Written by Thomas Dembie Wednesday, 08 June 2011 00:00

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Is A 'Round the World Ticket' the Best Option For a Trip Around the World?

Planning a trip around the world is a time consuming and complicated task with seemingly countless options. Below are some thoughts on what's available, what works best and what you should consider when planning for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

What Options Do You Have for Traveling Around the World?

• Buy an Around the World Ticket
• Buy individual tickets before leaving home
• Pay as you go
• Use a combination of the above options

What Option is Best?

There are a number of factors that will determine what option you should go with. The main areas to consider are where and when you want to visit, the amount of time you plan on spending abroad, what your budget is and how flexible you want your schedule to be.

Often the best option is to use a combination of an Around the World Ticket with some additional flights because even the largest ticket issuers will not be able to offer stops for all of the locations you want. You may also want more segments than you can buy with one ticket.

What are Some Common Rules for an Around the World Ticket?

• Provides a number of stops (usually between 3 and 20)
• Gives you a time period to use all of your stops (usually 1 year)
• Often must include one Atlantic and one Pacific crossing
• You often cannot backtrack within a continent

Who Offers the Tickets?

• Usually airline alliances since individual airlines don't operate all around the world
• Alliances: Star Alliance, One World, Skyteam
• Individual Airlines: Air New Zealand
• Travel Agents (Use one that specializes in Around the World travel): AirTreks, STA Travel, Travel Nation, World Travellers' Club

Planning

• A number of tools exist, such as Star Alliance Book & Fly, to help you plan your preferred route and to understand how much mileage your trip requires. One World has some great sample itineraries (image above) if you don't know where to start.
• Once you have your itinerary set, figure out the best time to leave. The goal here should be to minimize your travel to countries during rainy/wet season. 
• Trips are priced according to class of service, origin of travel, number of continents, mileage (usually between 30,000 and 60,000 km), and sometimes season of travel.
• You can change the dates for free (other than your trip start date), but will get penalized for changing the destinations.

How to Save Money

• Use your Round the World ticket in conjuntion with discount airlines.
• If possible, start from a low cost country. Buying tickets in the United States is relatively expensive compared to other countries such as England or Thailand. You might want, for example, to buy a cheap ticket to London and then start your Around the World ticket there.
• When planning your route, think about using destinations that are normally expensive to visit because of limited flights or high demand. For example, Easter Island is an expensive destination, but because it is a low mile stop, it is a great option for one of your segments.