Round the World

whatawaster

So here's my deal:

My brother's wedding is taking place in the middle of July 2011, and myself and the GF are planning to use this trip halfway around the world as a kickstart to a RTW trip.

- at the moment, the plan is to leave at the start of July and travel for around 6 months. We may alter these plans and decide to spend some time working in maybe Canada, but at the moment, 6 months it is.

Question about tickets:
- most RTW tickets i've seen go Asia first, and then Australia. The wedding means we have to do it the other way, Australia first and then Asia. I'm a little confused as to whether or not this is allowed on RTW tickets, or whether it's considered backtracking.

- Rough plan so far would be:
1) Australia for about July and some of August
2) Fly to Bankok, and spend maybe 3 months travelling around Asia. China, and at least a few days in Japan are a must.
3) Fly to San Francisco/LA, travel overland across the states, maybe taking in some of Canada (though i am wary that we're getting into Winter at this stage and the weather might not be too friendly.
4) Arrive in New York, and fly home

looking at a few variations, such as: travelling mostly overland (where possible) from Australia up to SE Asia, or taking in South America instead of North America. But the above is the rough plan for the moment

Questions:
1. Would a RTW ticket be much cheaper than booking flights individually for the above route?
2. I know leaving in July will add a couple of hundred to the price, but will coming home just before Christmas add significantly to it also?
3. Is Ireland > Australia > Asia allowed on a RTW ticket, or is it considered to be backtracking?
4. What group or travel agents are the best for allowing date changes/route changes on RTW tickets?

Stinicker

whatawaster wrote: »

So here's my deal:

My brother's wedding is taking place in the middle of July 2011, and myself and the GF are planning to use this trip halfway around the world as a kickstart to a RTW trip.

- at the moment, the plan is to leave at the start of July and travel for around 6 months. We may alter these plans and decide to spend some time working in maybe Canada, but at the moment, 6 months it is.

Question about tickets:
- most RTW tickets i've seen go Asia first, and then Australia. The wedding means we have to do it the other way, Australia first and then Asia. I'm a little confused as to whether or not this is allowed on RTW tickets, or whether it's considered backtracking.

- Rough plan so far would be:
1) Australia for about July and some of August
2) Fly to Bankok, and spend maybe 3 months travelling around Asia. China, and at least a few days in Japan are a must.
3) Fly to San Francisco/LA, travel overland across the states, maybe taking in some of Canada (though i am wary that we're getting into Winter at this stage and the weather might not be too friendly.
4) Arrive in New York, and fly home

looking at a few variations, such as: travelling mostly overland (where possible) from Australia up to SE Asia, or taking in South America instead of North America. But the above is the rough plan for the moment

Questions:
1. Would a RTW ticket be much cheaper than booking flights individually for the above route?
2. I know leaving in July will add a couple of hundred to the price, but will coming home just before Christmas add significantly to it also?
3. Is Ireland > Australia > Asia allowed on a RTW ticket, or is it considered to be backtracking?
4. What group or travel agents are the best for allowing date changes/route changes on RTW tickets?

1. Would a RTW ticket be much cheaper than booking flights individually for the above route?

Yes Yes and Yes again, my RTW ticket cost only €500 more than a Heathrow/Sydney return.
2. I know leaving in July will add a couple of hundred to the price, but will coming home just before Christmas add significantly to it also?

Can't comment on it, but I am doing all ours now in July and its great, although Melbourne and parts of Australia were cold and rainy.

3. Is Ireland > Australia > Asia allowed on a RTW ticket, or is it considered to be backtracking?

I am sure they will work out whatever sort of itinerary you want.4. What group or travel agents are the best for allowing date changes/route changes on RTW tickets?

Round the World experts do this for free wheras USIT charge, unless the Euro is strong against the Sterling USIT will most likely be cheaper than Round the World experts though.

1) Australia for about July and some of August
2) Fly to Bankok, and spend maybe 3 months travelling around Asia. China, and at least a few days in Japan are a must.
3) Fly to San Francisco/LA, travel overland across the states, maybe taking in some of Canada (though i am wary that we're getting into Winter at this stage and the weather might not be too friendly.
4) Arrive in New York, and fly home

Australia is a dead cert, but is not that cheap and it depends on what your going doing, will you backpacking it?

