After tackling a LCIR23 a few years back, my fiance and I have decided to do a full RTW after we get married this year. We're currently based in the UK but will be moving back to the US next summer and were looking at a mid-may 2009 departure. However, as the 20 segment limit appears to be changing this June, we thought we should book something sooner rather than later to take advantage of current rules and fares.
As I understand it, the tickets will be valid from a year past the first flight date, so once we got into July/August, we could simply update the dates and have them reissued.

Currently, we're thinking of:
CPT-LHR-DXB-AMM-MAD-GIG-SCL-IPC-xSCL-EZE-SYD-CHC-AKL-SYD-PEK-HKG-DPS-KIX-BKK-xLHR-NBO

A few considerations:
1) We'll have about 2 - 2.5 months before we should be back in the US for grad school and/or new jobs
2) we're pretty flexible in where we start from and would consider JNB to take advantage of the attractive fares there if it made sense (have plenty of miles to get down there)
3) I can't seem to find SCL-USH flights in LANs schedule, but they're listed on both the OneWorld map and USH websites. We'd like to make it down there (even in June), so if needed, we could cut out GIG and fly SCL-EZE//AEP-USH-AEP//EZE-SYD, but of course this seems to create another segment issue if I've read the rules correctly.
4) We're planning a side trip in China, at the very least to PVG, but likely to a few other spots too. We thought we'd just buy this separately, but if we can integrate it into our ticket, all the better.
5) We chose DPS b/c we wanted a place to unwind and do nothing towards the end of the trip, but would be open to other beachy places in Asia. Looked at Borneo and Langkawi too. Have been to Phuket and Krabi before.
6) At the end of the trip, we need to get back to the US. Again, we assumed we'd have to purchase (with $ or miles), but we'd be open to any option.
7) of course, anyway to maximise miles is always welcome

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!