traveler123

Anyone know of a good website that specializes in trips for around-the-globe trips? Hubby and I have been thinking of planning a half-year trip just to go around the world, but I'm assuming there must be special packages and deals on airfare, or companies that cater to this?

cd

Sounds delightful! I have no first hand knowledge but you might want to check out this website: http://www.adventureplanet.com/ap_home/ap_trips_atw.asp
It sounds good. I would like to find a "work your way around the world" website!

Clifton

Independent sites, both with interesting mapping tools:
www.airbrokers.com
www.airtreks.com

Also, I understand that the OneWorld Alliance of airlines (www.oneworld.com) and the Star Alliance (www.staralliance.com) each have RTW plans involving X number of miles or zones, rules on backtracking, etc but must be booked by phone.

Gardyloo

There are lots of resources to help plan RTW travel. Starting with the granddaddy of the online agencies, Air Treks - http://www.airtreks.com/ You can put imaginary routings together there and see what the costs would be for transportation. It helps clarify your mind on possible stops, routes, and things that you have to see v. things that you could afford to pass by.

Next, the two major airline alliances offer RTW fares, based generally on how many continents and/or miles you plan to visit. See Star Alliance's (United etc.) RTW site at http://www.star-alliance.com/star_al...orld_Fare.html

OneWorld's (American, British...) is at
http://www.oneworld.com/products/explorer.cfm

A great place to get yourself bleary-eyed over RTW flight planning is at the "alliances" section of Flyertalk.com's mileage section,
http://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml One thing you'll quickly see is that the alliances' fares vary hugely depending on where you start your travel - Canada, for example, is often $1000 cheaper for basically the same routing as starting from the US. (As of a few weeks ago, starting in Cairo was several thousand dollars cheaper, justifying flying to Cairo on your own before starting the RTW circle there. It can become quite complex when currency exchanges are factored in.)

One thing to note is that if you're planning on 35,000 miles or so of airline ambience, check out the business class or first class RTW ticket prices at the alliance websites or Flyertalk. Not cheap, but way, way cheaper than upgraded tickets bought in ones and twos. You only live once, and you'll undoubtedly find, as many have before you, that on RTW expeditions the airfare is usually not that big a percentage of total cost.

Finally, for something totally different, how about going RTW on a freighter? There are several offerings, most taking around 3 or 4 months (you can usually arrange to get off in some port or another, then back on when a future sailing passes through.) It's a very, very interesting way to see the world from a non-tourist's viewpoint, exceptionally comfortable, and very affordable considering it's transport, accommodation, food, and cultural lessons all rolled into one. The 800 pound gorilla for freighter travel is Freighter World Cruises in LA - http://www.freighterworld.com/

There are also websites and several books on the subject. Start here: http://www.travel-library.com/rtw/html/faq.html

Happy planning!

Linda0515

You might want to look into a round-the-world cruise. Holland America has one every year, and I'm sure other cruise lines do too. It lasts around 3 months.