We have a big picture plan for our 2010 travel, but we hope you’ll help fill in the gaps. At the end of October we’ll be buying a couple of round-the-world tickets for a new adventure. The plan is…
Leave New Zealand for South America. Fly into Chile and …
A family wedding in the UK followed by a few months in Europe …
Africa, probably mostly in the north …
Into Asia with no need to finish up in New Zealand. We might spend another six to twelve months travelling around …
Help us fill the gaps with advice, locations, suggestions. If you need something practical, here’s the OneWorld Round-the-World trip planner to help us join the dots. (Remember, we can also travel by train/domestic flights, which is sometimes cheaper than using a RTW sector.)
Get into the comments and start suggesting. Feel free to link to articles on the places you’re talking about.
Written by: Craig and Linda
Posted on: Friday, October 16th, 2009
Posted in: Articles, Explore
Responses: 19 so far
Hey Craig,
Well let’s say a few things. If you’re going to use the oneworld airfare there are some things people might want to know to help you plan.
- The maximum number of sectors is 16.
- A sector is either a flight or an own arrangements sector between two Santiago // Own arrangements to Buenos Aires // is also 2 sectors.
- Keeping the 16 sector rule in consideration you are permitted to have 4 internal flights in each continent on top of your flights into and out of the continent. [6 in North America but you're not going there].
- Northern Africa is often considered part of Europe as far as the continent plan goes depending on the countries you want. Oneworld’s ticket is mostly rubbish for internal flights so it’d probably be a flight into and out of that area from London or Madrid [BA or Iberian] and then own arrangements overland etc. The good news on that is that there is a good chance you can keep away from having to add on the price of another continent for Africa if you stay mostly in the North. You may need to route out via Amman or London which will use up another sector on the round the world.
- The good news is that oneworld tickets are 10% off now – so I’d book and pay by end of October to get the decent saving. We have the Aussie prices listed here but might need to consider something ex-NZ to get prices there [long story as to why we can't do ex-NZ in Aussie anymore due to oneworld restrictions] http://www.roundabouttravel.com.au/info/airfare_deals.
- In Asia you’ll be mostly restricted to the oneworld hubs of Hong Kong and Tokyo but could use them as a launch pad into somewhere else [Vietnam etc] and then do Air Asia/overland down to Singapore/Bangkok to fly out. If you want to use your 4 internal flights in Asia they are best suited around the Northern Asia areas.
Hope that helps, any round the world questions let us know, it’s what we specialise in. Can hit us up at twitter too.
Mark Trim – Director
October 16th, 2009 at 5:37 pmRoundAbout Travel
http://www.roundabouttravel.com.au
http://www.twitter.com/RoundAboutTrvl
How about Wales?!?
October 16th, 2009 at 6:02 pmI know someone that will happily provide a bed and a warm welcome
@ Mark, thanks – that’s pretty much what we had found … and the 10% off sale is what has us needing to decide by the end of the month! Good to have that out there as people make suggestions.
@Rhi, there’s always Wales
October 16th, 2009 at 6:32 pmCool. FYI the countries included in Northern Africa that don’t add any extra continent cost are… EKATERINBURG/ALGERIA/EGYPT/LIBYA/MOROCCO/SUDAN/TUNISIA
October 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pmYou could go check out the Star Wars set. Hahah.
A good way to check out what’s possible in South America is on the LAN Airlines route map, a quick google search provides it. Plenty of options except for North East of the Continent.
Any reason for starting in Chile? I though Brazil might be better, Carnival in Rio is on Feb 13 – 16 next year.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:56 pmWhy Chile?
The way the RTW tickets work is that you get five of sectors in South America … and the flights from Auckland go to Lima or Santiago. We’re planning for an early Feb start and thinking about stopping in Easter Island for a week or so (another sector used). That’ll get us into the continent around Carnival time, then it’d be another sector used with little time in the west.
We’re just reading up on it now and having a look at routes starting from Chile, into Patagonia, back up through Argentina, etc. There’s a few interesting looking helpx programmes down in Patagonia (which means labour for food/accommodation).
Probably fly out of the north in June/July: looking at Peru, Columbia or Venezuela.
Costs in South America seem to average out around US$30 person/day including local transport, that’s about $4,500 for the first five months.
We’re reading/sketching itineraries/budgeting/planning it right now, if you want to come over and help pore through guidebooks and help out.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:52 pmI believe you get 4 sectors in each continent except in North America you get 6. Agree that Brazil burns sectors faster than anywhere else. And the annoyance of routing via Sao Paulo all the time to get to Rio. GOL are a good discount airlines for adding flights to Brazil separately, if you bother. Fortunately Kiwis don’t need a visa to go there, unlike us Aussies!
We must have annoyed them somehow.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pmp.s. Bogota – Madrid is a good move for an out flight on IB.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:04 pmOn the visa front, it’s the same in Turkey. We thought it was an ANZAC concession but no, it’s just Kiwis that are visa-free.
