Hello, I'm not a novice traveler, but totally new to booking Oneworld RTW trips. Thought I have done a lot of homework on this topic, but even as I think I know a decent amount, there are so many things I still don't understand.

I am US based, and am trying to get to CPT in mid 2026. My thought is to build out a RTW itinerary (DONE4?) presumably starting in OSL, and using the AA RTW desk to book. My main objective is to get to South Africa, then fly home in a "fun" way, and then I'll have some portions of a US-EU trip left to finish up the ticket in the future. I'm not thinking of good creative ideas to build this up more I'd like to maximize my earnings in AA as much as possible. I've done searches for D space and my very rough outline seems mostly doable.

Initially my thought was something like OSL-DOH-CPT(stop) then continue eastbound eventually to ORD. Maybe CPT-DOH-SYD-HND-JFK(stop), later doing ORD-LHR-OSL. Realizing that is only half of the segments I could fly, there is room for building it out much more.

One other last minute thought I had would be to go the other direction, same starting point, OSL-DOH-CPT, then come back more directly to home, i.e. CPT-LHR-ORD, and I'd have a lot more segments to use for later going westbound eventually back to OSL. Is there a benefit to going one way vs. the other given my preferences?

One rule that I'm confused about how it might lead to issues with my plans, rule 4(e) Is this only if I have a second departure/arrival in Europe or will this cause me issues in my plan all together?

Appreciate any advice the experts here can share, steering my in the right direction if I'm off base with assumptions, as well as any suggestions for how to spice it up.