Air Fares and Travel Costs

"How did you DO that?!"

This is the surprised refrain I hear every time I answer the question: "How much did your tickets cost?" The answer is $3500 - for TWO of us. It is possible to fly around the world for under $2000, if you are willing to piece things together and only fly when other transportation is too burdensome or dangerous (i.e., we are flying from India to Africa rather than sailing on a cargo ship, but only because the route goes through Somali waters, and I'd rather read about my pirate encounters in books, thanks).

Our tickets are bundled into three types: regular search-engine scouted commercial tickets from North America to Japan (bought first, about 8 months before starting our trip); consolidator tickets, bought several months ahead with the aid of a travel agent who specializes in multi-destination discount air travel; and frequent flier tickets, our intended means of getting back home at the end of our trip, once we've racked up the points to earn the trip.

While we got a great deal on our own from Vancouver, B.C. to Tokyo using www.kayak.com and other travel search engines, working with a consolidator was the key to keeping our overall costs low. International consolidators search worldwide for best fares, including on airlines that do not sell tickets in the United States. It's not the best way to go for everyone, but is worth looking into if you have a minimum of four international destinations (a requirement of most consolidators). While some prepackaged around-the-world tickets may be less expensive than our collection of tickets (but not by much), they only make sense if you find just the right package for your needs (a rarity), or you don't care too much where you go and are willing to let the ticket determine your destinations for you.

Working with a consolidator allows you to customize your own route, skip from one port of arrival to a different point of departure via overland or boat travel, and avoid any time restrictions often included in prepackaged tickets. There is a terrific description of various types of round-the-world tickets, as well as a helpful discussion of how the international airline industry works, in the round-the-world guide book The Practical Nomad. I owe author Edward Hasbrouke a huge debt of gratitude for helping us figure out the best way to ticket our trip. In fact, Hasbrouke once worked for the consolidator we used (AirTreks, www.airtreks.com, 1-877-AIRTREKS), whose agents I now regard as magicians.

So what are we getting for our money?

1. Vancouver, B.C. To Tokyo, Japan – via Japan AirLines, found through travel search-engines (about $800 for the 2 of us – Colin's child ticket a bit under $400, my adult ticket a bit above).

We then travel by ferry from Japan to South Korea and China, and by train overland in each country and throughout SE Asia (with the exception that we may purchase a local ticket to fly from Cambodia to Thailand because of poor transportation links and occasional border disputes, but thanks to inter-Asia budget airlines that have cropped up in recent years, we expect that be less than $100 each).

2. Bangkok, Thailand to Bangalore, India; Mumbai, India to Nairobi, Kenya; Nairobi to Cairo, Egypt; and Egypt to Athens, Greece - consolidator specialists at www.Airtreks.com put this package together for us – about $1700 for the 2 of us – again Colin's ticket comes in at a bit under half, the rest is mine).

Part of the key to this price is that Nairobi is a free stopover between Mumbai and Cairo, despite the fact that our “layover” is 3-1/2 weeks. ;-) While in India and once in Europe, we'll go overland by train.

3. Europe (probably Paris, but we're flexible) home to the U.S. on frequent flier tickets, using mileage we've been been saving up and earned along the way - $0.

Of course, there are overland and ferry travel expenses to add in to the mix, but these are typically much lower than air travel costs, and are an integral part of the journey if you want to see anything other than the major cities. Train and ferry transportation is also a great way to meet people and experience the country, as anyone who has ever traveled the U.S. on Amtrak can confirm. We are especially looking forward to the international ferries between Japan, Korea and China, as few foreign tourists appear to use them, and to the trains in India, which I am so looking forward to! Throw in a handful of buses, and the various forms of urban and rural transportation (rickshaw, bicycle, camel, etc.) and we should be hitting just about every form of transport available by the time we get back home!

Speaking of which, we are on the 2^nd leg of our journey (Vancouver, BC to Tokyo, Japan) and have already traveled by train (1^st leg via Amtrak, Seattle to Vancouver), sky train and water taxi within Vancouver, and now airplane en route to Tokyo from Canada. More on what we find in Japan later....