Bogota (or another city) – Madrid is definitely on the cards.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:37 amEven though it can be expensive, see if you can find the time and funds to go to the Galapagos Islands. You will not regret it.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:17 amGalapagos … Do you know anything about flights out there? What are the easiest/cheapest departure points?
October 21st, 2009 at 2:12 pmOnly ex-Quito on AeroGal from what I know unless Christina got there another way? Chimu Adventures have good contacts. Great online aussie company.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:13 pmWe flew out of Quito, but you can fly out of Guayaquil too. The flight and two nights in Puerto Ayora (in the Galapagos) were part of the package. We sailed out on the Sea Man. http://tinyurl.com/yfpv7er
We only went for the 5 days, but I highly recommend doing 8 if you can. Stick with a smaller boat with about 8-10 people on board. Back in 2006 we spent about $1,100 US each for the week. One of the best experiences of my life:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/skylarking/1/1230319080/tpod.html
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 amhey what happened to Mexico?
Chile sounds nice, but being half Argentinian I strongly suggest you visit the country (btw I was told that the Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile is the best in the world –I don’t believe that but it won’t hurt to find out).
Chile’s famous for its seafood and Argentina has the best meat ever.
Galapagos regulations require you go with a tourguide, so it’s not too indie.
I’m not sure if I’d skip Colombia…I think the situation has improved a bit. I’d deffinitely go to Brazil if I had the chance.
I think from Costa Rica on it is safe enough to travel North and get to Yucatan in Mexico by bus.
And really, don’t miss Mexico City. If you want the tourist experience you can do it in about four days, but I’d stay longer.
Six months for a whole continent is too little tho, you should expect to come back.
Let me know when you’ll be in Mexico and maybe I can get you to stay with friends; and are you sure you want to start in the South and move up North instead of getting to (again) Mexico City and making your way South (this seems to be a more popular idea among travellers I’ve met).
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:20 pm@ Christina – thanks for the follow up. We’ll definitely look into it.
@Ana Laura – Mexico? I’m afraid not enough time happened to Mexico. As you said, six months is far too short. We originally planned to go for 3-5 years (like we did for Europe), but the wedding and a few other factors made us decide to make it a 3/4 of the way RTW taster instead. We’ll definitely be back for some slower travel.
We’re both big fans of wine (ahem) so we’re really looking forward to both Chile and Argentina. We’ve got a strong affection for malbec at the moment, so we’re going to the right places! We have friends in Columbia, so we’re hoping to get there and also to Peru.
At the moment, it looks like we’ll mainly focus on the west coast, leaving Brazil for another time. We’re still open to persuasion.
I guess north to south makes sense if you’re arriving from the States, but our flights will probably land us in Santiago, Chile (we’re coming from New Zealand) so we thought to do a southern loop then fly up north from Buenes Aires.
Thoughts?
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:03 pmAh, glad to see you’re going to Patagonia, it’s what I was going to suggest as an absolute must! Both times I went there, I stayed a few days in Punta Arenas (charming, but not all that much to do; depends on your schedule), then headed up (by bus) to Puerto Natales (if you can, try to stay at either Casa Cecilia, or, my current favourite, Erratic Rock II – ou Erratic Rock I for cheaper, dorm-style accomodation).
From Puerto Natales, of course, you get the bus to the Torres del Paine park, which, for me, is the destination of a lifetime
I did the “W” trekking route on both occasions, and it’s a very reasonable trek if you’re even mildly fit. Late February is not high season anymore, but if you plan on staying at the hostels inside the park at all (as opposed to camping), do call well ahead (a few months, if possible) and book your stay. When I went in April, there was room galore, but then I went on early/mid-February and couldn’t get a bed on most of them!
On the trekking itself, try *not* to skip the tips of the “W”, as many of the most beautiful sceneries are there (Gray glacier, Las Torres and a superb vision of the mountain range a few hours up Campamento Italiano).
By the way, speaking of high season, this last time we (my wife and I) also had trouble getting from Santiago to Punta Arenas. There are flights, but they sell out quickly on high season. We ended up doing an interesting, but very tiresome 4-hour train, 12-hour bus, then 36-hour bus trip. So take that into consideration.
Well, this is getting big, so I won’t bother you anymore. But do let me know if you want any more tips on Chilean Patagonia, and I’ll help with what I can.
BTW, I see someone mentioned Gol airlines in Brazil. Just to let you know, there are other, new low-cost airlines now. There’s Azul (http://voeazul.com.br/), which has been gathering a lot of praise, and Ocean Air (http://www.oceanair.com.br). Might be worth checking.
Cheers!
October 24th, 2009 at 8:39 amSpeaking of argentinian wine, try the Cinco Tierras. In Chile I had an excellent Dos Medallas.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:46 amYou should stop in Vancouver to enjoy the 2010 Olympics before heading down to South America.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:47 pm@rbp – Thanks; that’s much-needed info on the park, accommodation, flights … awesome stuff!
@David – Cheers for dropping by. I can’t imagine it working, but we’ll look into flights and routing and costs. It might just happen…
@all – We’re being tempted into the US by TBEX 2010 happening in New York at the end of June. Sorely tempted!
October 24th, 2009 at 7:33 pm