RTW Travel Articles from August, 2008

Booking flights while on the road has gotten much easier, but there are some exceptions

Monday, August 25th, 2008

If you are planning your RTW trip now you have some serious advantages that didn’t exist only a few years ago. Booking cheap airline tickets from any computer is now very easy, mostly due to physical tickets being phased out in favor of electronic tickets in most places. The old chore of having to track down a travel agency with employees you could communicate effectively with has mostly been replaced by fast and efficient online bookings, but there are a few exceptions.

The places you often can’t book online

If you haven’t done much ticket pricing for your trip yet you might be surprised to learn about this one major quirk in the system. Simply put, domestic airline tickets in 2nd and 3rd world countries often work just like train tickets. The same is usually true of flights between resort islands, even if those islands are in different countries. When I say they work like train tickets, I mean they usually have one fixed price for every seat on every flight, and you really don’t even have to buy them much in advance either. Of course you’ll want to stay on top of this, as demand definitely is much higher at certain times, but typically these things work out such that you just wait for the next flight and then off you go. (more…)

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Traveler’s diarrhea: Sorry, but we just have to discuss this a bit

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

If you travel from one big and modern city to another, and especially if you stay in Europe or North America, chances are you’ll never have to worry about diarrhea. But on a round the world adventure it’s very likely you’ll be spending quite a bit of time in rural areas and in less developed countries, as they say. If you are on the road long enough, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll get at least one case of diarrhea, and it’s not really a huge deal if you are prepared.

How one gets diarrhea while traveling

There are plenty of different ways, but the most common seems to be by eating local foods that contain some microorganisms that the local population is totally used to, but your system is not. This is different from food poisoning, of course, and that truly is something to be feared, or at least you want to take steps to avoid it. Diarrhea is just having a “loose stool” and nearly anyone who has an adventurous palette can fall victim to it once in a while. (more…)

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Anti-Americanism while traveling the world

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

There’s no denying that the United States isn’t the darling of the world community, and in the last decade or two our popularity has probably slipped a bit below usual. We sometimes have American RTW travelers wondering how they’ll be received while on the road, and occasionally people will joke about sewing a maple leaf to their backpack and telling everyone they are Canadian. Well, rest easy because that isn’t necessary and you’ll almost certainly get a warm reception everywhere you go, although it is up to you to do your part.

Very few people “hate Americans”

There might be some of this in parts of the Middle East, but for the most part even the most vocal critic of the USA will enthusiastically tell you how he hates the American government, but also has nothing against American people. Think about it. If you met someone from Iran or North Korea would you assume they were bad people? You might actually be sympathetic that their leaders have stirred things up and that they are victims in this whole mess. It all depends on how the person acts once the conversation has begun, and it’s easy to stay out of trouble if that’s your goal. (more…)

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Special August fares for RTW tickets

Monday, August 4th, 2008

There’s nothing like turning to a new page on the calendar to remind me that time absolutely flies. It’s the ultimate cruel irony that as youngsters we get bored so easily, wishing we could just grow up more quickly - only to spend all our adult years wishing life would slow the heck down again! The good news is that as adults, we can actually take control of the throttle and pull back if we choose to - and a RTW trip is a great opportunity to learn to stop and smell the roses. Having international airline tickets in your hand may make your heart race, but if you play your cards right you could still relax and learn to travel more slowly once you’re on your way.

So, in an effort to help you take the reins and slow life down again, I bring you BootsnAll’s August RTW airfare deals. This month’s deals start in either New York or Los Angeles, and could get you either a tour of the highlights of South America; a continent-hopping itinerary from North America to South America to Africa; or a real RTW trek covering Asia, Africa, and Europe. And even the longest itinerary still comes in at under $3000.

Here are the August RTW ticket deals - these prices are good through August 31, 2008.

• Los Angeles - Lima - Santiago - Buenos Aires - Sao Paulo - Los Angeles from US$1349 (plus taxes)
• New York - Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo - Johannesburg - Dakar - New York from US$2249 (plus taxes)
• New York - Beijing - Hong Kong - Singapore - Bangkok - Bombay / Mumbai - Nairobi - Cairo - Athens - Rome - Copenhagen - Berlin - London - New York from US$2999 (plus taxes)

And if these itineraries don’t tickle your fancy completely, that doesn’t mean you have to twiddle your thumbs until next month’s deals come out - start planning your own customized RTW trip in seconds and hit just the cities you want.

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