(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I would be doing a journey around the world in 2026. However, I had not yet decided exactly how the logistics would work. I now know, and have taken two big steps to make the trip happen.
The first decision was whether to get a series of one-way tickets on various airlines…or take the plunge and get a round-the-world (RTW) ticket with one of the major airline alliances.
As I had some specific seating requirements and a very rigid itinerary, the choice quickly became clear: a RTW ticket would be less expensive (and much less risky) than buying individual one-way tickets. The question then became: which alliance would I pick? The two main contenders were Star Alliance and OneWorld. And both alliances have some very good airlines.
My primary determinant was cost, although another very important factor was wishing to avoid certain countries (even just for airport stopovers). Happily, those factors aligned perfectly for me. The cheaper alliance also let me travel only through countries that I was comfortable with.
And now, even though my RTW trip is still many months away, I have a great itinerary mapped out. I can now focus on two other vital aspects: accommodation and ground transportation. Actually, I already have a head start on accommodation, as my two competitions also have “host hotels” that I will use during the competitions themselves.
The second decision was triggered by the RTW trip. Since I would be using the same airline alliance for the entire trip and spending quite a bit of money on it, I stood to accumulate a lot of loyalty (frequent flier) points. It then occurred to me that I might be able to rack up a ton of points if I had a credit card aligned with that airline alliance. So I decided to investigate credit card offers.
I found a credit card associated with my chosen alliance that would let me accumulate points at an significantly accelerated rate…and with some helpful perks (baggage privileges, various forms of insurance) that would otherwise add a lot of costs to the trip. So, I waited until I had the new card in hand before actually buying the RTW ticket. And now I can accumulate points for the next trip while I am enjoying this one!
The pictures for today’s post are all postcards that I received during my participation in the Postcrossing Project. I profiled Postcrossing in last week’s post. As with that post, I tried to select postcards from countries that were less familiar to me at the time. The postcard at the very top is from Taiwan!