I am in the process of quitting my job and planning a once in a lifetime trip 'backpacking' through all the countries and places I want to go.

Only one problem: it is too expensive, even using the lowest kinds of accommodation (i.e. Hiltons ).

So it becomes clear that I am spending too much on flights.

You would have thought that a basic circuit of:

LHR-DXB-DEL with Emirates
DEL-BKK-NRT with Thai
NRT-ICN-PEK with Korean
PEK-KUL-DPS with Malaysia Airlines
DPS-SIN-LHR with Singapore Airlines

...which amounts to be a brilliant £1500 for all 10 flights combined, would provide the basis for further exploration of each area in between the core flights listed above.

However, when you add on stuff such as BKK-RGN, or DPS-JOG, with Air Asia, or the Shinkansen through the rest of Japan to Hiroshima or Osaka, the price begins to get a little silly, even allowing for cheap hostels once there.

I guess the point of this thread to ask how everyone else does it? How can you travel as much as possible but economically at the same time? Am I missing something here?