First off...a BIG Thank You to the great community here!
Followed the good advice and...
We just booked fro travel in September:
EWR-SFO UA Y layover (<24 hrs)
SFO-NRT UA J Stopover
NRT-PEK NH J Destination
PEK-LXA CA Y layover (bucket list)
LXA-KTM CA Y layover
KTM-IST TK J Stopover
IST-LHR TK J layover
LHR-EWR UA J
Planning another "inside" ticket IST through Africa return.