Advantages and disadvantages of the round-the-world ticket

Advantages and disadvantages of the round-the-world ticket

I am at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, more than 3,000 miles from the place I expected from which he would be on our global rounding for Atlas and Boots. In fact, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah are all unplanned stops.

I expected to be in South America in December 2014, but instead spent an additional month on Tahiti - and then went on board a luxury cruise across the Pacific, which was certainly not on the program. What I try to say is that it was a blessing for me not to buy a round-the-world ticket (RTW).

We definitely considered the RTW option: we discussed and researched for hours, but gave up when we couldn't find an inexpensive route that worked for our unusual trip. This does not mean that the RTW is unfounded.

If you are torn between the options, take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the round the-world ticket below and make a decision based on your special trip.

advantages

It can be cheaper

The biggest advantage called the travel expert is that an RTW ticket is cheaper than planning during the trip. Depending on your mileage, route and number of stops, an RTW may cost between $ 2,000 and 10,000, possibly less if you are limited to a very simple route with three stops.

The logic is that by using an alliance of airlines, they will receive access at affordable flight prices long before their travel dates that are otherwise not available.

less stress on the street

With an RTW, you know certain that you come from A to B because it is booked and confirmed; Most of the planning stress is done in advance. Booking flights on the way is a completely different fish cauldron.

In Samoa we booked our flights to Tonga on a beach fale via a weak internet connection via dongle, while we open our laptop with electricity from the house of the false seat. An RTW ticket relieves a lot of this stress.

alt = "Round the World Ticket advantages and disadvantages"> stress-free: An RTW means that you do not have to book your flights in a fale with a dongle after you have charged your laptop with the owner!

enables better budgeting

With an RTW ticket you know when your journey begins and when it ends. It is finally so that you know exactly how many days you have to plan. With plan-as-you-go, your budget fluctuations are much stronger because flights have to be absorbed by your daily budget.

rTW also has a psychological advantage: If you pay a significant part of your trip in advance, you will be taken away from a load. As soon as it is paid, you can forget it and instead concentrate on daily budgeting.

collects flight miles

sticking to an alliance of airlines means that you can easily collect your flight miles. It is not unusual to collect enough miles for a long -haul flight. If you plan how you go, several different airlines are used from different (or no) alliances, which means that your flight miles are likely to be distributed.

disadvantages

lack of spontaneity

flexibility is the most important reason to plan on the go instead of buying an RTW in advance. Part of the joy of long -term trips is not to know where to land. Perhaps you fall in love with the culture of a country and want to spend more time there or choose a detour to a neighboring country that is not on your travel route.

rTW tickets offer a certain flexibility in terms of data, but cause costs if you change the goal. Plan while going, let them swim with the current.

As mentioned above, if we had bought an RTW ticket, we would have not spent an additional month on Tahiti, undertook a 16-day cruise over the Pacific, climbed the highest mountain in the world, started an American road trip from La to San Francisco to Yosemite in Death Valley in Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Zion National Park (record) or five of our old friends seen from Great Britain that emigrated.

alt = "Round the World Ticket advantages and disadvantages"> Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world- just one of many miracles that we would have missed if we had booked an RTW ticket

It is complicated

There are rules. Many, many rules, at least with larger networks, Star Alliance and OneWorld. The most important decision you need to make is whether you want a ticket based on kilometers or segments. Star Alliance offers standard passes with 29,000, 34,000 or 39,000 miles, each enable up to 15 stops.

OneWorld offers a "Global Explorer" pass that is based on miles based on 26,000, 29,000 or 39,000 miles. The other option is the "Explorer" pass from OneWorld, which is based on the number of continents visited: there is no mileage limit and you can visit up to 16 segments on three to six continents.

"If your round-the-world-world ticket is both cheap and simple, you will probably follow countless other backpackers all over the world"

In addition to the above, there are several other conditions that can apply to your ticket.

Examples are: You have to cross both the Pacific and the Atlantic, you can only stop in a city, but you can cross up to three times, you can stop a limited number of painting on a continent, you have to start your ticket for months, you have to start and end in the same country, you can change the date, but not the goal, you have to travel in one direction and there is no trace between the Continents, their overland trip can be counted towards their mileage limit, although they do not fly, and their flight from, for example, London to Malaysia with a stopover in Dubai can count as two segments instead of one.

as I said: complicated. There are some challengers of the old faithful who offer better flexibility, namely indie from boats and Airtreks - but always check the conditions before booking.

follows the tourist path

If your RTW ticket is both cheap and simple, you will probably follow countless other backpackers all over the world. For example, if you do London, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, La, New York, London, you will probably do tens of thousands of others.

If you want to follow an unusual route (e.g. London, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, French-Polynesia), you will probably have to book your RTW stops in larger turnstars (London, Fiji and Tahiti) and find your own way between the other islands.

It couldn't be cheaper

Finally, it is possible to find super favorable means of transport that are much easier to find if they are actually in a country or a region (e.g. cargo ships, trains, hitchhikes, etc.). Simply put, the biggest blessing of the RTW may not be as pronounced as some experts want to believe.

rtw or not?

As with many things, the answer is: it depends. Under the following circumstances, I would recommend a round-the-world ticket: You only have a limited time (e.g. have taken a six-month break and have to be back up to a certain date), you have leaked goals on your travel route (Thailand and Australia instead of Mongolia and Gabon), you will probably not change your route and/or travel with children and therefore need some stability.

If you have no fixed deadline (except "if the money goes out") and want to swim with the current, opt for the Plan-as-You-Go route.

alt = "Round the World Ticket advantages and disadvantages"> Our unplanned detour to the USA meant that we could see old friends from Great Britain who emigrated

Finally, I would like to say that there is something romantic about not knowing where it is going in the next few weeks. It leaves the opportunity to jump on a boat, to take a last-minute road trip or to settle somewhere for a while when you get the idea. Plan as you go is the most interesting way to travel.

useful links

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