I am considering doing a three week RTW trip. Any suggestions of interesting iteneraries are welcome.

That's a pretty broad request. How about narrowing it down a bit. Are you interested in max miles or just sightseeing? Any required stops? If sightseeing what do you like to look at: beaches, mountains, jungles, deserts, history, architecture, ...??? How long do you want to spend in any one place during the three weeks?

What class are you planning to fly in? Do you want to originate in CPH or somewhere less expensive, e.g. CAI?

i will be flying in business class. I would like to stop in 4 or 5 places for 2-4 days each. I have no specific cities or places i want to see - basically i want to see the best the world has to offer. What do you guys think is the best the world has to offer?

Honestly, you need to chat with close friends who know you personally and have traveled a bit, so they can suggest places they know fit your personality.

Your local video store probably has some fairly boring travel videos, but it's an easy start on data-gathering. The library has lots of material - I personally enjoy travel anecdotes better than the Frommer/Fodor litanies. And the glossy pre-packaged tour brochures you can pick up from various travel sellers are a great source of ideas for what someone thinks Joe Average will want to do on his holiday.

I agree to all what has been written. From my experience the most interesting places to go (at least for my taste) assuming that you just want to stay in a interesting bigger city, look around etc witout spending too much time, good food etc). So no countryside, no places hard to get to (like Lake Titikaka). The list is incomplete but should give you some ideas

Europe: London, Rome, Barcelona, then Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest

US: New York, SFO

Southam: Buenos Aires, Santiago

Asia: Hong Kong, Bangkok, then Tokyo

Australia: Sydney

The "best" of what the world has to offer is a very subjective criterion. For example, I have been to London several times because I have friends there, and frankly, I can live without it. If they weren't there, I wouldn't go. Same with Sydney. I have been and I have absolutely no desire to return. Obviously Unterwegs would disagree (along with a lot of other people). But I would agree that Bangkok, NY, and San Francisco are three places that are worth going to. Under your time limitations, these are my personal suggestions. In Europe, go somewhere different. Morocco, the middle east, Egypt, Spain, Russia, whatever. North America, New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Asia, Bangkok, Bali, or Tokyo. I don't think I would add another continent because it's going to be a day there and a day back, which is just going to eat into your time.

Maybe something like this:

CPH-LHR-CAI-LHR-NYC-SFO-HKG-NRT-HKG-DPS-HKG-BKK-LHR-CPH

There is one Asian segment that you would have to pay a little extra for. Three days in Cairo, two in New York, three in San Francisco, three in Tokyo, four in Bali, three in Bangkok. In my opinion, that gives you three *very* different faces of Asia.

It would be a shame to pass through HKG three times and not see it!

Actually, I agree. Try to stay for a couple of days there if you can. I am not sure if I would give up Tokyo for Hong Kong in this case, not because I liked it better, but because it's very different from the other three places in my opinion. But that's a tough call and I would consider it, especially because I enjoyed HKG more than TYO and it's a helluva lot cheaper. Especially right now. Maybe substitute Hong Kong for New York since flights to NY are cheap and short. I sure miss traveling as much.

What you might also consider is breaking the trip into two parts. That would give you a bit of extra time. I'll use my itinerary as an example:

CPH-LON-NYC-SFO-HKG-TYO-HKG-DPS-HKG-BKK-LON
arrange your own round trip from london to copenhagen and back
LON-CAI-LON-CPH

That way you can spend a few extra days on the long trip (thereby adding hong kong) and do the short one when you can get more time off. At first glance, lon-cph flights don't look so cheap, but maybe use FF miles or something. Would also give you a degree of flexibility in most cases.

Sorry to be blunt, but is this poster even mature enough to know what to "see the best the world has to offer"? More specifically, like, how old you are, your sex, your needs, wants, likes and dislikes.

If you're in Denmark, you would certainly know what it is you want, and see, and can afford to do in 2 weeks. You have to call the shots, you have to tell us where you want to go, and specifically how much you want to spend.

If you don't, I certainly won't bother in wasting my time informing an ignorant traveller or worse... a kid.

It's like people calling travel agents througout the wintery cities in mid Feb and ask to be sent to 'anywhere that's hot'!



[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 05-26-2003).]

Gee, GB, have a rough night? We were all young and na�ve about travel once upon a time. Helping out is what this forum is all about. If you choose not to, that is your right but there is no need to become belligerent.

Where have you been and prefer to skip?

Okay, here is what I would tell a friend who asked me who hasn't travelled much. In general, spend more time in one place and avoid one day stays here and there.

Assuming you are already living in Europe and can visit more places pretty easily, here is what I would do:

* 2-3 days in Hong Kong (east meets west - good food & sightseeing)
* 2-3 days in Bangkok (good shopping and very cheap)
* 3 days in Bali (good relaxing place)
* 2-3 days in Cairns (or one of the islands in the Great Barrier Reef - my favroite is Hyman Island) (great place to dive or snorkel and visit the Barrier Reef)
* 2-3 days in Sydney (lots of sightseeing to do)
* 6 days in New Zealand and drive around (longer if possible) (my personal favorite for best scenic drives in the world)
* 2 days in Los Angeles or San Francisco
* 2 days in Vegas (never expected much of the place until I went there - lots to do even if you don't gamble)
* 2-3 days in New York

I feel that will give you a broad range of cities to visit and activities to do.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 05-26-2003).]

thanks for your suggestions. i have travelled extensively in europe and USA on business, so i will probably not spend much time there, although i strongly agree that new york, san fran and vegas are very cool places.
I am bit surprised that most recommandations focus on asia-pacific. Has nobody been to africa or south america - or are these places just not high on your list?
HKG and Bali seem like a very good combo for a couple of days, so does australia or NZ.

I suspect a lot of the seasoned travelers here prefer to minimize the anarchy and turbulence along their trail; there's a lot of that in Africa and South America these days, leaving them as destinations of choice only for the adventurers. Much of the middle east doesn't get onto recommended lists, either, for the same reason.

Australia and NZ, populated with extremely pleasant folks, are cursed by being far off the beaten path, without a "killer attraction". IMO it's not the place you go first.

Likewise Bali, a place we visit every year, might disappoint someone who's sent there rather than being personally attracted there in the first place. Australian kids go there because it's a cheap place to party and get together, away from home, with the opposite sex. We go because it's relaxing and the people are beyond gentle. I'm not sure there's an in-between.

Before my first serious trip, a long time ago, I did a lot of reading, and still believe juniordk2000 will have a many-times-nicer trip if he takes that advice and hies himself to his nearest library.


[This message has been edited by JohnAx (edited 05-26-2003).]

Time. If you have done N/A, do S/A or Africa, but not both. You are only giving yourself 2-4 days each place, why spend a day or two of it flying around? I haven't been to Africa much, so I can't give an opinion. (though who said that opinions are like *******s...everyone has one? Blakey or someone? can't remember) South America is worth the trip, though. Easter Island and all of Peru I enjoyed. Brazil and Buenos Aires are always high on people's lists.