these tickets, especially those with an extensive route network, such as BA or Virgin. Because this is a complex way of booking flights, it is often not possible to do so online, but only with a sales representative for the airline.
Some of the larger airlines do offer special round the world tickets like Qantas. You can choose from one of its route combinations that usually includes up to six routes. One example itinerary is: London Heathrow - Bangkok - Sydney - Cairns - Queenstown surface Auckland - Fiji or Hawaii - LA surface San Francisco - UK (or vice versa). Virgin Atlantic also has round the world tickets that include four stopovers, with fares starting as low as £579. A good site that can help you design your own round the world trip and find the best round the world ticket is roundtheworldflights.com
It’s also possible to buy round the world tickets from travel agents such as STA Travel, who specialises in student travelling, and gap year travel. They also have a useful online trip planner which allows you to create your own itinerary. Expedia also has a handy option on its site to help travellers tailor-make their trip by choosing multiple flights to various destinations.
However, there are other ways of globe-hopping apart from on a set round the world ticket. With increasing amounts of low-cost airlines in most continents, it is possible to plan your own jaunt, using the cheapest flights you can find from one destination to the next. Sounds more complicated? Don’t panic just yet, we’ve found a simple way to do this.
Planning your dream sojourn
The first thing you need to do when searching for flights round the world is to make a list of all destinations you want to visit. Start by continent and then narrow it down to country, city, town and so forth.
So, for example, if you want to travel around Asia then make Thailand your first stop since flights to Bangkok, the capital, are easier to come by than say Bhutan. Or if you’re travelling to Canada and Fiji take a connecting a flight from the UK via New York, since there are always frequent flights to the Big Apple and tickets tend to be cheaper.
Most airlines are part of an alliance and provide alternative flights with their partners if they don’t fly there. British Airways is a good example. The airline is part of the OneWorld alliance which means it is partners with airlines including Qantas (Australia) Cathay Pacific (Asia), American Airlines (USA) and LAN (South America). And the good news is that when you purchase your tickets they are based on zones not miles.
Star Alliance is another good airline network that has extensive coverage with thousands of daily flights to 965 destinations in 162 countries. A sample itinerary for a trip using alliance airlines would be a trip to the Middle East and Africa, for example. Fly to Jordan with Royal Jordanian then take a South African Airways flight to Johannesburg, which also flies to various other African cities.
Another economical alternative for flying within continents is to purchase an air pass beforehand. This works especially well when flying within South America. Two of the best ones are Mercosur Air Pass and Visit South America Airpass which allow you to travel between countries including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Uruguay usually making two stopovers in each country. Bear in mind however that these passes have to be purchased in your home country.
The world is your oyster…
Now that you’re all ready for your round the world trip just remember to leave behind some contact details with a loved one, pack light and take lots of photos!
Seema Salaam
© Cheapflights Ltd
Updated September 2008
