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Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....

Beverly Hills...
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Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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just want to tell you about where we plan on traveling, and would love to hear others that did something similar. we are a family of 4 in Los Angeles, me and my wife are 40, kids are 8 and 9. we love to travel and we love to pack it in and do a million things. thats just the way we are. we are traveling for 75 days from pretty much kids last day of school to day before school. we start from LAX and end in LAX. i have a ton of miles, but i booked all flights through airtreks.com. my experience with them was great, and hopefully all is ok this summer. here is our itinery

LAX-PPT (bora bora), Auckland, Cairns (Great barrier reef), Singapore, Maldives, Dubai, Cairo, Athens, Santorini, Istanbul, Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, NYC, Houston (family), back to LAX

each location is about 4-6 days depending on location. airtrek booked all flights on the phone with me. i booked all hotels myself, alot of VRBO/Airbnb due to more room and needing to do laundry.

we pack very light, 2 medium carryon, with 4 backpacks. checking in is not an option for me due to all the locations going to as well as potential for lost luggage.

for those interested, Flights were $6000 for adults and $5300 for each child. i am budgetting about 40K total for the trip, which includes airfare, hotel, activites, and car rentals. Car will be rented in New Zealand, Croatia, and Iceland.

i have planning this trip myself for over 9 months. by the way, my family took a 40 day Asia Trip summer of 2016, that covered 11 countries, so we are somewhat used to this style of traveling. we love it.

we love exploring the world and learning new cultures. we are most excited about Dubai and Iceland.

if anyone did anything similar to this, id love to hear stories.

im curious if anyone bought some sort of world wide hot spot for internet access everywhere they went.

thanks!

Beverly Hills...
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1. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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read my comments again...first sentence and last sentence

1. just want to tell you about where we plan on traveling, and would love to hear others that did something similar

2. im curious if anyone bought some sort of world wide hot spot for internet access everywhere they went.

you must not have read my post.

Seattle, Washington
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2. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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It sounds like a great trip and I hope you have a terrific time. I think taking kids on RTW trips is a great idea.

In our various RTWs I've found that wifi access is getting so commonplace that looking for single connection sources is unnecessary. Just load Skype on your smartphone and you're good to go.

For what it's worth, next time you think of this look at some of the airline alliance RTW or "circle" products which could save you a lot of money. A trip similar to yours, for example, starting and ending in Canada and using one of Oneworld's RTW products, the Global Explorer, would have cost you something like $4500 per adult and $3500 per child, saving something like $6000 for a family of four. Plus, unlike AirTreks, you'd have local airline people able to help around the world should something go awry, God forbid.

If you had started the trip in Britain, the same Oneworld ticket would have cost roughly $3500 for adults and $2600 for kids, resulting in a savings of over $10K for the family. You'd eat some of that in getting to Europe in the first place, of course, but you'd earn enough frequent flyer miles in the course of your trip that you could probably return home at the end using miles rather than cash.

A couple of years ago did a "top questions" thread about RTWs that you might want to look at. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k7409073-About_round_the_world_RTW_tickets-Air_Travel.html

Beverly Hills...
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3. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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thanks for the great suggestions.

i am interested in those Oneworld and other RTW products, but i dont know much about them. do they allow you to customize and add tons of locations? for some reason, i thought they were limited. i thought i heard something like those are better for maybe 5-10 places going RTW, not 22 like we are doing, and i thought RTW wouldnt go to less common places like bora bora and maldives since it is more expensive to go there. i could be totally wrong though.

concerning the internet, i was looking at getting something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Mobile-Hotspot-Europe-America/dp/B011X860CE/ref=as_at?creativeASIN=B011X860CE&linkCode=w50&tag=geapat-20&imprToken=6AMia-6kl86SvYkq52mnNA&slotNum=4

how will Skype help me? my main concern is getting a wifi signal while we are driving or in areas where there is no wifi, i was hoping this hotspot would allow me to connect on. but im not sure what is best.

thanks

Seattle, Washington
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4. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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>>...i thought i heard something like those are better for maybe 5-10 places going RTW, not 22 like we are doing, and i thought RTW wouldnt go to less common places like bora bora and maldives since it is more expensive to go there. i could be totally wrong though... <<

Well, read the (admittedly very long and rather wonkish) thread I linked.

The alliance products are not without their limitations to be sure. One of those limitations is that the ticket can only include 16 segments (a maximum allowed using e-ticketing) including "surface" or land segments. So visiting as many places as you're planning means you have to "step outside" the ticket and use other means, for example flying short hops on European low-cost carriers, or renting a car or riding the train, etc.

Another is that the alliance tickets only let you use airlines that are covered by the ticket, usually (but not always) airlines that are members or affiliates of the alliance members. And by using those airlines sometimes you're limited with regard to nonstop flights and may find yourselves having to use indirect routing, for example having to change planes in Hong Kong to get from Australia to the Maldives, things like that.

So in your case using an alliance RTW ticket would probably mean you'd have to fly to someplace in Europe and do some shorthaul flights or surface transport to handle the short trips like Budapest to Vienna, or around the Dalmatian coast. (I suspect that's already the case with your plans but don't know.)

