This Web page contains information that you might find useful in planning a round the world trip. It is by no means as comprehensive as the original on-line round the world travel guide, but I hope that it distills some of the essential information into a compact document. This information is accurate as of Spring 2000.
Starting from San Francisco, I flew to Hong Kong. I spent 2.5 days in Hong Kong. From there, I flew to Melbourne, Australia. I had purchased the Walkabout Pass from Ansett to fly between Adelaide to Ayers Rock, Alice Springs to Cairns, Cairns to Brisbane and Brisbane to Sydney. From Sydney, I flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. In Vietnam, we flew a very brand new and spacious Airbus A-320 on Vietnam Airlines (Hang Khong Viet Nam) from Hanoi to Saigon. After Vietnam, I flew back to Singapore and overland traveled to Malaysia and Thailand. I returned to Singapore from Bangkok on Thai Airways and flew to Johannesburg, South Africa. I traveled two months around South Africa and southern Namibia. Via Cape Town I flew to to London via Zurich, Switzerland on Swissair. I had originally planned to overland around the UK, Scotland and Ireland, but tiredness set in. Instead, I visited friends in London that I met along the way and friends and family in Paris by taking the Eurostar. From London, I returned to San Francisco on Delta Airlines, by far the worst carrier of the four carriers I flew during this trip.
Many airlines offer round the world packages or you can go with a bucket shop who can put together a round the world package for you by stringing together flights on different airlines. The big caveat for the latter is that if you lose your tickets during your trip, it will be up to you to contact the airline that issued your ticket to replace your ticket. This often means that you may have to pay full-fare for a replacement ticket and then get a refund when you return to the US. If you plan on traveling for an extended period of time, say more than 3 months, this could become a hassle; carrying a $5000 charge on your credit card is not a vacationer's dream. Check with the bucket shop on their policy (or the airlines' policy) on lost tickets before you sign the check.
Given this issue, and my prior experience flying Singapore Airlines to Indonesia, I decided to purchase the "Global Excellence" Around-the-World package from Singapore Airlines/Delta Airlines/Swissair. The program comes in two packages. RTW1 permits 25,000 miles and excludes Africa, South West Pacific and South America. RTW2 permits 32,000 miles without the routing exclusions. You can purchase either one in Economy, Business or First Class. Prices begin at $2200 for RTW1/Economy to $6200 for RTW2/First Class. I bought RTW2/Business Class for two reasons -- the opportunity to sit in the "Megatop" which is much quieter and spacious, and the ability to use the Business Class lounges. Those alone for long haul trips make the extra $1300 difference between Economy and Business Class well worth the effort to save the additional money for the fare. In addition, the Singapore Airlines package permits you to backtrack (most packages don't) but you will "lose" miles that way. Finally, the price difference between the Singapore Airlines package and AirTreks of San Francisco was fairly nominal.
Since I first wrote this Web page, Singapore Airlines has expanded the program to include new partners in their Star Alliance program. It is still a great deal nonetheless.
By the way, Air Treks has a nifty on-line "Fare Builder" around the world itinerary planner. Other limitations on round-the-world fares you may want to consider include penalty for destination changes and the cost of adding an additional stop, or even if these are available at all! On the Singapore package, these cost US$25 and US$50, respectively, so long as you stay within your mileage restrictions.
I contacted the following insurance companies for travel insurance policies. The coverage I considered included emergency evacuation, trip cancellation and general medical coverage.
202 331 1609
800 756 AMEX
800 826 1300
Having read Consumer Reports Travel Letter and Consumer Reports Travel Best Deals, I discovered that the difference between the scope of coverage correlates directly with price, for the most part. Travel Guard offered the most comprehensive coverage including travel assistance services, such as translation, doctor referrals, etc. American Express also offers this service to their card members. Since I was already an American Express card member, I decided to purchase the insurance through American Express.
Again, American Express came to my rescue. American Express has the Express Cash program which allows you to withdraw cash from any ATM worldwide with the American Express logo. You get all the protection and benefits of using the American Express card as a credit card. There is a 2% transaction fee with a minimum fee of $2.50 and a maximum fee of $20. They exact a 1% fee for foreign money exchange. The money is withdrawn directly from your checking account. AT&T Universal Card Services has a program whereby you can pay for your Visa bill through an automatic withdrawll from your checking account. Check with your bank as your financial institution probably has an equivalent. Note that I do not recommend traveling overseas with debit cards which withdraw directly from your checking account since a thief can wipe out your checking account and it could take a week or two to rectify the problem after you've been wallowing around the streets with less than $20 in your pocket.
