Hi Everyone, as the title says, I'm quitting work and looking to do an around the world trip for about 3mo. I've traveled a little in the past but nothing like this... I've sketched it out on oneworld as: New York - Sydney - Auckland - Kuala Lumpur - Tokyo - Doha - Cape Town - London - Moscow - Helsinki - Amsterdam - London - Madrid - Sao Paulo - Rio De Janeiro - New York and wondered if folks could help me with the following. My restrictions are to leave 4/18 and be in Auckland by 4/26. Many thanks!

1) Do people generally figure out their itinerary on oneworld then book individually for pricing?

2) I noticed several people talked about better pricing with oneworld when starting from various locations. is there a quick way to figure this out?

3) Business class is about 7k more but some folks say it worth it due to all the frequent flyer mileage. Whats the best way to evaluate this?

4) I'm getting a bank or america travel card (mostly for the no foreign fees), are there other cards I should consider for this flight?

Thank you for any help.