Just wanted to update everyone as promised previously.

The tickets from GIB arrived too late for my departure and had to be reissued by Bland. They did this and I picked them up from the BA desk in GIB. I got back to the US from the Europe/Asia/Australia legs last night and they were in the post mountain. They were mailed 3 weeks before I left so took at least that long to get here by mail. Henry was very helpful throughout however and even gave me his home phone number in case I had any problems at departure.

I'll finish up the US/South America legs over the next 9 months or so but will post my trip report on the first half in the trip reports forum soon.