*
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.
* DO upgrade
to business class but DON’T bother with first class. Most airlines
only have business and coach class seats so don’t bother paying for first
class when you’ll get the same seat as those of us in business. You
should, however, choose business class over coach. In addition to
more leg room, better meals, and on-demand movies, business and first class
cabins get access to airport lounges. You’ll get free wifi and food.
And if your flight is delayed (which it almost always is) you’ll have a
quiet place to relax and even shower if you need to.
* 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.
[Ed. Note:
Lori Allen is the Director of AWAI's Travel Division, which publishes programs
that help people get paid to travel. To find out how you can turn your
travels into an income producing venture visit: www.thetravelwriterslife.com.
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"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.oneworld.com, www.staralliance.com. 