Round the world trip

The 4 phases of round the world flights

Round the world flights offer an unimaginable array of options when it comes to planning a week, a month or a year away. You suddenly become aware of what a huge world it is and you start to discover where some of these place names actually are…Timbuktu is in Africa?? Indeed it is.

Round the world flights: Phase 1

Where to start? Phase 1: grab an old school atlas and start a ‘wish list’…the places you've always dreamt of, the cities you've heard about, the beaches you've seen on postcards, the worlds finest sites – Angkor in Cambodia, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Grand Canyon, the pyramids, Began, the Great Barrier Reef…the list is endless and never gets dull. Think of great train journeys; the trans-Siberian express covering 7 time zones, the luxurious Blue Train or the Oriental Express, the highest railway tracks in the world in Chile.

Imagine the world's great landmarks; the Sydney Opera House, the Taj Mahal, Red Square, Palenque, Tokyo and its futuristic CBD.

Think big, think outside of the box…. think beyond your wildest dreams.

At this stage it will be useful to split your list into two:

• ‘Must haves’
• ‘Would likes’

This will help you focus on the really important destinations and will be a great help when it comes to planning the trip in more detail. The really fun part of going away has already started so enjoy it…read books, search the net, speak to friends and friends-of-friends who have been to these places…everyone loves talking about their travels!

When you're ready to take things a little further, you're going to need a travel agent to help you make your dreams a reality.

Round the world flights: Phase 2

A good travel consultant will be able to guide you from this point on. It is more than likely that for a reasonable budget, you will not be able to do everything on your first choice list and the skill of a good consultant is to include as many of your 'must haves' with a sprinkling of 'would likes' on a great value ticket. Those with a lot of experiences will always know a few tricks and some seemingly unknown airline routes! Listen to what they have to say, many will have visited many or, in some cases, all of your choice destinations. They'll be able to give you fantastic advice on all the things that the internet ad the guide books don't tell you; where a good guesthouse is, a cheap way to get a guide, where you can store your luggage, some great locals to look out for.....it's always the little details that make the difference to these trips.

Round the world flights: Phase 3

You'll probably go away at this stage and enter Phase 3. You know your dreams and you know the realities, so there's some more planning to be done (don't worry, this is more of the fun stuff). You can contact your consultant again and again and bounce ideas of them…and before you know it you'll have an itinerary that makes you tingle with the sort of excitement you haven't felt since you were waiting for Father Christmas to come down the chimney as a 6-year-old. It is your itinerary, your time away, you’ve earned it and you're going to enjoy every last second of it.

Round the world flights: Phase 4

Phase 4: lie on a beach sipping cocktails, climb a mountain, shop in Hong Kong, visit long lost friends and family, trek through jungles…. it won't be work, it won’t be a dreary English day, it will be your round the world trip of a lifetime.

This article was written by Nick Pulley of www.roundtheworldflights.com.