Have you ever been to Thailand or the likes before? I found Singapore to be oppressive hot aswell as expensive. Tropical Humidity is a killer.

Fly to San Francisco, LA is beyond a total kip am stuck here until Friday and as you can see I have been posting here all evening, despite only rarely checking my boards account the rest of the time. LA is only for shopping and stupid americans stuck in traffic. To think a Los Angeleno and a Vermonter share the same nationality is an insult to the union. San Francisco is supposed to be nice and even my picky father liked it so thats a good sign. Now to try convice the gang to let me hire a car here so we can get around and see the city some bit.

Bad Things about LA.

You cannot see the LA Downtown skyline with smog from the freeway enroute from the Airport.

There is absolutely no public transportation, the bus is like a maze and just does not feel safe. There are no taxis on the streets like say NY, infact it is illegal to hail a cab on the street in this sprawling mess. Car Rentals are cheap but travelling just to the beach could take 3 hours to move a few miles despite the freeways having anything up to 12lanes each way.

Every single person drives despite about half of them having a rough idea of what they were doing. I used to think Irish drivers were bad, (which we are in fairness) however we are streets ahead of some the muppets I have seen in LA and Australia has a high percentage of idiots on the road too.

Accommodation is neither central or reasonably priced, there is not much to see besides that stupid sign which Hugh Hefner saved and he Hollywood walk, the women are loving shopping but I am going insane.

Oh and if we thought Heathrow was bad then it pales in significance to the black hole of calcutta that is LAX.

Los Angeles is not a touristy city and does not try, it is dirty and is a prime example of "White Flight" As a pasty paddy (albeit tanned from Oz) I was almost the only White person about this morning Downtown.

To sum it up LA is an utter sh*thole.

Up-n-atom!

Bad Things about LA.

You cannot see the LA Downtown skyline with smog from the freeway enroute from the Airport.

There is absolutely no public transportation, the bus is like a maze and just does not feel safe. There are no taxis on the streets like say NY, infact it is illegal to hail a cab on the street in this sprawling mess. Car Rentals are cheap but travelling just to the beach could take 3 hours to move a few miles despite the freeways having anything up to 12lanes each way.

Every single person drives despite about half of them having a rough idea of what they were doing. I used to think Irish drivers were bad, (which we are in fairness) however we are streets ahead of some the muppets I have seen in LA and Australia has a high percentage of idiots on the road too.

Accommodation is neither central or reasonably priced, there is not much to see besides that stupid sign which Hugh Hefner saved and he Hollywood walk, the women are loving shopping but I am going insane.

Oh and if we thought Heathrow was bad then it pales in significance to the black hole of calcutta that is LAX.

Los Angeles is not a touristy city and does not try, it is dirty and is a prime example of "White Flight" As a pasty paddy (albeit tanned from Oz) I was almost the only White person about this morning Downtown.

To sum it up LA is an utter sh*thole.[/QUOTE]


I don't know about answering your specific questions, but I booked my RTW trip with Trailfinders, and I suggest you just go to a few places and ask them the same questions and see if you like the answers you get! I had to change my flight dates once, and I didn't get charged - I contacted the airline directly and they don't charge once there's availability - they would charge you if you more if all the economy seats were gone and you had to upgrade. I also think that the RTW ticket is better value than getting the flight on your own - mine came to around €1800 for 6 flights on the same route.

As for the negative review of LA, I arrived in the US via LA - I didn't fancy going, it was just that with my flights from Fiji it was easier to go there than San Francisco, and it turned out that it's not that bad a place. I took plenty of buses and they were fine - it's also much better than I expected for walking and cycling, but that'll only take you so far. I can't vouch for downtown, I didn't go there (I know it's supposed to be a big Latino area with a couple of very dodgy no-go areas like Skid Row) The beach areas around Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu are nice, and Beverly Hills/Hollywood are also worth a look. You can also do touristy things like visit the studios, Disneyland and other adventure parks as well. Its not a bad place to spend a couple of days getting over your jetlag.

I went to San Francisco as well, I liked it a million times more than LA, but if you can't fly directly there, have a few days and have never been before (and especially if you're renting a car to drive up the Californian coast) I would say LA's not the worst place to be.