That being said, using your ATM card to withdraw cash from major metropolitan cities is the absolute best way to "exchange" money. You get the interbank exchange rate which is always better than the retail rate you get at "bureau de change" or banks (As a comparison, in London, the exchange rate for bank notes or traveler's checks was 1 Pound=US$1.75 with a 3% commission. That is, it costs US$1.75 to buy 1 British Pound. The ATM rate was 1 Pound=US$1.64.), and on top of that, without an often hefty commission. Commissions for exchanging traveler's checks in London were as much as US$5! Compare that with the 50 cent transaction fee imposed by my credit union for ATM withdrawals and the benefit of using an ATM is obvious. Whatever travel guides may say and Lonely Planet and Let's Go are notorious for exaggerating the risks and pitfalls of ATMs, the ATM network is extremely reliable for Cirrus, Star and Plus. As long as you use large and reputable (NB: My personal favorite was any bank affiliated with the HBSC Group such as Hongkong Bank which is everywhere in Southeast Asia and Australia.) banks (just read the local newspaper to see if any bank is being investigated or due for a bailout) and withdraw money ONLY during banking business hours (in case the ATM machine swallows your card you have someone to talk to) and keep a secure stash of cash or traveler's checks in the event of the loss of your ATM card, you should be safe.
Benjamin Franklin said that the only two definites in life were death and taxes and traveling overseas past tax season is not an exception. Plan for not filing your taxes by filing Forms 1040-ES (Estimated Taxes for Individuals) and Form 4868 (Application for Extension of Time to File U.S. Income Tax Return) both available for download from the Internal Revenue Service. For those in the State of California, you would also file the 540-ES (available from the Franchise Tax Board), but you are no longer required to send a written request for an extension to file your California tax return. You will automatically have an extension to file until October 15 of the tax year. But, there is no extension if you owe tax so be sure to use from FTB-3519 or the 540-ES to pay any additional estimated taxes before you leave.
Here is my packing list:
Make sure that you're up to date on your polio and tetanus vacciations. In addition, I got vaccinated for typhoid (oral vaccine), hepatitis-A, yellow fever (precautionary in case my travel plans took me to the yellow fever zone) and packed malaria prophylaxis into Southeast Asia and Africa.
For more up-to-date information on recommended vaccinations, visit the Center for Disease Control's Web-site. For other travel-related warnings, notices and latest information on Visa requirements, try the State Department's travel Web-site (Bureau of Consular Affairs) or try to locate the government's embassy in Washington, D.C.
Those of you not fortunate enough to have an e-mail account which you can "POP" into from any computer with full Internet access could always get a Hotmail or Yahoo free-mail account. E-mail is by far the most convenient and cheapest method for keeping in touch since Internet cafes exist in just about every major metropolitan city around the globe and anywhere backpackers tend to congregate such as the little village of Vang Viang in Laos where only the Western tourists frequent the Internet cafes. In some cities, you may even be fortunate enough to use the Internet for free at public libraries, but do not enter looking like a scruffy traveler as they'll probably ask you to leave or limit your time on-line. GPO Post Restante is mentioned in Lonely Planet but to be perfectly honest, Post Restante is truly hit or miss. If you're an American Express card holder, they will hold your mail at any American Express office for free. Non-members pay US$5 each time to retrieve mail. It's much faster than Post Restante. I always recommend buying a phone card immediately upon exiting customs at the airport. Coin phones are going the way of rotary phones.
Travel Guides
In order of preference, I recommend The Rough Guides, Footprint Handbooks, Lonely Planet and if you feel like "acting" like an independent traveling with the rest of the backpacking masses, Let's Go. I heartily recommend The Rough Guide for Vietnam. You probably will not need a guide book for Australia unless you feel you need the security of one. The Lonely Planet Guide to Vietnam is not recommended; the book contains recommendations to shoddy hotels, tourist-oriented restaurants and otherwise poorly researched information. How do I know? I speak the language and all my family friends told me which places to avoid because they're overrun by "Tay ba lo." I'll leave you to ask a native Vietnamese speaker to translate for you!