Pins on a Map
Our projected RTW itinerary
We have an adhesive world map affixed to our dining room table. Fresh off the decision to travel the world, we each circled the countries we’d most like to visit in different colors. It turned out to be a Venn diagram of sorts. Luckily, there was a lot of overlap.
We all wanted to touch down in Spain, Uganda, Australia and many South American countries. Grace was enthusiastic about seeing lemurs in Madagascar and William had his hopes on catching a European soccer match. Nepal was calling my name and Eric wanted to stand at the helm as much as possible. We have dear friends (and mere acquaintances) to visit in London, Spain, Uganda and Zimbabwe. All of this, along with sheer curiosity, has guided our destination selections.
We knew we could depart as early as mid-August. We arbitrarily selected August 23rd since we would be leaving in the year ‘23. After finalizing what we think will be our ultimate itinerary, we chuckled when we counted the countries and landed on … 23! Quite auspicious, I know.
My siblings will be our bookends - my brother will launch us from his home in Bermuda and my sis will catch us at hers in Hawaii. We’ll ultimately land at our “home” in Costa Rica where we intend to sleep in the same lodging for at least 6 months! Central and South America intentionally remain unpinned on our map, for now. We want to take our time in these places. We’ll bounce around Central America during our mandatory visa departures from Costa Rica and plan to spend a few months at the very end of our odyssey picking our way through South America.
There is no one “right way” to book flights around the globe. We started by reading this very informative blog post. A round-the-world (RTW) ticket via Star Alliance or OneWorld wasn’t the best fit for us. It was too restrictive; our country wish-list exceeded the limit and we wanted the option to zigzag as we travelled. AirTreks was also an enticing option (and it has a fun and free interface to build a trip) but ultimately we could book flights for less on our own. Plus, it’s part of the fun for us.
Skyscanner is our favorite site for affordable flights and even allows you to build a long, multi-destination trip. It keeps a watch on favorited flight searches and sends you notifications when you should take advantage of a drop in fares. If you can’t find your flight on Skyscanner or other airline search engines, don’t fret. Some local airlines are not included in the big algorithms but still exist. This is how we found tickets to and from the Seychelle islands.
We’ve started booking now (8 months in advance), while we are still bringing in paychecks. For “free” flights, we researched the best travel-related credit cards. The blue ribbon went to the Venture X Capital One Card - the points from which will get us across the pond. Between other accumulated miles on United, tips from the Points Guy, and some savvy flight finds by Eric, we will likely each make it around the world for ~$6000 ($24K total for our family of 4). We will be sure to report back with the grand total when we cross the finish line!
These countries are chalk full of possibilities: they will be the seat of lifelong friendships, enduring family stories, inspiration, and awe. They will test our grit and our patience. They will be the greatest classrooms we’ve ever visited. We can’t wait to dig in!
But now… they remain simple pins on our map.
