Thanks guys. I'm pretty excited. I'm just waiting on my citi 100k card in order to book the trip. Looking like it'll be about 16.5k (not including any side trips) for business class. Interestingly, I tried to book through aa rtw desk and they wouldn't let me do the stop over in doha (tokyo->doha->capetown). Even after I said, I was able to book it on OWE (she said, if I could do it, I should do it there). There wasn't any real difference in price btwn OW and AA RTW desk so I plan to just book on OW. I think most of my stays will be via AIRBNB-- my younger friends are recommending hostels to meet people... I've had a lot of success with airbnb in the states and in Prague. In auckland, we plan to rent a van :-)

I'm hoping I can pay a portion of my wifes auckland trip via the 100k miles from citicard. Anyone have a link as to the cost in ffm for various trips?

I'm signed up for citi100k and aa plt challenge. I believe total trip distance will be in excess of 50k (one leg is on Cathay so I don't believe I'll get credit on the challenge for it but most everything else should qualify- qantas, qatar, iberia, jpl, etc.).

Next is to figure out which laptop to bring (I'm a programmer by trade so looking for some power and mobility-- lenovo x240 looks interesting here) and how to handle iphone. I doubt I'll make any calls, just whatsapp so maybe just a data plan though I'm guessing many of the airbnb stays will have inet... I'm guessing there's an international electrical adapter I can use btwn the various continents???

Final trip is looking like:

NYC -> Sydney -> Auckland -> Kuala Lumpur -> Hong Kong -> Tokyo (side trip to Kyoto) -> Doha -> Capetown -> Moscow -> Helsinki (side to Stockholm) -> Amsterdam (side to oslo) -> London -> Madrid (side to Lisbon) -> Sao Paolo -> Rio de Janero

One question if anyone knows: How difficult is it to change itineraries while on these type of trips. Is it generally a free switch? How much in advance would you have to adjust?