I just came back from a mini-RTW which I booked on Aeroplan, for 75,000 pts, after having churned some credit cards to get Free Bonus Miles. The total taxes were only $315, w/o including GST/PST and the extra $30 to the agent for a phone booking.

I visited Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Korea, and added layovers in Singapore, Beijing, and Vancouver, travelling for a total of ~ 1 month.

I booked it as YUL-MUC-PEK-HKG (Stop 1), HKG-SGN (Turnaround), SGN-SIN-ICN (Stop 2), ICN-PEK-YVR-YUL.

The details were:
YUL-MUC (Layover of 5 hrs in Munich) = Lufthansa
MUC-PEK = Air China
PEK-HKG (Stopover 1) = Air China
HKG-SGN (Turnaround) = United
SGN-SIN (Layover of 10 hrs in Singapore) = Singapore Airlines
SIN-ICN (Stopover 2) = Singapore Airlines
ICN-PEK (Layover of 23 hr 45 min in Beijing) = Air China
PEK-YVR (Layover of 12 hrs in Vancouver) = Air China
YVR-YUL = Air Canada

We wanted to avoid flying through the US, so chose to get to Asia via Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, also which extended the MPM, and home via the Pacific Ocean.

5 hrs in Munich was more than enough time to have beer + sausage; we could have even played mini-putt at the airport, or gone into town, but there is a great Beer Garden at the airport so we stayed.

10 hrs in Singapore was more than enough to visit all the main sites, and eat at two of the most famous hawker centers in the city (we made sure to arrive hungry from Saigon)

23:45 in Beijing was amazing - we even got a hotel for the night, as we timed it so we arrived at 4 pm and left the next day at 3:45 pm.

12 hrs in Vancouver, and it was sunny the whole time, was wonderful as well.

Do note, we took a separate 45 minute flight from SGN-NHA (Nha Trang) to avoid a 9 hr train ride up the coast, but bought that (for a mere $40) with Vietnam Airlines.

So all in all, literally Around the World, for $315.

9 flights booked with the same Aeroplan pts, and even stretching the point of turnaround with the Agent on the phone to allow for a detour to Singapore (and making it be the MPM reference as it is the furthest most point from Montreal, even though it was not the point of Turnaround).

All the flights were amazing, and Air China surprised me with how on time they were. Singapore Airlines is luxurious to say the least!

What a trip...

Thanks to my wife who let me plan this crazy trip, and who loved every minute of it as we travelled the world, pretty much for free.