Perth-Ayers Rock-Cairns-Hong Kong-Shanghai-Beijing-Mongolia-Seoul-Tokyo -San Francisco-Los Angeles-Chicago-Miami-Boston-New York City-Paris-Madrid-Berlin-London-Norway-Dubai-Bangkok…

If you return from a quick getaway wishing the holiday magic could last longer, then consider a round-the-world ticket the ‘nasal delivery technology’ that will stretch your travel out to multiple destinations. And to help you get more satisfaction from your mile-high ventures, here are OUTinPerth’s 7 round-the-world tips (one for each continent) to get you out of the rut of came (home)-too-soon vacations and on a plane to lands far, far away…

- Advertisement -

But first, what is a Round-the-World Ticket?

Round-the-World airfares allow travelers to go to a series of destinations at a price far cheaper than booking individual flights between the destinations. The airfares rely on a global network of airline partners, and prices generally increase by either total miles, total number of destinations or both. Once the tickets are booked, the order of destinations and start date are fixed, but all other flight dates can be changed for little or no cost up to 24 hours before the flight. The tickets are typically valid for one-year with the clock starting the day the first flight is taken. Flights typically go in one main direction (i.e. westbound or eastbound), though slight backtracking within continents is allowed. And now, on with the tips…

1) Map Your Dream – To start your round-the-world planning, I recommend sitting down with a map of the world, a few dozen push pins and a lengthy bit of string (then again, I go through multiple drafts of grocery lists). Spread the world across your floor and throw caution, budgets, logistics, visas and cultural barriers to the wind (don’t worry they come blowing back in when it is time to actually book the trip). Then pluck out of the back of your mind all those places you said you would visit ‘someday’ and put a push pin anywhere and everywhere you always wanted to go.

2) Know What You Want – Once you have plotted your dream destinations figure out what you want to get from each place. For one-stop wonders, like Ayers Rock, chances are you will only need a day or two to see the main attraction, whereas a city like Moscow might warrant a couple weeks and Peru’s Inca trails may be worth a few months of exploration. Similarly, have a rough idea of your trip priorities. If after a school field trip to see the mummies at the museum, you vowed to see the pyramids, then Cairo is a must. But if swinging by Istanbul for a bit of nightlife after seeing King Tut was just an added bonus, then you can kick Istanbul back to Constantinople if push comes to shove.

3) Mix It Up – If you plan a summer in, say, Korea be prepared for complete immersion in a totally foreign culture where something as simple as grocery shopping is fraught with language difficulties (imagine miming ‘where is the toilet paper?’ to a shopkeeper – true story) and a desperate search for products from home (‘sorry, no vegemite, but have you tried our selection of dried squid…’). To avoid backpacker burnout mix stops in familiar cultures into your itinerary and whenever possible catch up with friends and family abroad. Likewise, mix cheaper developing world stops in with more expensive (cough, damn you Euro, cough) stops to help keep your trip on a reasonable budget.

4) Timing is Everything – Know when to go and when not to go to different destinations. If you want to march through the streets of Manhattan like the original Stonewall protesters, then book New York for late June. On the other hand, if you want to sing along to the best of Bollywood, avoid Mumbai’s monsoons, lest you find yourself singing in the rain.

5) By Land or By Sea – For those who believe getting there is half the fun, add a few ‘surface sectors’, which sounds official but is actually just flying into one destination and out from another. These give you the flexibility of finding your own way between two destinations and allow you to whiz through the European countryside by train or road-trip the American west coast.

6) Roll Up Your Sleeves – Another way to get off the beaten track is to look for volunteer or work abroad opportunities. Working or volunteering in a foreign country is a particularly good option if you want to get behind a location’s tourist façade and understand what day-to-day life is like for the average Brazilian (the people, not the wax job, though given Brazil’s tropical climate, I imagine both are quite sweaty at times). In countries were you would like an extended stay, look into the requirements for work visas and the volunteer programs available. With a bit of research and forward planning, you should be able to find a program or employer to fit your taste and talents. Working abroad also has the added perk of topping up the travel coffers.

7) Get a Good Agent – Once you know where you want to go and what you want to do, get a travel agent. No matter how carefully you plan for your trip, you will invariably run into more snags than a sausage sizzle when it comes to the final booking. There will be additional costs (can you say ‘fuel tax’?) and logistics that simply don’t work (what do you mean there are no direct winter flights between Boston and Paris?!). A good travel agent will spot those snafus early and come up with creative solutions.

Once you know what you want, what you are willing to pay and what will be first to go when your trip comes in over budget (unless you’ve got the winning lottery ticket, chances are it will), you are on your way to the trip of a lifetime without a debt that lasts that long. So, go on, book your ticket, zip up your boogie board bag, proceed through security, and remember to get those frequent flyer miles – they’ll come in handy for the next trip.