Hi everyone. I've never booked a RTW ticket, but have an upcoming trip that I think might be a good candidate.

We are going to Botswana (out of Maun) in April for Safari. We live in Seattle, WA (USA) and want to stop in London for a few days on the way. We'd like to then stop in Australia (Cairns area) on the way home for a week or so.

I'm willing to buy the RTW ticket outside the USA if it isn't too inconvienent (UK or Sweden are good candidates - as we wouldn't mind heading back there later in the year to complete the RTW trip).

While I'd love to go with a DONE4, budget might restrict me to LONE4.

So - my first pass is a LONE4 ex-UK with the following (and adding a trip in the middle to see family in Omaha, NE (OMA):

LHR-JNB-SYD-CRN-SYD-SFO-SEA-ORD-OMA-ORD-SEA-LHR

My questions are:

1. Does this seem reasonable to seasoned RTW travelers? Better routes?
2. Is ex-UK if LONE4 worth it? How difficult is it to book and obtain tickets from the USA?
3. Any brilliant ideas on how to find a way to go DONE4 in a way that I can cost justify to the wife?!?!

Thanks in advance - I apologize if my first post on this forum is rambling...