Does this seem a good deal for RTW?

Hey everyone...

I'm looking to go on a RTW trip alone this October for a year. I had a quote the other day from Travel Nation from London to:

Thailand (Bangkok)
Australia (Sydney)
New Zealand (into Christchurch and out of Auckland)
LA (into LA and out of San Francisco)

Supposedly they are flexible flights that I can change for just an admin fee of around £15. All in with charges/taxes it's £1315 (1 year). Does this seem pretty good to you? I'm looking to be away for the whole year with a month in Thailand, at least 6 months in Oz (with working visa -easy to get?), 2 months in NZ then the remainder in the US.

I wana get something sorted soon as a week today I'm flying to New York where I'll be working at a summer camp upstate teaching mountain biking for 3 months.

Any advice is much appreciated. Hope you're all having a great weekend

Well as a comparison a quote from sta travel for my itineary.

London-Delhi
Singapore-Sydney
Sydney-Christchurch
Auckland-Nadi
Nadi-Honolulu
Honolulu-Los Angeles
New York- London

These flights were £1450. I was quoted considerably more by travel nation about £1850. Ring round some other companys and you will get an idea. In the end I plan to just book as I go.

seems alright to me mate perhaps a little steep, I'm doing the same route but there's more stops, perhaps it would be worth while chucking in fiji or one of the islands and seeing how much more it costs you? I got the following for 1480 pounds :

London > Bangkok > bali > Australia > NZ > Fiji > LA > London

I got a quote from STA for a route quite similar and they wanted 1650 pounds.

Different routes work out cheaper with some and more expensive with others so get a quote from as many as you can before buying, I got a quote from 3 companies and went with Travell nation in the end.

Try Trailfinders - I have found they always seem to quote lower than everyone else and their service is great.

The price is right but I think a good travel agent/firm should be able to add a few more stops for that price, especially somewhere in the Pacific.

I tried Travel nation, STA and Trailfinders.

Trailfinders was the cheapest, For £1288 route we got was:

London--->Delhi
Mumbai--->Singapore
Singapore--->Bangkok
Singapore--->Perth
Sydney--->Christchurch
Auckland--->Cook Islands
Cook islands---LA
LA--->London

Ring around you should be able to get a much better price than the one you were quoted.

Hey

Here's what I got for £2400 via Travel Counsellers and on the oneworld explorer

London - Lima (via Madrid)
Santiago - Auckland
Christchurch - Sydney
Brisbane - Alice Springs
Alice Springs - Melbourne
Sydney - Singapore
Bangkok - Hong Kong
Hong Kong - J'Burg
J'Burg - Mauritius
Mauritius - J'Burg
J'Burg - London

We're covering an extra continent (as I see compared to the above itineries), a lot of mileage and doing a lot of overland travel which of course counts as a sector. We got a pretty good price when we bought.

When checking prices, make sure the agent is clear about any indirect flights as this will eat into your sectors (and price). Originally I wasn't informed of the indirect stops (Madrid and Hong Kong) and so when comparing against other agents things just didnt add up.

Hope that helps, feel free to PM for more info

Paddy

Thanks for all the input up to now. I've just spoke to someone at Trailfinders and got the following quote. London to:

Thailand (Bangkok)
Australia (Sydney)
New Zealand (into Christchurch and out of Auckland)
Fiji (Nadi)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Los Angeles (LA)

This will be for a year. I was told it will be anything up to £50 to change a flight with BA/Qantas by calling up their office in the specific country.

If I keep the itinerary as above and fly into/out of LA it's £1463 all in but if I fly into LA and out of San Francisco it's just over a mileage threshold so it'll be £1570.

Gonna try another few now and see what Travel Nation say about adding the other stops.

Have you thought about just booking flights as and when you need to. I have found that I can do the same route for the same money, if not slightly cheaper and giving me much more flexibility.

I second s96024's thoughts. I looked around at set itineraries and in the end just decided to book as I go as the price wouldn't be all that different, also you have much more flexibility if you book as you go.

The main reason I decided to 'pay as you go' is I could stay and go as I please. If I dislike somewhere, I will go. If I like somewhere I will stay, all without any admin costs.

Also I think it adds to the excitement/adventure rather than knowing exactly how much time you have left and where you will be going next.