Itineraries for RTW Trips – Leaving from North America

When people get serious about the idea of going on a round the world trip, obviously one of the first issues involves putting together some kind of itinerary or route map. Sure, there are people who prefer to just buy their first one-way ticket, and make the rest up as they go, but if you really want to travel “around the world” it’s not a bad idea to have a general plan in mind early on, even if you end up winging it anyway.

As someone who’s done a long RTW in addition to dozens of other trips of various lengths, I’ve learned quite a bit about how these itineraries and RTW route maps tend to go, so I’ll be sharing some itinerary ideas along with commentary here over the next few months.

Leaving from North America

While it’s true that Australians probably travel more per capita than any of the rest of us, and Europeans aren’t far behind, Americans and Canadians still make up a huge percentage of the people doing this. So to begin with, I’ll share the route I ended up doing myself, and then I’ll branch into other starting points in the future.

Interestingly enough, my bank account was pretty full, and my plan was to “wing it”, but I ended up following almost the exact route I had in mind from the start, and I think that’s probably quite common. I skipped Chile and Turkey, and added a couple other stops, but otherwise it was very close to the original plan.

USA to Central America

I started in NYC and made stops to visit friends in Miami and Los Angeles, and then flew to Belize City to officially begin.

Central America

• Belize City to Flores, Guatemala by bus, to see Tikal
• Cheap spontaneous flight from Flores to Guatemala City/Antigua
• Flight from Guatemala City to San Jose, Costa Rica (explore Costa Rica by land)

Except for Belize and Costa Rica, Central America is quite cheap, especially if you don’t require any kind of luxury. Long distance buses are comfortable and reliable, but only from Guatemala City to Panama City. You’ll be amazed by how little English is spoken here, so definitely brush up on your Espanol before you arrive, or right after you do.

Central America to South America

• San Jose, Costa Rica to Lima, Peru

This was part of a ticket I bought through STA Travel, from Guatemala City to Buenos Aires, with stops planned in Costa Rica and Peru. Buying this 3-stop ticket was WAY cheaper than buying 3 tickets individually.

South America

• Lima to Cusco for Machu Picchu, and then back to Lima
• Lima to Buenos Aires (visit Uruguay by ferry)
• Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls, round trip
• Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro

Again, I bought a multi-stop ticket in Buenos Aires to Lisbon, with a long stopover in Rio. This was also way cheaper than the individual tickets, so it’s something to look into, especially if there is a STA Travel or affiliate nearby.

South America to Europe

• Rio to Lisbon

Europe

• Lisbon to Algarve by train
• Algarve to Seville by bus
• Seville to Tarifa by bus
• Tarifa to Morocco by ferry, round trip
• Tarifa to Granada by bus
• Granada to Madrid by train
• Madrid to Barcelona by cheap flight (cheaper and faster than train)
• Barcelona to Nice by overnight train
• Nice to Milan by train
• Milan to Venice to Florence to Rome by train
• Flight from Rome to Athens

Skirting along the southern part of Europe was perfect for the late winter when I did this, and it keeps costs way down as well. All the bus trips I took were between cities where there is little or no train service, and they were cheap and reliable. Particularly in Spain and Portugal, the train coverage isn’t nearly what it is elsewhere in Europe, so think twice before buying a rail pass or assuming you’ll take trains everywhere, at least in this region.

The Morocco part was incredible, and extremely easy from Tarifa, but you can also leave from the larger port in Algeciras or Gibraltar, which are both nearby.

Europe to Africa

• Flight from Athens to Cairo

This was a cheap flight purchased a day or two before I left.

Africa to Asia

• Cairo to Mumbai, changing planes in Kuwait

This flight wasn’t too cheap, but it’s a pretty long distance so it was fair. I didn’t realize that Americans need a (pricey) visa BEFORE they leave for India, so I was stuck in Cairo for a whole week while I sorted that out at the consulate. Don’t make the mistake of not investigating which visas you’ll need and how soon you’ll need to apply for them.

Asia

• Mumbai to Goa by train
• Flight from Goa to Delhi
• Around India by train, returning to Delhi
• Flight from Delhi to Bangkok
• Train from Bangkok to Ko Samui (via ferry)
• Flight from Ko Samui to Kuala Lumpur

As you probably know already, things in India are dirt cheap once you get outside the big cities, and even in the big cities things are fairly cheap too. I met people who were having a great time on budgets well under US$20 per day, especially in the smaller towns like Pushkar.

Asia to Oceania

• Flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney
• Around Australia by flights, trains, and rental car
• Flight from Sydney to Auckland
• Around New Zealand by campervan
• Flight from Christchurch to Tahiti (via Auckland)

Flights to Sydney were more expensive than I had guessed, so this was yet another reason to look into buying a ticket in advance. When you see cheap tickets between some cities, you can’t just assume they’ll be available between every city pair. You’ll eventually run across a flight that will cost a fortune, and then suddenly your budget is way off.

The flight I bought for the end was from Sydney to Los Angeles, with (almost) free stops in Auckland and Tahiti. These flights are all expensive, so this is another route that you’ll never get a cheap ticket on. One-way tickets across the Pacific cost even more than round-trips, so prepare to pay at least US$1,000 for this part, unless you find a great special that works for you.

And back home

Flight from Tahiti to Los Angeles

Totals:
6 continents
20+ countries
6 months (which is quite fast for this many stops)

Costs of flights and should I have bought one ticket package in advance?

I couldn’t bare to actually add all the flight costs up, but not including the round trip flights I took in the middle, I’d guess I spent between $5,000 and $6,000 on flights, and I’m quite good at finding deals, if I do say so myself.

If I’d bought a ticket in advance, it probably would have been about $3,500 to $4,000, and even if I paid an extra $500 for changing some of my dates along the way, it would have saved me quite a bit of money.

I really loved the freedom of being spontaneous, but it came at a cost. I’ve known many people who think they’ll actually SAVE money by finding cheap tickets all along the way, but I’ve never heard of anyone who said it actually worked out that way in the long run. Buy point-to-point tickets for the adventure, but don’t think you’ll travel more cheaply by doing that.