Okay, so here is my general travel plan (starting in jan of 2007 and going for ~6months). can you guys/gals make suggestions about the cheapest possible way to do this

New York - Edinburgh - Delhi - Beijing - South China (HK, or Guangzhou) [overland] - Bangcock - Saigon - Phonm Penh - Bangcock - Lima - Buenos Aires - Patagonia - Buenos Aires - New York - Tel-Aviv - Athens - Edinburgh - New York (whew)

What I'm thinking is to do a 4 continent RTW originating in the UK and returning there. Then paying for the first leg and last leg on a seperate roundtrip ticket. Does that work? Does it make sense? Also, I understand that you only get two stopovers in the originating continent, do Tel-Aviv/Athens work in that regard? What should the total cost be?

Any insight into these questions would be appreciated, thanks for all your help.