I think once you get bitten by the RTW bug you can split this infection into five or six phases.

Phase one is that amazing buzz you get when you discover a RTW ticket in First Class for you and your partner is really doable before you're 80, within your grasp and less than the price of a return flight from London to New York in First, albeit starting at the other end of the world, or even worse, Canada.

Phase two is the compromise we have to make when we find our dream RTW will not work, due to one regulation or another.

Phase three is where I am at the moment, in trying to calculate the true costs of RTW travel, the costs when taxes etc are added to the ticket. When I first started looking at FT, Cairo was the place to start an AONE*. Then it became Mauritius, which was great. A week of sun, sea and …….sand - ideal. I read about a £300 pp admin charge but the prices through their BA operation were still really good.
I now understand, because of a plummeting rand Jo’burg is the cheapest place to start and buying the ticket through AA reduces costs even further because their airport taxes are better than BAs. Speaking to some friends today who have just returned from Durban, where they are attempting to sell their property, the rand is going to get a lot weaker before it improves.
Other posts suggest starting from Sweden through AA, low additional costs again, but I really would prefer to start from outside Europe, so I can do LHR-DXB-LHR in BA First. I appreciate a couple of London take offs is going seriously add to the additional costs but can’t be avoided - I live there and to be able to use the ticket I am going to have to split it into at least 6 journeys.

So my question is what is the true cost (in people’s recent experience) of ex-MRU and ex-JNB AONEx tickets, once all additional costs have been factored in? I would like to do MRU(JNB)-LHR-DXB-LHR-DFW-MBJ-JFK-BGI-JFK-BDA-JFK-HKG-SIN-NRT-BKK-HKG-JNB-(MRU adjust to 16 leg if required – book in July).

If I can get some feedback I will then be prepared for phase four, booking the ticket and comprising over the flights I want and those that are actually available.

Thanks,

Simon