Round-the-world airline tickets (also known as RTW fares) are becoming more and more popular. In fact, they’re sometimes cheaper than roundtrip tickets when you’re traveling clear across the globe.  For our honeymoon, my husband and I booked two round-the-world tickets with stops in Lake Como, Dubai, Shanghai, and Tokyo.  Because we used frequent flier miles for one ticket (250,000 miles on Delta in business class) we had to pay sticker price for the other. But Bootsnall.com publishes fares that start at $1199 in coach and business class trips that include Los Angeles - Taipei - Hong Kong - Bangkok - Bangalore - Bombay - Delhi - Frankfurt - Los Angeles for under $4,000.  Here are some tips you can use to make your round-the-world trip as enjoyable as possible…  * Do your research.  Search online for “Round the World tickets” and check out the airline alliances that offer the same, including www.skyteam.com, www.one world.com, www.staralliance.com.  * Let the weather be your guide.  Choose destinations with similar temperatures so you don’t have to pack extra clothes.  Also watch for hurricane season, monsoon season, rainy season, etc., during the months you’re traveling and change your itinerary accordingly.

* Try to pick destinations at least nine hours apart.  We thought we were doing ourselves a favor by eliminating flight time, but really, we were happiest on our nine-12 hour flights (in business class).  On those flights, we had time to eat and sleep and arrive well rested.  Six hours is just too short and anything over 12 hours is exhausting. 

* Save your energy.  Try to schedule flights at night and plan to leave the day you arrive open for acclimating to your new time zone.  Night flights will also save you hotel expenses. 

* Pre-plan more than you think you’ll need.  I usually like to leave my itinerary open so that I have built-in freedom and flexibility, but when you’re traveling around the world, it’s a different game.  Before you leave, schedule walking tours and excursions.  When you get to your destination, the last thing you’ll want to do is get online and make those last minute arrangements. 

* Work your way up.  Europe is a much smoother transition for Americans than Asia and Tokyo is smoother than Shanghai.   Start with cities that are easier to acclimate to – those that have similar customs or an easy-to-navigate metro or subway system, or ones where you can speak at least some of the language - and work your way to the harder ones. 

* Plan at least two (but no more than four) nights in each hotel.  It was nice to stay in two different areas in each city, but I wouldn’t have wanted to change rooms any more than that.  Conversely, we stayed in the same hotel for four nights in Tokyo and I wish we had switched around.