Around the World: Beginners Guide to RTW Tickets. Tom Griffiths

Transcription

1 Around the World: Beginners Guide to RTW Tickets Tom Griffiths

2 Beginners Guide to Around the World Tickets Right! Round the world (RTW) tickets are awesome, one of the cheapest ways to see the world and perfect for the first time backpacker. They may look complicated, but they are a piece of piss, so I ll give you a quick run down... A RTW ticket is literally a ticket that takes you around the world (the clue is in the title!) All you have to do is: 1. Choose all the places you want to stop off at and see e.g. Australia, New Zealand etc Work out how long you want to stop there e.g. Three months in Australia, one month in New Zealand etc Buy a Round the World ticket from a specialist RTW ticket outlet 4. Go, have fun Come back, brag to your mates and make them jealous with the photos! The ticket is basically a series of pre-booked single flights that take you out to Australia and back home again over whatever time period you want - one month to 12 months - it s up to you. There are two ways around the world: 1. Anti-clockwise - via the USA and the Pacific Islands first, then into Australia and New Zealand and back home via South East Asia. 2. Clockwise - via South East Asia first, out to Oz and then back via the Pacific Islands and the USA. Most first time backpackers go anti-clockwise as it means they can do the easier destinations of the US, Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia before the slightly more difficult destinations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand etc. in South East Asia. It also means doing the more expensive destinations first, leaving the cheapest to last when you re skint! Did you just say Pacific islands? Yup! You re going to go to places that everyone else would love to go to, but never will... How they work, costs etc... Top tip: Get a world map in front of you for this next bit - as it s easier to understand what I m rambling on about if you can point at stuff too... All you need to do is work out where you want to go and when! Most tickets are valid for 12 months. Most tickets are fully flexible. Written by Tom Griffiths - 2 -

3 Depending on how much money you have saved for your trip, how much time you have free to travel and how much you have to spend on your ticket; you can go where you want, for however long you want (under 12 months of course), when you want. In the UK you can leave from most of the major airports, although you re more likely to get a better deal through the big ones, as they have more flights. To give you an idea, the most popular route is... London -> LA -> Fiji -> Cook Islands -> New Zealand (into Auckland on the North Island, out of Christchurch on the South Island) -> Australia (into Sydney, tour around Australia) -> Indonesia (fly into Bali) and make your own way overland through Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand flying out of Bangkok (Thailand) -> back home. Average price pre taxes is around 1,000. With taxes you ll expect to pay over 1,200 Top tip: It s important to know if the price you have been quoted is the final price or not. This will help you to compare the different quotes you collect. Some may look cheaper than others until all the extras are added. Most popular departure months: January & February (the prices low and it fits with the seasons) Most popular length of trip: Six months (for those who need to be back for summer) or 12 months (for those who don t have to be back or who want to spend Christmas overseas; usually in Sydney) Useful facts worth knowing RTW tickets are cheaper from January to March, which also happens to coincide with some of the best seasons to travel in the countries you ll be visiting. 2. Prices may vary depending on dates e.g. prices fall by over 100 on January 19th - so departing a week later may be an idea - always ask to see when the prices fall. 3. These tickets are fully flexible, which means that you can change them at any time i.e. you re having a great time in New Zealand so you decide to stay an extra month. You shouldn t need to pay to change your tickets as you head round the world, but some companies now charge. Make sure you ask to know where you stand. Written by Tom Griffiths - 3 -

4 Tom s top tips! 1. Beware of From... prices on RTW tickets. It may be From 756 if you book at the quietest, coldest, most random time of year that no-one wants to go and don t add the taxes onto it - but be warned that the price you re probably going to pay will be around 1,200. Don t be taken in by the marketing If you re at all nervous about travelling through South East Asia first, then I d suggest you head anti-clockwise round the world - do the USA and Pacific Islands first. 3. Less is more. You re more likely to enjoy a five month trip seeing four countries properly, than trying to eight over six months. A RTW trip should be more about seeing things you ll never see again than rushing through airports and sitting on buses just to get there. Really see the countries you go to rather than visit Seriously important stuff... Round the world travel insurance If you don t take it you could easily rack up a 50, ,000 medical bill if something goes wrong. Imagine trying to find this money. Probably the only way for you to raise this amount would be for your parents to sell their house right? What if you had to raise 300,000. This stuff happens. Take insurance. Full stop. How to use this section of the site Click on the routes Via blah blah... scroll down and read our advice and information on the destinations available to you 2. Note down the routes and destinations that look cool. 3. Check out the prices and decide whether this is the sort of thing you are after. Then... Either: (quicker and easier if you want to get cracking) call to speak to one of our Round the World advisors to buy or chat through your proposed trip. Or: Fill in the enquiries forms provided with your details and they ll contact you... Written by Tom Griffiths - 4 -

5 Build Your Own Around the World Trip! Plan your travels on gapyear.com First head to 2. Explore the round the world routes 3. Read our user s recommendations 4. Start planning your travels FOR MORE INFO GO TO: gapyear.com/rtw_flights Written by Gapyear.com - 5 -

6 Trip Planning Tools At gapyear.com we are dedicated to bringing you the very best information in the best possible way. That is why we have created a series of trip planning tools for you and set up a homes for them on For those of you looking for help planning your trips, the planners section is a good place to start. Here you will find a series of downloads featuring most of the information we feel you should know before departure. To explore our Planners go to In addition we also have a vast number of user guides and articles. Some are written by us, but most are supplied travellers like yourselves. To explore the User Guides and Articles go to Australia Planner Australia is big, beautiful and bloody miles away. Fortunately, your friends at gapyear.com are here to help. We have created the Australia Planner in order to help you plan your trip to Australia! This guide is brilliant and you will find it in the planners section right now! Well go on, what are you waiting for... New Zealand Planner New Zealand is a strange land, many miles away with towering, craggy mountains and a strange impenetrable language. Want to know what fush and chups is? Want to know what it will cost? Well, we re here to help! The New Zealand Planner is the perfect accompaniment to our Around the World Planner and also works neatly with the Australia Planner. Find it in the Planners section and download it for free now! Written by our staff at gapyear.com, this short guide is the simplest way to get a grasp of what round the world tickets and how they work. They may look a bit complicated at first, but they are actually a piece of piss once you understand them; be sure to read on for a quick run down. This guide can be found the User Guides and Articles section under Around the World Guides. Written by Gapyear.com - 6 -