emarl

Looking to do an around the world trip for 3-5 months beginning late July..knowing I have to keep going the same direction. Would love advice/suggested itineraries for a single, female, mostly going it alone, but with some friends meeting along the way. Safety is a concern and have ruled out most middle east countries as well as India. Thanks!

Therese

Since you say that you know that you "have to keep going the same direction" does that mean that you are travelling on an award or paid 'round the world (often abbreviated RTW) ticket? And if so which airline alliance are you using?

I did a mini RTW in January of this year, just 24 days, to Paris, then Tokyo, then Mexico City/Puebla. Like you I'm female and had similar issues with traveling alone in some parts of the world.

Myownheroine

Where are you starting? Where have you been before? Where do you want to go?

With little travel experience, I'd probably go NYC-London-Paris-Amsterdam-Rome-Angkor Wat-Bangkok-Sydney-New Zealand-Buenos Aires-New York.

thursdaysd

I did a ten month RTW on a One World award ticket and lots of trains. I'm a solo female traveler, and although I didn't visit India on that trip I had previously spent ten weeks there, on my own, traveling by train. I think your safety concerns are overblown. I'm happy to answer RTW questions, you will find my itinerary at wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004.

frogoutofwater

The airline global alliance forums on flyertalk.com are very useful for collecting advice, destination suggestions and other tips for RTW trips. There are forums for Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam. The experienced RTW travellers on these forums are particularly helpful in providing advice on RTW ticket rules and advising on itineraries to help you maximize the accumulation of airlines miles. Some of the posters on those forums have also created spreadsheets and other documents that show costs, explain rules, etc.

frogoutofwater

Also, your sentence about safety and travel plans is unclear. Are you saying that you've ruled out most of the Middle East and India because of safety concerns, or for other reasons? If you mean the former, that seems to be a pretty sweeping generalization about safety risks. You are at a significantly greater risk of being killed or injured in a traffic accident where you live now than of being caught in a terrorist incident, for example, in India or in most Middle Eastern countries. From a trip planning perspective, a stopver in a place like Dubai could fit well into an RTW itinerary, and the shopping is supposed to be great. If you're in the region, continue on to Oman (one of my favourite countries in the world - and one of the safest places I've ever experienced in my life - we picked up hitchhikers there, it felt so safe).

emarl

Thanks everyone...this is really helpful. I hopefully will be using an award RTW ticket on Star Alliance so will check out the sites you mentioned. Regarding India/Middle East, I should not have put the "safety" comment in the same sentence...I'd prefer to go to India with others v. solo.
I plan to start in DC, hitting Europe (london, scotland, paris, barcelona, amsterdam, croatia, prague, budapest), Africa, possibly Ukraine, Thailand, ending in AU/NZ...a bit ambitious I know!

thursdaysd

Not in that order, I hope!