Multi country/cities trip planning US->Europe->Israel.
 

Hello,
I am new to the forum and did a bit search but some info is old and I'd appreciate any feedback.
Planning a following trip for the 2016 probably April-May timeframe):
Leg 1: San Francisco -> London (3 days staying) - train to Paris (3 day staying)
Leg 2: Paris -> Minsk (1 week staying)
Leg 3: Minsk -> Tel Aviv ( 1 week staying)
Leg 4: Tel Aviv -> Rome ( Rome-Florence-Venice on the train all about a week)
Leg 5: Venice -> Barcelona (3 days)
Leg 6: Barcelona -> Madrid (2 days)
Leg 7 : Madrid -> San Francisco

So Google flight/Kayak/etc are not supporting that many cities and I came across sites like :
http://indie.bootsnall.com/
www.airtreks.com/

Playing with routes on the above comes to much lower prices than I'd get via Kayal/Google flights, but the reason it's cheaper, it seems coming from getting flights with less reputable airlines like Turkish, Ukrainian ..etc, as well as less comfortable and/or longer layovers
Since these websites are new to me, I could find some references on flyertalk about them and would like to hear any recent positive or negative experience if possible. Also if anyone can refer me to more creditable or comparable resource to plan such a trip, I'd be thankful as well.
This is the longest and complicated trip I've ever done and now is the homework stage for me.
Thanks in advance to all who takes time to reply and Happy Thanksgiving.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, pevgeny! :) Sounds like a great trip you have planned! ^


We'll move your query over to the Travel Tools forum, where the experts there are more familiar with the multitude of booking resources available these days. Thanks. :) /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

suggestions & questions
 

Turkish (TK) is a solid airline so no worries there. IST is renowned for having the best lounge in the world & some FF's plan to transit there for the lounge!

I anticipate visas could be a challenge. Are you American? As far as I know, visas are req'd to enter Turkey & Russia.

One of the best doc film fests in the world (Docaviv) takes place in Tel Aviv during your travel dates. You may want to plan accordingly.

Many of your European destinations are best reached by train. I don't know if Eurailpasses are still a thing, but I would look into this as well. Can also save $$ on overnight trains.

I also suggest using the Star Alliance RTW trip planner to check for fares & carriers:
http://www.staralliance.com/en/book-fly

The Turkish visa is a simple $$ payment upon arrival. I remember $25, but it may have changed. They just take your money and stamp your passport or tape something in it.

The Russian visa is a whole 'nuther thing. Do spend some time researching it, and apply well ahead of time. I tried a DIY for Brazil. A cliff-hanger, with one bounce back, and the final product only arriving the day before departure. I learned my lesson, and for Russia I went through a firm. It cost a bit more, but seriously worth it!!

For European train travel, the most useful site I know is www.seat61.com.

Romelle

Thank you :)

Thank you, Romelle & Antonio8069 for your insight.
Yes, I am American, I can try to avoid connection in Russia if so, to reduce any visa implication. although is it ready a problem if I will only have a connection flight there from some reason? Not planning to go explorer the city.
Going to give a try to Star Alliance RTW. From my google research on airteks it seems like a legit company with current customers. Would be great if anyone can confirm and share their experience from this forum.
Have all a great and peaceful weekend!

I took the above to mean 1 week in Minsk, hence the Russian visa? Just a connection is different. I don't claim to understand just what might be required for that, but I'm sure there are people here who do. Maybe in the country-specific area.

----

I think you are going to wish you had more time in each of your stops. You might seriously consider dropping your least favorite one to give you more time at the others.

The arrival day pretty much doesn't count since you are jet-lagged and weary.

Any day you are moving to a new destination is consumed with packing, check out, transport to the airport, fly, transport to hotel, and unpacking. Very little left for actually enjoying a place.

But you've an exciting itinerary, and I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

Romelle

Minsk is not in Russia; it's the capital of Belarus.

I was reading too quickly. I just caught the "Russian" from this in Wikipedia:

"Persons flying to Belarus via Russian airports (i.e. you change planes in Russian territory) must get a Russian transit visa, which, generally, must be obtained in your country of citizenship or residence. Flights to Belarus use the domestic terminal at Russian airports and you therefore must pass through Russian customs and transfer to the domestic terminal. If you do not have a transit visa and are lucky, you can expect many hours of bureaucratic delay or else, in many cases, be forced to find another flight without leaving the international terminal. Therefore, flights to Belarus from European Union airports are highly recommended."

Several years ago I'd gone train and bus from Estonia to Poland. I was careful to route around Belarus so I wouldn't have to get that visa.

So if OP's flight to Belarus is from Paris, and doesn't have a connection in Moscow or elsewhere in Russia, just the Belarus visa is necessary. It is a more involved and expensive process though than the Turkish one.

Agree, I am going to optimize it.
Also, checking on visa to Belarus on consular website.
Thank you!

Eurail Pass on Sale
 

This week, Rail Europe is having a Cyber Monday sale on its passes:
Raileurope.com code EURAILCYBER100

(Might want to consider adding St. Petersburg to your itin - no visa required for short stays.)

G'Day Pevgeny and y'all,

Thank-you for double checking on us. I'm stoked to see you checking at FlyerTalk to see if we are for real. We are and have been for 20+ years. :)

We do a comprehensive report every year or so on Complex Multi-Stop Travel and Around the World Airfare that review all the ways that we know how to book them, including other providers. The report is here if you want to look at it.

We refer all of our potential customers, to this report and to other providers since we want folks to:

1) Do long-term travel (We believe it makes the world the better place)
2) And pick the right provider for themselves, even when it's not us.

Cheers to you and your journey!

Sean

Hi Sean,
I am confused with all the different names and affiliations here on RWT companies.Can you enlighten us please?
Now you have mention roundtheworldticket.com, while we were talking about Bootsnall...
TYI

Good question Pevgeny and sorry for the delay.

RoundtheWorldTicket.com - is a website that we've (BootsnAll) been running since around 2000 or so.

Starting a few years ago, we started researching and writing reports on Around The World Ticket companies, and strategies (like DIY) and publishing them on the RoundTheWorldTicket website.

Here are 2 other reports:

DIY Report
Alliance Report

Now that you ask this question, I can see that this may be confusing. (different brands/urls)