I previously told you about my round-the-world destinations over the past 9 months. In this article, I will talk to you about booking round-the-world tickets as you go along.
Booking a round-the-world ticket for your trip? My answer
The answer to this question is simple: I did not buy round-the-world tickets, so if you want information on that subject, move along. However, if you want to know how I book my plane tickets as my trip progresses, this post is for you.
To benefit from flight cancellations or to return home in case of serious family problems, I advise you to read this article on the travel insurance comparator
Common misconceptions about booking plane tickets as you go:
- Booking a one-year round-the-world ticket is cheaper: this is false. You will just take more time choosing flights.
The advantages of not buying a round-the-world plane ticket:
- It allows you to be freer in your trip and to stop in the country of your choice.
- Booking a round-the-world ticket will restrict you more on deadlines than you think. You quit your job to be free, right?
- You can return whenever you want and even make a stopover in France during your round-the-world trip.
- Not limiting yourself to “one year”. For example, you could do three months of volunteering or learn Spanish in a language school in South America for a long time without inconvenience.
- You are flexible, free in your choices, and open to other adventures!!
This article is part of another series where I explain my itinerary and round-the-world budget.
Round-the-world plane ticket to Asia and Africa
My first travel tickets were the following “Paris – Turkey – South Africa”:
Ticket from Paris to Turkey:
Ticket from Istanbul to Cape Town in South Africa
I paid just under 100 euros with Pegasus Airlines, so 470 euros in total to go to South Africa for my plane tickets booked two months in advance.
When buying the first destinations, you can book tickets in advance because you already know your first destinations.
Rules for getting the cheapest possible plane ticket:
- Try to cover as much distance as possible with a low-cost airline (in my case Pegasus Airlines for Turkey). I could have had the same price without the low-cost airline if I had searched earlier and longer.
- Travel to places either at the beginning or end of high season or in low season. I chose to go to Cape Town in South Africa in October during mid-season. The climate in Cape Town starts to be good in early October whereas before it was winter, so you miss nothing except paying less.
- Plane tickets are cheaper during the week; I left Paris on a Monday and Istanbul on a Wednesday.
My second plane tickets were “Johannesburg – Dubai – Bangkok”:
I booked this plane ticket two weeks before leaving.
Advantages of this ticket:
- I enjoy a “free” 4-day stopover in Dubai. By that I mean I chose the “Emirates” airline specifically to be able to stop in Dubai for the same price. You could have chosen another Middle Eastern or Asian airline and made a stopover for the same price, instead of having a stopover of about ten hours. This is what I explain in this post: Free stopover.
- I take advantage of “low” prices at the beginning of the high season before tourists arrive around December 20 (start of school holidays). Prices increase by a few hundred euros for Bangkok the following week.
Round-the-world plane ticket from Asia to Oceania
My third series of plane tickets for my round-the-world trip:
- Ticket to Malaysia:
- Ticket to Taiwan:
What you need to know about these plane tickets:
- They were booked with Asian low-cost airlines (Airasia, Cebu Pacific, Air Nok, etc.) and there are dozens of them in Asia.
- These tickets were booked 2 days and 9 days in advance. Prices of low-cost airlines vary much less than regular airlines for trips between two countries.
- I could very well have taken a bus to go to Malaysia to limit costs (the price is half as much by bus).
- I could have stayed longer in Malaysia but it was my third stay in this country.
My fourth series of round-the-world flights:
- Ticket to the Philippines:
- Ticket to Sydney with a day in Singapore:
What to know about these plane tickets?
- They were booked one month in advance.
- For some destinations, the length of the trip is easy to determine because either the country is small (like Taiwan) or the tourist visa is for a fixed duration (visa given on arrival by air, Thailand = 1 month, Philippines = 1 month). These are the reasons why I booked the tickets so far in advance.
- I took advantage of a one-day stopover in Singapore to visit the city free of charge by using the stopover trick by choosing the airline well. I stayed only one day but I could have stayed longer, but I had already been to Singapore in 2011 for a week.
Summary of round-the-world tickets on my itinerary up to Sydney:
First summary of my round-the-world tickets:
My route was as follows:
- Paris – Istanbul – Cape Town (departure from Johannesburg) – Dubai – Bangkok (Krabi) – Kuala Lumpur – Taipei – Manila – Singapore – Sydney.
| Price (in Euros) | |
| Paris – Istanbul | 100 |
| Istanbul – Cape Town | 373 |
| Johannesburg – Dubai | 337 for two flights |
| Dubai – Bangkok | |
| Krabi – Kuala Lumpur | 53 |
| Kuala Lumpur – Taipei | 103 |
| Taipei – Manila | 87 |
| Manila – Singapore | 266 for two destinations |
| Singapore – Sydney | |
| Total | 1319 |
Summary on a map of the route:
Conclusion:
I paid just over 1300 euros for a huge number of destinations, which is as much as a Paris – Sydney round trip in high season. I could have paid even less if I had only visited Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.) instead of “island” countries like the Philippines and Taiwan.
PS: it is also possible to do Southeast Asia and the “island” countries without paying extra for plane tickets by traveling entirely by bus.
