round the world flights

Jose Gonzalez

Hi,

I am looking into round the world flight packages. My idea is to fly to south america, visit Rio and Buenos aires, do the inca trail and move onto central america before traveling to New Zealand, possibly stopping on some pacific islands along the way. Has anyone travelled a similar route? Any advice on which package to take or who to book with would be much appreciated.

dory

Jose Gonzalez wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking into round the world flight packages. My idea is to fly to south america, visit Rio and Buenos aires, do the inca trail and move onto central america before traveling to New Zealand, possibly stopping on some pacific islands along the way. Has anyone travelled a similar route? Any advice on which package to take or who to book with would be much appreciated.

Hey,
We`ve been talking about this a lot lately. If you look at some of the other threads you`ll see my route is fairly similar to your own. If you want to start in Brazil, go up to Central America and back down you´ll probably have to buy either the most expensive rtw ticket or extra flights as well as you rtw one.

Trailfinders seem to be the most popular company, I went with USIT. Anything else?

Neamhshuntasach

Jose Gonzalez wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking into round the world flight packages. My idea is to fly to south america, visit Rio and Buenos aires, do the inca trail and move onto central america before traveling to New Zealand, possibly stopping on some pacific islands along the way. Has anyone travelled a similar route? Any advice on which package to take or who to book with would be much appreciated.

thats not the most linear route. You'd probably be better off flying to somewhere in central america and then traveling down overland or a short flight. down through peru and over to brazil and then argentina and out of chile to new zealand. i think santiago is the only point of exit to NZ/OZ. It's cheaper to do it that was because with RTW flight you can't fly backwards past a point you've already gone by as it is double mileage.

i booked with trailfinders. i'm flying into miami, making my own way around to mexico. down through mexico into belize and guatemala and then on to cuba. and out of cuba to venezuela and then down through south america and out of chile to new zealand. cost me 2200 i think. i've to get 2 of my own flights though since cuba is an island and no tourist boats dock there.

Jose Gonzalez

Yeah I could fly into Mexico and make my way down but I want to spend a month or two in costa rica. I will be leaving during May and I think that is the start of the rainy season there. Heard the roads get fairly bad. If I start in the South I could make my way up through Peru and eventually leave from L.A. I could then stop in Hawaii on the way over to New Zealand. USIT don't seem a great option and I'm looking into some of the airline packages e.g. world journey, global explorer etc. I havent ruled out travelling from north to south so if anybody has any more advice I would be grateful.

Flynn

Jose Gonzalez wrote: »

Yeah I could fly into Mexico and make my way down but I want to spend a month or two in costa rica. I will be leaving during May and I think that is the start of the rainy season there. Heard the roads get fairly bad. If I start in the South I could make my way up through Peru and eventually leave from L.A. I could then stop in Hawaii on the way over to New Zealand. USIT don't seem a great option and I'm looking into some of the airline packages e.g. world journey, global explorer etc. I havent ruled out travelling from north to south so if anybody has any more advice I would be grateful.

If you find out anything about those airline packages let me know i'm planning something similar.. Was goin to book with trailfinders today so i rang ahead before i bused it up to cork.. it's now €600 more expensive than it was last week?? b@stardo! although the girl on the phone wasn;t really helpful at all might have been lies..

Dory check your PM!

Flynn

oh and Mr. Inconspicuos.. what did trailfinders say when you mentioned the bus into Mexico. they told me it HAD to be a flight to prove you were leaving the country.. Meaning i'd be down one stopover.. Not that i'm going to get a bus now (other plans) but if it's a lie it's a pretty sh!tty one.

Neamhshuntasach

@Flynn

i called up the American embassy before i went into trailfinders. the girl in the embassy told me that i could book a bus over the border and show the receipt as proof of onward travel. or i could book accommodation and show some sort of a receipt as proof of onward travel. Somebody on bootsnall also told me that i can book as bus just over the border as he had done it.

@Jose Gonzalez

I've been to Costa Rica twice. once in December and the other time in June. I found the rainy season (or as it's know locally, temporada verde) to be better. Less tourists and the rain forests were amazing. It depends what you want to do. The day would start off sunny and warm and then it would rain about 3 or so for a few hours. Some days it wouldn't rain but then again it could rain for nearly 3 or 4 days straight. And yeah the roads do become pretty impassable. Unless you have a 4x4 jeep.

also a devastating as they can be. the qarthquakes that happen regularly enough there are quite an experience. more so tremors though. i was woken up twice. the first time was the biggest what the f*ck moment in my life. never expierenced one before.

Jose Gonzalez

Flynn,

As I won't be returning within the year I probably won't get a round the world ticket. This website seems fairly cheap www.airtreks.com

I put in this route: London - sao paolo overland to buonos aires - santiago - lima overland to san jose overland to mexico - LA - HAWAII - AUCKLAND

QUOTE IS 2400 TO 3200 DOLLARS. = circa 1700 to 2200 including tax.

Neamhshuntasach,

Were you surfing in Costa Rica? its my main reason for wanting to go there.

Flynn

Neamh, - Cheers for clearing that up! Spose they don't know any better. God love 'em.

Jose - I checked out Airtreks over the last few days and it seems to be the best ( you can start and finish in any country and buy your tickets in sections giving you the op. to stay away for years.) Also it's much cheaper.
Seems to be a great option only for the fact that you'd really want to ring them up (on the mobile = big bucks) as the website is vague and mentions nothing about overland.. and you'd have to wait for their office hours to contact them.

I personally don't have time for that esp. since i dont have a land-line and i need to go in March which only leaves me 7 weeks, I rang USIT today and she said she'd ring me back tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I'm back up to Cork again 2moro to book it with trailfinders - Provided it's at the original price of 2200 (incl. tax) and not 2800 (excl. tax)

Flynn

Whoops,
Just saw the overland option now.. That's a relief!

Neamhshuntasach

Jose Gonzalez wrote: »

Were you surfing in Costa Rica? its my main reason for wanting to go there.

No i didn't surf there. Just tried wind surfing on a lake. Forget the name of it. I remember talking with Australians who were there to surf. They were saying the Pacific coast was the best place and that the then was one of the best times. That had to be December because i wasn't on the pacific coast when i was there the first time.

honeymonster

I went to Rio on my own in Sept. Stayed in a hostel and met tons of cool people, even some Irish people! I had such a great time! Really want to go back sometime. When you go to Rio go to Lapa!!

dory

Jose Gonzalez wrote: »

I put in this route: London - sao paolo overland to buonos aires - santiago - lima overland to san jose overland to mexico - LA - HAWAII - AUCKLAND

Presume someone told you you need a flight or cruise for this? Panama's Darien straight is not a place for backpackers!

Flynn

dory wrote: »

Presume someone told you you need a flight or cruise for this? Panama's Darien straight is not a place for backpackers!

Yea read that - will definitely be hopping on a puddle jumper for that one.