I am off travelling at the end of the summer and want to be quite flexible about where I go and for how long for - what is the best way of doing this?

I know RTW tickets are supposed to be flexible and can change dates etc but I have heard horror stories about not being able to do this too! As I am going alone I want to be able to go with the flow and if I meet people just go off and change plans etc. Has anyone out there just booked their first flight and then booked as they went along. How easy was it and how costly? What about visas etc? I am struggling to decide where exactly to go so know it will all change when I get out there anyway.

HELP!! Its giving me a headache!!!

Hi Armani,

I bought a flexible RTW ticket and had no problems at all in changing the dates (and, to a certain extent, the itinerary) as I went. Just make sure you buy the right RTW ticket for your purposes: as a general rule, the cheaper the ticket, the more restrictive it is.

The chances are that most travellers you meet will be going in the same general direction as you anyway, and of course you can always make side trips if you want.

I would imagine that buying air tickets as you go could work out an extremely expensive option.

I suggest therefore that you buy a RTW ticket, but do your research before you go!

Happy travelling!

Pet

Peter,
Which one did you buy? can you tell me? I'm planning to buy an RTW ticket but the one I picked didn't work out as I wanted since they make me buy an extra continent that I'm not interested in visit.
Since yours went so well, can you make any suggestions or at least tell me where to look or what to look for?

Mons

quote:

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Originally posted by Peter Nurzynski:
Hi Armani,

I bought a flexible RTW ticket and had no problems at all in changing the dates (and, to a certain extent, the itinerary) as I went. Just make sure you buy the right RTW ticket for your purposes: as a general rule, the cheaper the ticket, the more restrictive it is.

The chances are that most travellers you meet will be going in the same general direction as you anyway, and of course you can always make side trips if you want.

I would imagine that buying air tickets as you go could work out an extremely expensive option.

I suggest therefore that you buy a RTW ticket, but do your research before you go!

Happy travelling!

Pet

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Dear Mons (and Armani)

You asked which RTW ticket I bought.

I did my RTW travel 10 years ago so things may well have changed. I bought my RTW ticket from British Airways, and it was a joint BA/Qantas/United deal.

My itinerary was London-Boston-Chicago-San Francisco-Hawaii-Fiji-Auckland-Sydney-Perth-Hong Kong-Singapore-London. The ticket was totally flexible (in terms of flight times) after the first stage and was valid for a year. It cost about £1600.

I believe you can now get RTW tickets as cheaply as about £800, but I doubt that you'll be able to do as extensive an itinerary as the one above at that price. As I said in my earlier posting, the more you pay, the better the flexibility and choice of stops.

I suggest you consult the travel agents who specialise in RTW tickets. If you're in the UK, try Travelbag, Flightbookers and Trailfinders in London. They all have large adverts in the travel sections of British newspapers. Tell them exactly where you want to go and I'm sure they'll be able to help you.

Good luck!

Pet

I am having the same dilemma - whether to buy a RTW ticket or get seperate tickets on the way round.
I spoke to a friend who told me RTW tickets were a rip off and she bought seperate ones wherever she was which was cheaper - for example I looked on the singapore airlines webpage and you can get a ticket to australia for £154! seems so cheap to me.
I had some advice to buy internal australia flights before you go as they only have two airlines and its not very compettive prices when you get there.
Another thing to consider is how easy it will be to communicate to people. Someone else told me of there experiences trying to buy tickets in egypt. She told me she wished she'd bought her ticket before as it would have saved a lot of hassle.
So much to consider! It may be worth looking on the internet for websites of airlines of the countries you want to go to and comparing prices.
anyone else got anything to add?

hi there i am also researching my travels at the moment and id recommend u try statravel.co.uk for some examples of rtw flights.u really need to ring them or goto a branch, for more specific itineries. here is a couple of examples from their brochure:

UK-LASVEGAS-overland-LOS ANGELES-SYDNEY-overland-PERTH-KOTA KINABALU-KUALA LUMPAR-UK
FROM LONDON £635
FROM MANCHESTER £669

UK-RIO-overland-BUENOS AIRES-SANTIAGO-EASTER ISLAND-TAHITI-AUCKLAND-overland-CHRISTCHURCH-SYDNEY-HONG KONG-BANGKOK-UK
FROM LONDON/MAN £1299

UK-BOMBAY-COLOUMBO-MALDIVES-SINGAPORE-MELBOURNE-overland-SYDNEY-FIJI-L.A-UK
LONDON $859
MAN £889

these are a few of the routes available ,but the bloke behind the counter says u can basically pick which locations u want to goto, and its based on how many miles u fly!!

these prices are approx and u goto add between 80 n 130 quids for tax.

hope this helps
j

I would recomend what I did. I chose a destination half way round (Sydney for me) and bought a single flight with 2 stopovers. I had no idea whether I was going to come back via South America or Africa so left the decision until about a month before I was due to start heading home and bought a single fare back to London with 2 more stopovers.

The tickets were both with BA and were based on 50% of the price of their standard RTW ticket, so there was not too much difference in price, but it did stop me being tied up to an itinery on the return journey (either by time or destination).

The only bad thing about it was that I got no free internal Australian flights that BA/Qantas RTWs offer. But it was still worth the flexibility.