Travelers looking to go on a RTW trip or an extended break have so many things to consider.  Last week we discussed where to go on a long term trip and what to think about when choosing your destinations.  I understand that so many people want to know about budgets and how much they’re going to have to save.  But before you can set a monetary goal, there’s still several more things to consider.

Airfare will be the biggest expense

Unless you’re planning on being unique like the man behind Go, See, Write and travel around the world without taking a plane, then airfare is going to be your top expense.  You obviously want to minimize costs as much as possible yet also have flexibility.  There are many things to consider when trying to decide what’s best for you.

Cost or Flexibility?

What it really comes down to is this:  Do you care more about minimizing your costs or having the flexibility to change plans on a whim?  It really isn’t much more complicated than that.  RTW tickets will most likely be cheaper, unless you get lucky.  Buying as you go will allow you to go where you want when you want, but it could legitimately double your largest expense, especially if you are taking off in the next 6 months when airfares are expected to skyrocket.

All you Need to Know about RTW Tickets

For those of you in the initial planning stages, you are probably wondering what the hell a RTW ticket even is.  I know I had never heard of one before we decided to go on our trip.

To put it simply, a RTW ticket is a plane ticket you buy from a company that will encompass nearly ALL the flights of your trip.  Most reputable companies who sell this type of ticket have search functions on their sites to get you started.  Start plugging in destinations and voila!, a price pops out.

Here are a few sites where you can do this:

• BootsnAll uses Air Treks to offer their customers RTW flight itineraries.  Their page has several sample airfares to give you an idea of costs, or you can actually plug in exact destinations.  Playing around with this is actually quite a lot of fun.
• Star Alliance is another company which has a lot of different options for RTW tickets.  Their search function is fantastic.
• One World Alliance is another popular company offering RTW tickets and a great search function.

Pros of Booking a RTW Flight

• It’s typically going to be cheaper.  When airfares plummeted back in 2008-2009, people who chose the buy as you go route got lucky and probably got off for the same price, if not cheaper, than a RTW ticket.  But that was an anomaly that probably won’t happen again for a while.  In fact, it could be the total opposite for summer and fall travel in 2011.  By and large you should get a much better deal when purchasing a RTW ticket.
• Your plans will be made and you won’t have to spend any time checking airfare while on the road.  You can actually spend your time traveling instead of sitting in an internet cafe checking flights.
• A RTW flight will get you to more regions cheaper.  In the last post about Where to Go, I talked a lot about just choosing a region or two to focus on rather than trying to go everywhere.  A RTW ticket will allow you to go to more continents for less money.

Cons of Booking a RTW Ticket

• You simply won’t have the flexibility to go where you want, when you want and take advantage of spontaneity.  Sure, you can change your flights once you purchase a RTW ticket, but many companies charge fees.  Those add up and might not end up saving you any money had you just went the buy as you go route.
• Most RTW tickets are only good for ONE YEAR. Make sure you do your homework on this one.  If you are planning an open-ended trip or think you may be gone for longer than a year, most tickets are only good for 12 months.
• Many RTW tickets only allow one way travel, meaning you can only go west to east or east to west.  No backtracking.  Some may not care, but this could be a deal breaker for others.  Events like Oktoberfest, Carnival, and New Year’s Eve only happen once a year, so if you’re planning on hitting some of these or similar events, it could be difficult without backtracking.

All you Need to Know about Buy as you Go Tickets

Pretty simple, really, you buy your tickets as you are traveling.  Find that very first one way flight out of your hometown and take it from there.

Pros of Buy as you Go

• Flexibility is the key advantage of buy as you go.  You can where you want, when you want, and it opens up a world of possibilities (pun intended).
• You can keep your itinerary as open or as planned as you want.  You can buy a flight here, a flight there, and take advantage of deals and sales when they come around.  Basically, you can really give in to spontaneity and let your whims choose where you go next.
• You can travel as long as you want with no restrictions.  Find a place that you love and feel like staying a month or two?  No upcoming flights to worry about canceling or rescheduling.  Find a job and want to stay somewhere for a year?  You can do that, too.  The possibilities are endless.

Cons of Buy as you Go

• Cost is the big one for most people.  Typically, stringing together a series of one way flights around the world is going to cost more than if you buy a RTW ticket.
• Some people just like to have their ducks in a row, and I don’t blame them.  If you are traveling on a tight budget, it can become a hassle having to constantly keep your eye on the price of flights.  Decision-making, especially when traveling with your partner, becomes more and more annoying, and sometimes it’s simply easier to have it all planned out.
• That perfect flight is now gone.  Airfare changes so often that sometimes you find a great deal, talk about it, get excited, then by the time you go back to actually purchase, the flight is double the price.  There is nothing more frustrating.

What we did

I’ve tried to remain as unbiased as possible throughout this post.  It really does come down to a matter of personal preference, but I still think it’s important to let you know what we decided and why.

We ended up going with the the Buy as you Go option.  There were several factors that went into our decision making process, but what it ultimately came down to was having flexibility.  By this point, we knew we were going to be spending the bulk of our time in South America and SE Asia, but we we wanted the freedom to add a few more regions in if we so chose.  Also, when we left, it was fairly open-ended.  We planned on being gone for about a year, but we were completely open to staying gone longer, coming home earlier, or not coming home at all, so that one year restriction that most RTW tickets offered simply didn’t cut it for us.

Were we happy with our decision?

YES!  Now we did get extremely lucky in that airfare was way down in 2008-2009 when we went on our RTW trip.  So we ended up finding some amazing deals.  But I’m not going to lie, it was annoying and frustrating at times to have to constantly think about where we wanted to go next and check all manner of flights to try to find the absolute best deal.  We were traveling on a pretty tight budget, so we couldn’t blow our wad on really expensive airfare, so we had to be diligent, almost psychotic at times, about searching for and finding the best deal.  But overall, we were happy with our decision, and having the freedom to go where we want when we wanted allowed us to go to New Zealand for five weeks after finding a great deal.

What’s Next on Tuesday Travel Tips?

We’ve had three Tuesday Travel Tip posts thus far about long term, RTW travel.  Next week we’re finally going to get into that most important aspect of planning a RTW trip:  THE BUDGET! I’ll go over how much money you’ll really need, how to find out those numbers, and go over several tips for saving and planning.  After that, we’ll talk about Which Route to Take, then I’ll give Tips for the Buy as you Go Option of Flying.

I’d love to hear some feedback on the series so far.  What do you like?  What don’t you like?  Anything in particular you want me to cover?  Any other questions?  Comment below to let me know!