Tag Archives: Ukraine

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A deeper dive into Round-the-World (RTW) tickets

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

A few weeks ago, I explained how I chose a Round-the-World (RTW) ticket for my upcoming trips to Wales and Australia. This time, I’m providing some tips on planning such a ticket.

Postcard from Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown, Barbados

1. Stick to the main hubs, where possible.

The total cost of the RTW ticket is affected by the number of cities visited. Using major international hubs (Toronto and Montreal, rather than Ottawa) will reduce the number of stopovers…and also reduce the risk of luggage trouble! And it will reduce the total travel time too: you want to spend your time in your international destinations, not airports.

Postcard of Belgrade Fortress (Belgrade, Serbia)

2. Book as early as you can.

The closer you get to your flight dates, the more likely flights will be booked up. This increases the price, reduces the likelihood of a desirable seat, and also increases the risk that you won’t have room in your preferred class (economy, premium economy, or business). That last factor is really important: if you buy a RTW ticket in a higher class, you don’t get a corresponding discount if you end up travelling in a lower class for part of the RTW journey.

Cheesy postcard from the Berner Oberland (Switzerland) – my ancestral home!

3. Think two steps ahead.

I had to fly from London (U.K.) to Melbourne (Australia), but knew I could not fly direct. Alas, this was a logistical nightmare…how many different ways are there to travel between those two cities? It looked like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) were positioned relatively well. But this got complicated quickly. Either the London segment or the Melbourne segment just wouldn’t work with those cities.

Postcard of Lake Bohinj, in the Julian Alps of Slovenia

It was time for a rethink. Rather than go through a long list of Asian cities to see if they would work for a stopover, I just asked for itineraries between London and Melbourne. It quickly became clear that the best connections were through cities that I hadn’t previously considered: New Delhi (India) and Bangkok (Thailand). But as we wanted to cover as much ground as possible with the first flight, Bangkok made more sense.

Postcard from Kyiv, Ukraine (received 2011)

4. Travel together, buy together.

It may sound obvious, but it’s worth repeating: if you are travelling with others, buy your tickets at the same time. Even 9 months ahead of departure, it is possible that a one or two day delay between buying the tickets for your companions could force you to travel separately for part of the trip (or at least in different cabin classes).

Postcard from Vietnam (“Valley at Dawn Sapa”)

5. Harvest the frequent flyer points.

This is a unique opportunity to accumulate a lot of frequent flyer points. So, it pays to understand how frequent flyer points will be awarded for each leg of the journey. At a minimum, make sure you have an account for an airline with the particular air alliance you have selected (Star Alliance, Oneworld, or SkyTeam). But seriously consider whether you should also earn even more points by using a credit card for that frequent flyer program.

Some premium frequent flyer credit cards offer a lot of useful benefits. There may be an extra fee, but it could be outweighed by the value of those benefits. Sometimes, the first year fee can be waived (as it was in my case).

Postcard of the Castle of Trenčín (Trenčín, Slovakia)

Stay tuned – the next post may not be from Canada! (Today’s photos are all postcards that I’ve received in the Postcrossing project…for reasons that will soon become clear, the one at the top shows a Swiss International Airlines plane!)

Posts from Base Camp

Getting a Round The World ticket!

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(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.

Sent 2010 from Macau…an interesting duplication of Venice (including a gondolier!)

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.

Maltese buses (apparently no longer used) – sent from Malta in September 2011

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.

Flic-en-Flac, Mauritius – sent December 2012

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.

Timișoara, Romania – sent from Orsova, Romania (June 2012)

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.

Postcard from Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka – sent April 2017

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.

Naeba ski resort – sent November 2013 from Kasugai (Aichi), Japan

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!

Cossacks from Ukraine – sent June 2011

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!

Posts from Base Camp

Unusual postcards from my friends (Volume 2)

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post featured a bunch of unusual postcards sent to me by friends between 1988 and 1998. As I had so many, this post also features cards sent to me in the late 20th century!

Four postcards for the price of one, from Northern Ontario

While there really isn’t a unifying theme for all of the postcards, there are at least a couple each in the categories of bones, communism. and the Netherlands. The 1998 postcard at the very top of this post shows an ossuary in Rome, Italy. Kind of creepy, yes. But not as creepy, I think, as the inclusion of such bones in the postcard at the very bottom of this post!

The card says New Zealand has more than 50 million sheep! (1999)

First, though, are a couple of old reliable subjects. In many Canadian small towns, you will find the biggest something or other. In Mundare, Alberta, you can see a giant sausage. In Vegreville, Alberta, you will find a giant Ukrainian Easter Egg. And so it is not surprising that the postcard from Wawa, Ontario, includes a giant Canada Goose (a.k.a. cobra chicken). And I suppose sheep farming is a fair topic for a New Zealand postcard.

Greetings from Restaurant Puri Mas in Amsterdam! (1998)

I’m always wary of businesses that promise something “you will never forget.” For example, I will never forget the food poisoning I suffered in Glasgow, Scotland, that necessitated a visit to the Emergency Department. But my friend assured me that this Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam was very good.

“I arrived by boat, and as it turns out, I’ll be staying in Groningen for a while. Everything else is fine.” (1995)

Speaking of the Netherlands, it seems that one of my friends ended up spending more time in Groningen than originally anticipated. As you can see, the boat has not moved in quite some time.

The (extensive) information on the back of this Soviet-era postcard is entirely in French

This postcard from “Kiev” is from the days of the U.S.S.R. But my friend did not get this card in Kyiv (a preferred Ukrainian transliteration)…or even Europe. Instead, he found a shop in Laos (!) that seemed to specialize in postcards from the Communist world. This seemed to be a theme in Southeast Asia, as the card below from Singapore was also concerned with communism.

“Communist-inspired riots” occurred on May 12, 1955 in Singapore (1992)

And then there’s this card from Bali, Indonesia. For a place that is often described as a paradise, it was unsettling to see the skulls and uncrossed bones adorning this otherwise peaceful card. There’s even a guy waving in a friendly way! Is it for real, or is it just an act to lull us into a false sense of security?

Bali, Indonesia – a tropical paradise? (1994)

Do I have more unusual postcards? Of course! I will share some of them in the weeks ahead. But first, watch for a fun Toronto adventure that I didn’t expect to have…