Hi laboheme, I'll second that welcome.

I'm sure you most likely want to get to the answer to your original question via the shortest route, but such are the quirks of air tickets - only amplified by specialist products such as RTW tix - and the lack of industry professionals who really know what they're talking about (yes, even common within dedicated travel agencies and issuing airlines), that an hour or so spent researching these threads will pay dividends.

It tends not to be very cost efficient to originate a premium class RTW ticket from anywhere in the Eurozone, though France or anywhere else on mainland Europe is most definately an improvement over previaling UK pricing.

If you're prepared to suffer a little inconvenience and 'originate' somewhere else, the sticky posted at the top of this forum will help you work out where the keenest pricing exists. The most up-to-date pricing, according to the update posts helpfully made by other FTers is here.

With a family in tow, I suspect you might just be looking for the most convenient routing. That's why I question your choice of first class (unless meant in the traditional American way to actually express business class) when, unless you're prepared to travel, in your case, quite a distance, to a lower-priced point of origin, you'll find the differential between D (business class fare class) and A (first) to be fairly substantial.

Some suggestions:

- Work out your proposed routing vs. OW airlines which fly there. Contrast this with how much of the time you'll likely be flying on an aircraft which offers a F cabin (while this tends to remain a feature of proven long haul routes, many carriers outside of SE Asia - and increasingly even those within - have phased out F in favour of a purely economy and business configuration).

- Looking at your mooted routing, most of the intercontinental routes will offer you a F cabin, if planned appropriately (albeit with indirect flights from Paris), the intra-Australian flights won't (the only intra-Australian flight with a F cabin is LAN's service between SYD-AKL, AFAIK).

- Unless an experienced F traveller (making no pre-judgment), you may want to give some careful thought to shelling out what can be a major fare difference for a product whch (as OW goes) offers you a slightly emptier version of the equivalent business lounge and cabin. The difference in F product from carrier to carrier, even within the OW alliance can vary greatly, as well as by route within the individual carriers.

- For your location, the cheapest and most convenient point of 'origin' is Sweden. For a 3 continent business class fare this would work out at EUR 4,269 per adult (less for the little ones, naturally). This would involve buying a cheap ticket to get to your point of origin; again in your situation this would only present you (before the 1-way ticket is taken into account) with a real cost saving of EUR 627 each on a DONE 3 ticket.

- Consider whether a RTW ticket really is the best option for the routing you have in mind. A combination of a point-to-point ticket from Europe to Australia (many of which will allow one stopover in Asia on both the outbound and inbound segments to/from Australia), plus some side trips separately ticketed within Australia and Asia, may end up proving more cost-effective.

Good luck with the trip.