I have searched here for this type of advice. Does anyone know good websites to help decipher best way to plan this type of long trip?

Also, where can I learn the "strategies" , if there are any..?

Thanks..

googling there are many websites, but I am not sure which ones are most reliable, and perhaps there is one that is more helpful than another.

Please repost on the airline forum as some very savy posters hang out there and know the ins-and-outs of these tickets. They subscribe to some paid airline sites that have access to seat information and routes that normal folks can't access. Flyertalk.com is also excellent for anything to do with air travel, but they don't tolerate newbies. You might want to read some on their forums.

Ed Hasbrouck's "Practical Nomad" is a great guide to traveling round the world. There's also "Rough Guide to First Time round the World". Lonely Planet's thorntree is a good place to start, and you might take a look at bootsnall.

Aitreks.com is a good place for RTW air tickets, although I try to get enough FF miles on AA to use one of their One World awards.

I just searched the Fodor's airline forum and there are multiple threads. Enter around the world ticket in the search box.

i "MISSED" the airline forum here at fodors!!.. so thank you.

I had also looked at airtreks.com but will go read up at flyertalk, too.

thanks for the suggestion and alerting me to a forum i hadn´t noticed here. Must have scrolled down too fast without my glasses!

When you repost on the airline forum, be sure to mention your tentative route and start country. Sometimes you can save big $$$ by taking a cheap flight to another country and starting your RTW ticket there.

thanks kybourbon..I noticed that from some posts. we will be originating in europe, since we live here, unless it is much better to start elsewhere.

I can see already this is going to be very overwhelming...making my mosel/rhein valley or other 5 day trips seem like a piece of cake!!!!!!!!

hope i can find the time, energy and comprehension to make this the least painful possible!

If you will repost on the airline forum, the experts there will be more likely to see it as they check that forum often.