As far as getting off the beaten path, on the contrary the alliance tickets really come into their own on that score. For less money than you're currently paying, you could swap Easter Island for Tahiti, the Seychelles for the Maldives, Lord Howe Island for Cairns, or even throw in a safari in Africa... the door is really wide open.

Regarding the internet, I apologize, I guess I misunderstood your question. Is there one carrier or sim card that you can use from one country to the next without getting clobbered for roaming charges? I can't say I can answer that one.

Beverly Hills...
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5. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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ibgardyloo - thank you. i will explore those RTW tickets for our next RTW trip! if i can be flexible, im sure we can save a ton of money.

as far as the internet goes, my phone is not unlocked, so not sure i can get SIM cards in each country. i will continue looking and will post my experiences if i get that wifi hotspot.

Sheffield, United...
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6. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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It may be worth getting it unlocked - it will make things a bit easier for you.

Also as an aside you said you've booked AirBnB/vrbo - have you booked that for NYC as it's largely illegal there.

Hope you have an amazing time

Edited: 7 years ago
Vancouver, Canada
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7. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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That sounds like a great trip the kids will remember always. Here is what I do for internet: I have t-mobile which provides me with unlimited internet worldwide as part of the normal charge. I also have Vonage which provides me with "Vonage Extensions" so as long as I have internet I have phone service at no extra charge.

Here are comments on your trip...

LAX-PPT (bora bora), Auckland, (never been out of the airport in those places so good luck)

Cairns (Great barrier reef): The typical path is to take a Daintree tour and yes. We like to stay up at Silky Oaks outside of Mosman as Cairns is a bit meh in and of itself, and we love to visit Lizard Island (but that's not a kid spot). Dunk Island used to be pretty good but not so much anymore. A jet cat out to the reef is mandatory, especially given the declining state of the reef. When in Cairns I recommend an Atherton-Tablelands tour and take the train up to the plateau above Cairns. Hopefully you get to see more than just the Cairns area. We went to Bathurst Island (near Darwin) which was a very nice dip into the Tiwi culture. Brisbane is much under-rated but avoid the trashy Gold Coast. Lots to do in Sydney, near Adelaide, and a week or so on the west coast is great (yes, I know I'm biased by what I like to do).

Singapore: One of my favorite sop over places. There's not a terrific amount of things to do there but you need about three days.

Maldives: Friend of mine used to manage the Four Seasons there and loved it.

Dubai: Expect poor visibility. There is substantial pollution there. Going up the tower is something I recommend in most places, but not here. The prices are unbelievably high and the visibility on moderate days creates excessive vacuum. My favorite place in the Middle East is Qatar. The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha is one of those special places in the world.

Cairo, Athens, Santorini: Not been. Be very, very careful in Cairo. We don't let our people go there.

Istanbul: Nice place. The restaurant out on the island is very nice. Be careful of scams. They are as plentiful there as they are in Beijing, probably even more so. Do not stop to pick up things locals have dropped thinking you are doing them a favor.

Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik: Went to those places back in Yugoslavia days and would like to go back. Don't ask for milk as a drink.

Vienna, Budapest, Prague: Sadly, once again, never out of the airport..

Berlin: I spent five days there and could have used another 5. There is a lot to do. If your wife likes funky cool shoes (nice but limited men's selection too), there is an outlet for Trippens there with great deals. It is a destination for Trippen fans from all over. The museum island may be a bit tedious for younger kids but at least give it a whirl. The Holocaust memorial is difficult to miss.

Dublin: Hopefully someday as my ancestors are from near there.

Amsterdam: Having lived in The Hague for a year I can say that there is much more worth seing outside of Amsterdam than there is inside it. Don't get me wrong, it is worth the time and effort to see what you can see there, but with The Hague only 20-30 minutes away and Delft another 15 minutes, and Rotterdam another 15 after that, get out and enjoy. There is also a small "cheese" town on an island North of Amsterdam that's worth a visit.

Reykjavik: Another bucket list place for me, especially as I'm a geologist.

NYC: Been there. It's okay.

Houston: Live there half time and am there now. There is more to do here than many think, but less to do than many hope. If you are here in the heat, you will suffer greatly but some things to do include the alligator walk at Brazos Bend State Park, NASA, eating Bar-B-Que and Mexican food

Edited: 7 years ago
Vancouver, Canada
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8. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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Excited about Dubai? I've been there twice and I much prefer Doha, but I failed to mention Muscat and Oman... now that was interesting, even in the absurd heat. We rented a car and drove in to the interior. I have been collecting World Heritage Site visits (something you should look up) and am up to 83 after collecting three on my last trip to Oman. Plus, the hotel rates aren't that expensive. I recommend the Hyatt.

Sandwich, United...
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9. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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My only observation is you will spend a great deal of your time in Central Europe traipsing to and from airports and going through security. For others planning extensive travel in Europe you will find point to point train tickets cheap, you'll travel city centre to city centre and see lots of decent views along the way. OP I'm sure you will have a wonderful trip.

Preston, United...
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10. Re: Around the World (RTW) here we come, summer of 2017....
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22 places in 75 days is an average of 3-4 days in each place. Given that every time you move the best part of a day goes that leaves you with 53 days for 22 places, so only 2 days in many places.

Auckland is arguably the least interesting place in New Zealand but you will have barely any time to see anything else. I could happily spend all your time in NZ.

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