Crossing the Pacific Ocean by plane to America
There are several ways to cross the Pacific by plane, either via Asia or via Australia or New Zealand. This crossing by booking plane tickets as you go along is expensive!
-
Crossing the Pacific via Asia.
The cheapest is to go through Asia but unfortunately, I was not in that area but rather in Oceania.
You can find examples of prices to leave in the coming weeks:
- * Tokyo – Los Angeles
- * Seoul – Los Angeles
If you do not want to go to Australia or New Zealand, take this option. It is the most economical solution and you might be able to enjoy the stopover to visit the country.
I will not do a comparative study but plane tickets are cheaper to Los Angeles than to other American cities. These options are the cheapest possible. Prefer departure from South Korea or Japan. I use many tips to pay less for my plane ticket.
-
Crossing the Pacific via Oceania (New Zealand or Australia).
This option costs at least 800 euros. You have several choices, go through the islands or arrive directly. Personally, I took a different option, I went through Hawaii but you can go through French Polynesia or New Caledonia but the ticket is more expensive.
Either 631 euros for a flight to Hawaii and a flight to another island. The ticket would be cheaper if I had only gone to Honolulu.
The plane ticket was booked two months in advance. I preferred to book early because changing continents is a decision that must be planned in advance.
Or 231 euros, this plane ticket was purchased with a Visa card without the international option, so it generated more fees and the exchange rate was worse. It was booked three weeks before the flight to Seattle, i.e., two days before arriving in Hawaii.
So it cost me 862 euros to cross the Pacific.
The reason for my choice on crossing the Pacific Ocean:
- I paid almost the cheapest possible to arrive on the American continent (I could have found 800 euros if I had not made a stopover).
- I took advantage of the stopover in Hawaii to make a 17-day stop and thus add an additional destination. I do not regret it at all because Hawaii is ALOHA!
- Upon arriving in Hawaii, I have the choice for my arrival city in the USA; I arrived in Seattle which will allow me to visit western Canada because I plan to gradually go down to Central America.
Here is another possible option: Auckland in New Zealand to Santiago de Chile
It is a flight from Auckland in New Zealand to Santiago de Chile, which is the cheapest destination from Oceania for a departure in two weeks. By making this choice, you normally only have one plane ticket left to buy, which is the return to France if we assume you travel by bus throughout South America.
Most of you will choose this option to cross the Pacific. You have to play with dates to get the best possible price.
The American continent
I am currently in Canada and I will cross the USA by bus then take a plane to Mexico. I plan to use the same method during my stay on the American continent until I reach the south of South America using as few flights as possible.
Summary of round-the-world plane tickets
I have traveled these destinations: Paris – Istanbul – Cape Town (Johannesburg) – Dubai – Bangkok (Krabi) – Kuala Lumpur – Taipei – Manila – Singapore – Sydney – Auckland – Hawaii – Seattle (USA) – Canada.
I add the following plane tickets: a flight Sydney – Christchurch and a bus trip in Canada which must be counted in the summary.
The ticket cost me 140 euros and I booked it one month in advance, i.e., one week before arriving in Australia.
The bus was booked two months in advance but the price varies by a maximum of 10 dollars (that’s already something saved).
Accounting summary:
1320 + 862 +140 + 12 = 2334 euros
I paid 2334 euros for approximately 31,491 miles or 50,000 km and at least 14 countries knowing that I could have visited more countries by land in Asia if I wanted. After this whole trip, I make a point on my journey here.
If you want to know why I went to these countries during my round-the-world trip, I invite you to read this article: countries to visit during a round-the-world trip.
What to know about the round-the-world route:
Doing a complete round-the-world trip between 30,000 and 35,000 miles costs more than 3000 euros without adding possible flight change costs. Example of a price from an alliance:
Cost: 3662 euros for 14 stops and 33,355 miles.
In the end, if we compare the prices of round-the-world tickets, booking tickets as you go along is not that expensive, especially with the flexibility you gain.
If I add a return ticket to France, I would be around 3000 euros by doing a few more destinations and more distance.
If we do a distance/price ratio calculation, I am much cheaper than a round-the-world ticket.
What else you need to know:
- It is mandatory to have round-trip tickets in some countries.
- The visa duration can allow you to choose the length of your stay.
- Subscribe to an international plan for your “Visa” card to have fewer fees.
- Booking these tickets as you go takes time at the beginning but you gain flexibility. Afterward, you will be more used to it and know the tricks.
- I traveled this route in 8 months but the advantage of booking tickets as you go is that these 8 months could have been 5 months, 1 year, or 2 years, etc. You can stop wherever you want, for as long as you want, and you can even work depending on the country you go to. Personally, I was fast because I had already been to many Asian countries and had already spent 1 year in Australia.
- If we look at the way of traveling, I never had long stopovers of more than ten hours, so there is nothing restrictive.
- There are also bus tickets to visit the country each time to add, of course (For example, I arrived in Cape Town and left from Johannesburg in South Africa or I arrived in Christchurch and left from Auckland).
A review of my round-the-world experiences: here
Want to do your round-the-world ticket research? it’s here.
Are you ready to book your plane tickets as you go?
