Jaunted

Once you’ve gotten the cash together to plan an adventure you’ll need to decide which way to travel around the globe. You can go either east or west, but all travel needs to continue in that direction once it has begun. Stopovers—that’s when you get to escape the plane—are stays for more than 24 hours. You’ll need to include at least three of them, but you can do as many as 15. If you go with the special economy ticket you are limited to a maximum of only five stops—bummer.

· SkyTeam
There are plenty of airlines to get you far away from home on SkyTeam. Delta, Air France, and Korean Air are just some of the carriers that will get you to over 856 destinations in 169 countries. Many of the rules here are the same as they are elsewhere. SkyTeam will allow between three and 15 stops, and you need to be headed in the same direction. However, you can do a little bit of backtracking as long as it’s on the same continent. Just remember that you need to keep things within your total mileage budget. Here it’s 26,000, 29,000, 34,000, or 39,000 miles.

If you’re looking to go all out a 39,000-mile journey will set you back about $6,000 in coach, $12,000 in business class, and $18,000 for first. Things are slightly flexible, so you only really need to book your first international flight. After that you can figure things out and book things as you go. Unfortunately there’s no way to play with potential itineraries, schedules, and fares online. To book with SkyTeam you’re going to need to pick up the phone; however, it might be nice to speak with someone when trying to plan something a little more intense than a weekend trip to somewhere warm.

· oneworld
The oneworld airline alliance—they’ve got American Airlines, Qantas, and British Airways among others—have two main options when it comes to booking a dream trip. The oneworld Explorer allows for stops on your choice of continents, and the pricing is based on fare class and stops selected. No need to worry about total mileage here, so if you’re looking to score some fun down under this might be a good option. Things can even be figured out online, and economy fares for stops on three continents start at about $3,900 before taxes, fees, and whatever else they want to charge you.

They also offer a Global Explorer ticket, but this is a little more traditional as it is based upon total miles flown. It utilizes the services of airlines outside the alliance to get you wherever you want to go. Pricing is based on flying up to 26,000 miles, 29,000 miles, or up to 39,000 miles in economy class.

We tried to just scratch the surface with these global adventures, so if you have specific questions feel free to drop them in the comments and we can try to figure things out. Also, if you’ve filled your passport with stamps on just one trip, let us know about your experience heading around the world as well.

Related Stories:
· Star Alliance - Round The World Fare [Official Site]
· SkyTeam - Round The World Pass [Official Site]
· oneworld - Round The World Fares [Official Site]
· Airfare coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: DannyBen]