Planes, Trains and Er… Actually, Just Planes

Now that I’m all cozy in my earthquakey Beijing apartment I thought it might be interesting to retrace my steps. Well not my steps exactly because I didn’t take many – retrace my flights would be more accurate since I’ve flown practically everywhere so far. Sorry environment.

People always seem pretty interested in whether they should buy a RTW plane ticket or just buy flights as they go so I figured a little list of what it’s cost me so far hopping from place to place might help out a bit.

You can check ouy my travel map for a quick glimpse of my somewhat ridiclous route and here are the airfares for the whole thing:

January 2008

  • London to Manila – £393 (Expedia/Cathay Pacific)
  • Manila to Kalibo – £25 (Cebu Pacific)
  • Manila to Cagayan d’Oro – £31 (Cebu Pacific)
  • Cebu to Manila – £31 (Cebu Pacific)

February 2008

  • Manila to Legaspi (return) – £22 (Cebu Pacific)
  • Manila to Dhaka – £275 (Travelocity/Malaysian)

April 2008

  • Dhaka to Hong Kong (stopover in Kuala Lumpur) – £235 (Travelocity/Malaysian)
  • Hong Kong to Beijing (return but only used one-way) – £230 (Travel Agent/Dragon Air)

My London to Manila flight was booked two months in advance. All of my flights in the Philippines were booked a couple of days in advance except the Manila to Kalibo which was a few months I think because there was a festival on. I booked my Manila to Dhaka flight about two months in advance and Dhaka to Hong Kong only about a week before. The Hong Kong to Beijing was bought two days in advance.

I had to pay a fee of £58 to move my flight to Hong Kong forward so the grand total for all of my flights including changes is £1300.

From my days as a very bad tavel agent in London in 2002 I know that RTW tickets with the One World or Star Alliance networks cost about that price at an absolute minimum. But these tickets have several limitations including the direction you travel, countries their member airlines go to, change fees (sometimes), number of flights you can take (or kilometers you can travel) and the ticket has to be used up within a year. Plus if you want to make changes it depends on availability and there’s no guarantee of a seat.

I’ve only really taken three long haul flights for that price so maybe the value isn’t there but I have no intention of going around the world in a year anyways so buying a RTW ticket was never an option. Plus I think the flexibility buying tickets as I go has given me is hard to put a price on. It’s a great feeling not having the next leg of your trip planned and not something I think I’ll be willing to sacrifice on my future trips for the sake of a cheaper set of plane tickets, even if I was planning a trip that conformed to the RTW ticket rules.

RTW tickets have their place for sure and will save you some money (although with all the budget airlines these days that’s debatable) but you have to conform to route and time limitations. Travel to me is about having the freedom to wander around wherever I want on a whim so I’m sticking with buying as I go. The extra money is worth it for me!

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