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advice, bootsnall, indie, round the world travel, RTW, RTW travel, Travel, travel article, travel blog, travel tips
My fantasy RTW trip – is it doable?
BootsnAll recently helped launch a very exciting travel website entitled Indie, aimed at helping travel folks easily put together their dream of traveling around the world. With this program, one can plot out their RTW trip and get a nice, quick price quote for what their RTW trip will potentially cost them (prices are for airfare only, however you can plot out your land travel as well to get a better idea of how your trip will work. The land travel is not factored into the final price though).
Does it make it easy to create a RTW trip? Sure does! I love being able to map out where I want to go and how I’ll get there. Except there are a few problems…
I tried mapping out a few potential places based on location proximity. I hate flying as it is and like to be on a plane for as little amount of time as possible, so I tried to map out a route with airports relatively close to each other. The results are not so ideal. When I wanted to go from Mexico City to Bogota, Columbia – pretty close, as far as I could see – I’d have to fly from Mexico City, back to New York (my initial launch pad), then from New York to Bogota. Not only did I increase the amount of time on a plane, but I’m flying northeast to fly back southwest.
That’s about twice the gasoline emissions sent into the air for a trip that should be a one-stop shot. I have to tinker around with Indie’s site a little more. I do like that they include a section of successful RTW itineraries, which I’m going to browse, because maybe I’m setting my sights too high. But when you can book a 25-stop RTW trip in one shot, what’s to stop be from experimenting a bit?
I also wanted to fly from Brazil to Namibia, being that they are literally “across the pond” from each other. No dice. It would require me to fly from Rio, to New York, New York to Johannesburg, then Joburg to Namibia. A totally convoluted route to reach somewhere that, according to what I’d plotted out, seems like a straight shot. Not to mention all of the gasoline emissions from flying back, and forth, and back again.
What gives?
Anyone know why this would be the case? Surely there are people who fly from Rio to Namibia who don’t have to deal with all of this crazy international hullabaloo. Does it have to do with visas/being an American citizen, and having to travel through an American hub? Maybe it’s just the flights that come onto the radar at the time I search, or maybe that’s just how the airline industry works.
Or maybe I’m just doing it wrong. I’m not planning on doing a RTW trip for some time, but when I do, I want it to be as easy as possible. Travel dudes, help me out!
Sign up for your own account on Indie here. Hopefully you have better luck than I!
PS just found this post on BootsnAll’s site: 5 Affordable Round the World Routes. I will definitely keep this in mind for planning my own trip!
G’day Katka,
Thanks for reviewing Indie. I’m stoked that you are digging into it.
One of the painful parts of Multi-stop international – is that the least expensive flight, it not always the direct flight.
For example, based on OpenFlights data, there are no direct flights from Namibia to Sth America at all. However, there would be flights to Sth Africa (Jo’burg) and then a short hop to Windhoek from there. (This is why you can’t fly direct unless you have your own jet like Richard Branson)
So the key is, to combine, “airline geography” with your route to optimize these sorts of things.
We are and have been trying hard for 15 years to revolutionize RTW travel – I think we may finally be on to something.
Of course, more important than the actual tickets, is that folks get out there and do this. It’s the best way to get a real education IMO.
Cheers to you Katka. I appreciate your review, and welcome and constructive thoughts.
See you at #rtwchat!
Yes! I loved the RTW chat today, it helped a lot. The advantage of Indie is that it DOES point out little things like non-direct routes so I know in advance what I need to change. Do you have any good resources on airline geography? I think that is what is tripping me up, not knowing which flights are direct/non. But I am recommending the site to everyone because it is a great way to plot out RTW travel! Sort of like an inspiration board/pinterest for RTW travel
I am going to fool around with the site some more – did this quickly while at work – and see if I can get a little more realistic of a trip going. I don’t care about cost, but I DO care about being on a plane longer than I have to! Severe fear of flight…
Thanks Sean!
awesome! I have literally been looking for something just like it… Indie will come in handy for sure!
Yes I believe it is the best one out there, and will save people a lot of time, money and stress!
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