Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rokricky]

Any advice on buying an around the world ticket? Would it be cheaper to buy here, Canada, the U.S. or some other country??? Does it make a difference?? Any advice would be appreciated.


* Details if required
Planning on leaving in August
Seoul-London
London-Ottawa (CAN)
Ottawa-Bangkok
Then back to CAN 2009

[soviet_man]

From my knowledge a round the world ticket (of the 30,000-40,000 mile variety) will typically cost around the $5000 US mark, in many cases this won't include hidden charges like taxes and fuel surcharges (which would make it considerably more $$$).

So you have to ask yourself how much value you will get out of it and how extensive your overall journey will be (if you were going to 3 continents or less, I would stick with individual tickets).

There are also lower cost airlines operating on most of the sectors you want to go on:
London-Ottawa (CAN) = Zoom, Thomas Cook, Air Transat
Seoul-London = Air Astana, Aeroflot, Air China, Air India
SE Asia-Canada = Phillipine Airlines, China Eastern, EVA

So in all probability will be cheaper to buy tickets individually rather than as a RTW, especially as back tracking in 2009 along the most direct route is likely against the rules, as I think in most cases with RTW tickets have to start and finish in the same location.

[tyleranthony]

leaving on my RTW trip in 12 days. My itinerary looks something like this:

seoul > beijing > hong kong > bangkok > cairo > greece > italy > spain > rome > england > usa

scored it through a US based (san francisco, to be exact) company called airtreks...all for under $3k, inclusive of all tax and fuel surcharges. my recommendation is not going through an airline company directly (star alliance, one world, etc.)...they have minimum/maximum mileage restrictions, offered a more limited number of destinations/routes, and were nearly twice as expensive. also, the company was able to give me a discount because I could prove my journey originated in the US (when I came here a year ago to teach). they'll physically send you all of your boarding passes, a youth traveler discount card, and your insurance policy. most times you can call the airlines directly and change the dates for, at most, a nominal fee ($0-$60).

i highly recommend using this agency...the consultant/sales guy sat down with me (on skype) for almost two hours and helped me plan my trip, giving me valuable first-hand advice that you'd have to otherwise find on your own. they'll also throw in a million dollar travel insurance policy from AIG for free if you spend over a certain amount. with this agency, its also not required to start/end your trip in the same country. pretty sweet.

if you're only doing 3 countries, then definitely just buy each ticket ala carte. also, generally the multi-destination trips have to be moving in the same direction, so you might not be able to do the ottowa to bangkok leg after already visiting london.

if you could make your itinerary a little more flexible, it's often times cheaper to throw in a couple of cities inbetween (i had no plans on visiting egypt, it was almost $500 cheaper to add that city to my itinerary!)

good luck on your RTW trip!

[rokricky]

Thanks for the advice.

Do you happen to have the contact info for that agency?

[tyleranthony]

airtreks.com

the guy's name i talked to was charlie cory...nice guy...

[HapKi]

http://www.xanadu.co.kr/eng/ticket/round.asp