Booking a round the world flight

Congratulations, if you have got this far you have already done the hardest bit .You have decided that you want to do a round the world flight and you have found us, the real specialists, to help you. Booking a round the world trip can be daunting, but this is exactly what we do.

Research

Use this site to provide you with an idea of possible destinations and how to fit them into a viable itinerary. View some of our most popular routes for inspiration, check out the first time users' tips and plot your journey using our unique route planner. Narrow down the choices from the suggestions and options that this generates until you have a few favourites for further consideration. The destinations pages should give you plenty of additional info about some of the experiences each continent can provide and other services we can arrange for you too. Don't overlook some of the external links to other relevant sites with weather and visa guides, as well as Foreign Office advice and info on festivals and other must see events worldwide all year round. When you think that you are almost there and have a provisional outline it's time to take the next step.

Talk to a Specialist

Contact us and run your ideas past one of our highly experienced and knowledgeable specialists. Having listened to you, we will be able to find the most suitable ticket to get you to all of your chosen highlights. Having dealt with so many different routes, something that may seem overly complicated or obscure to you, shouldn't faze our consultants in the slightest.

Whilst no route is impossible and we will gladly quote you for your exact dream ticket, in our experience doing everything you want can prove expensive. Our specialist round the world consultants are trained to suggest tweaks to save you money. Whether it is substituting one city for another, changing the order of the destinations or just moving a departure date by a couple of days you can be sure we will be using our skill to get you the best deal; and often we can add extra stops for no additional cost and we pride ourselves on making sure that you always get the most value from your ticket.

Provisional reservation

When you have decided on the right ticket for you, we can then start to firm things up. We need from you three main pieces of information.

1. Your name as it appears in your passport - Full first name and surname, but no need for any middle names. It is essential that these appear correct on your ticket.
2. Your dates of intended travel. The most important one is that of the first flight, all the others can be very approximate and will be changeable later on and normally act as a guide only.
3. Your route. Although this is often able to be tinkered with later on it will result in the airline charging you fees to reissue your ticket .so best to get it right from the start.

With the above details we are able to set up a booking and hold some seats for you with the relevant airlines. We can also now give you much more detail on your itinerary with flight times, durations, any transits that there may be and the terms and conditions of the ticket too.

How to Book

By phone : roundtheworldflights.com is celebrating its 10th year next year, and has booked tens of thousands of customers by phone. However it is better if you don't attempt to do this on your mobile whilst you are on the bus, or doing your weekly shop in Sainsburys - even if you are a busy person! For us to do this properly, we will need you to have your full attention for about half an hour or so - a world map and a calendar would also be handy.

Come and see us : We're open till 8am-7pm Monday to Friday, during the summer and from 10 till 5 on Saturdays and online or on the phone on Sundays from 12 till 4 and we've based next to Angel tube station (102 Islington High Street) - see map

Commitment

We appreciate that some people need a short time to assimilate this information but to continue to hold these seats and to confirm this reservation we do need to take a deposit.

Payment Stage

A non-refundable deposit of £75 per person or 30% of your booking, is payable for airline bookings, with the balance usually due within 10 days (although sometimes you do get longer). A non refundable deposit of around 10% is normally required for hotels or tours or car hire. We will then email you a booking confirmation that give details of each flight, airline, departure and arrival times and any hotel or tour arrangements you may have. This will also contain the complete costings of your booking and terms and conditions, (Please make sure you read it thoroughly when it arrives!).

Final Payment Stage

The date of this depends on the ticket that you have chosen but most airlines still allow you to delay payment until seventy days prior to departure. However there is an increase in tickets that need to be issued within ten days of the original reservation being made. Your consultant will make sure that you are aware of when your arrangements need to be finalised by. Once final payment has been taken and your tickets issued changes are not so easy and will normally incur a fee before you start travelling so make sure all amendments are made by this stage. Before the final amount is collected the ticket price will be rechecked and your taxes will be recalculated.

Tickets

Tickets are issued (ie printed) when final payment has been received. Tickets will be ready for collection or can be posted for a small fee, as soon as all of your travel documents have been issued. If you receive e tickets (which 70% of RTW tickets now are), then we'll simply email over your Booking Confirmation with Airline Booking Reference.

Please dont forget!

Insurance

Now you are about to embark on your amazing journey, however travel insurance is probably the most important purchase you'll make for your trip. Every year we a have heart breaking phone call from some distant corner of the globe, don't let it be you! Having insurance when you travel, is as essential as remembering your passport.

Anyway we thing we've got an honestly priced and decent backpackers insurance policy. Our cover is designed for people on specifically long-stay or multi-stop trips, is underwritten by insurance giant AXA, and cover starts from £135 for 6 months. So if you require Round The World travel insurance please check out all the details of our cover - here

Accommodation

Have you thought about where your going to spend your first nights abroad? Most of our guys in the office book the first few nights in a hotel when they take off. There's over 15,000 different hotels and prices start from £15 per night. - see more

Overland / Adventure tours

Travelling as part of one of these trips can take a lot of the leg-work out of travelling and is an excellent way to get to grips with a new country. - see more

VIP Cards

Don't forget to take your VIP Backpackers Card with you. For a price of only £17 we will issue you a VIP card that will give you at least a $1 discount off your accommodation (valid at any VIP Backpacker Hostel worldwide), 5% off Oz and Kiwi Experience passes, discounts on buses, trains, flights and much, much, more. It will pay for itself before you know it. Ask us for more details

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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That's it. Nothing left to do now but arrange your farewell party and pack!