Before I joined this forum I used to be think I flew quite alot (my wife still thinks I fly far too often) with an average of 4 roundtrip flights per month mainly for work.

But from going through these boards, I pale in comparison - it never ceases to amaze me how certain members are able to rack up so much flying time/miles. Many have multiple top tier status, are able to fly RTW's often (I recall Spotwelder saying he's usually in some airport 6 days of the week) and just generally constantly flying around the world.

My question is - how are you able to do it?
Is it for work reasons? If so, I'm curious as to which jobs involve constant flying around the world.
If for personal reasons, unless you're quite well off, how can you afford it?

I was thinking of a DONE4 sometime next year but just can't seem to find the time (I'd prefer spending more than just 2 weeks if I'm circling the globe) with my job commitments. So in this situation I can afford the ticket but can't afford the time (i.e. I'm still not well off enough to just take time off whenever and for however long I want!).

Anyway, just to say that as someone becoming more and more hooked on travelling, especially now trying to do more leisure travel - I'm impressed with you lot.

As for affording the time, if done wisely, a DONE4 can used throughout its validity of 12 months - eg buying outside of your home city or country. Buying outside of your country may also result in a substantial saving.

Well I run a global aviation safety consultancy. I pay public fares and don't get industry discount, so no frying me for it being easy. I use aircraft to get around between jobs, not working checking the aircraft whilst flying (I cannot do this within the flight crew limitation hours! I fly too much, not enought rest hours and too high a radiation dose for aircrew regulations.)

Teleconferencing does not work, on site inspections and looking into the depth of someone's eyes is the requirement. Also the wreckage doesn't fax well.

Some continents have lots of travel associated with doing business. For example, if you work in some European Commission sponsored projects, you have to travel to a couple of countries a month for meetings. Add a few Brussels coordination trips in and you are at one return a week to start with.

Add in normal business project based work with European overseas clients and that is at least one more return a week.

Now Australia for my main office with a SYD base has lots of hopping around the Canberra, MEL, SYD, BNE areas with hops to NZ as well.

Then you have to get from the London office to the SYD office.

Add in lectures and conferences for another long haul return every couple of months.

Add in one day inspections for insurance companies anywhere in the world and that is another set of bi-weekly long hauls (best done off London for ease of travel, SYD is not well connected for quick trips in that sense).

Add in the extra flights required for security reasons. For example, some sites may not have secure accommodation for overnighting so you have to fly back to the capital at night and then come back in the morning, with less than 6 hours in bed.

I am very lucky in that I get to travel all over the world. There are some unpleasant aspects in some countries. There are some countries that I don't like. There are some where I get very bored as I don't speak the language and it can be too frightening to go outside the hotel at night.

However, I love my job. What can be better than the view out of the window of a 747 on a clear day, computer switched on with in-seat power and a British Airways afternoon cream tea being served?

As for jet-lag management, well I have got a fair amount of experience in that department. I know what works for me but I have to admit to getting tired and certainly sitting in a dark radar control room after a long haul and 10 hour time shift at 3 pm local will start to see the head nodding slightly.

Just think off all of those miles available to spend going on holiday....

I have only used miles for a private trip once in the last 10 years. That was to fly to Barra, the only commerical beach airport in the world, where the timetable is tidal!

So that is why I travel so much, just a global traveller to get to work.

People ask me the same thing. For me, its taking away as many of the unknowns in planning the trip and putting the odds in your favor for upgrades, ontime flights, hassle free connections, no security problems, seat selection and ground transportation. Anxiety associted with travel can be worse than the travel itself. So, read these boards for tips and try to make the experience as relaxing as possible.

Enjoy it!

Spotwelder - have you ever thought of writing a travel book about the ups and downs (no pun intended) or flying around the world?

And what better place and time than on a 747 with the view out of the window on a clear day, computer switched on with in-seat power and a British Airways afternoon cream tea being served?

Well I do give a few after dinner speeches a year and these focus on the job and the travel. The BA site has a few story tellers. Pucci is the head of the cabin crew on long haul for BA and she has Tales From The Galley TFTG for her stories. I have relayed some of them via the header title 99 sectors in 100 days.

All I can say is watch out for the banned items when entering Santiago de Chile SCL. Search and you will find out more. Viajero confirms that the sign is still there. I must get a photo when I go back before Christmas.

As for writing the book, well I will have to use all those miles up when I retire and have my QF lifetime gold card. So I guess that it will be sitting on an old A380 plodding round the major routes somewhere, wishing BA was the carrier rather than being an ex-airline as Virgin became the new GB flag carrier following the bankrupcy, still waiting for the cream tea...

It will prove to be a bit of an anticlimax.

Brilliant!

alect, could you please elaborate? I just booked a trip from SFO to DEL via HKG with a combination of miles and $. The RTW ticket was much more expensive, but I have a nagging feeling that somebody smarter could have figured out how to combine this trip with a trip to see relatives in JFK and maybe something else.

thanks!

A few points:

- starting outside of your home city/country - because a RTW ticket ends as soon as you arrive at your starting airport, it is advisable in some circumstances, to starts elsewhere than your home airport - this allows you to do some part of the trip at either end of a RTW. E.g. is living in SFO, you could start it in LAX and do LAX-JFK-DFW-SFO......live at home for 11 months or so......SFO-LHR-DEL-HKG-SFO (and this is the simplest to achieve your outlined objectives KSinNYC - you could add other sectors withint he routing above if on a xONEx).

- starting outside of your home country, in addition to the above, allows you to buy the same ticket for a cheaper fare. E.g. I live in LAX, but I purchased my DONE4 in BKK and started it there....travelled to HKG and then Aust and now back in LAX... will do a couple of NA trips on the ticket (LAX-SJD, LAX-DFW-ORF-DFW-LAX) and then continue next year LAX-LHR.....BKK.

- the additional benefit of starting outside of NA, is that the xONEx restricts you to 4 segments and 2 stopovers in your continent of origin. So if you started in LAX or SFO you could only do LAX-JFK-DFW-SFO, whereas if you started outside of NA, you could not fly into SFO from another continent, and within NA do for eg SFO-JFK-DFW-SFO-ORD-SFO...and then continue on to Europe and DEL.

- the main issue of starting outside of your home country/city is you need to get to that starting point. Eg. you would need to go SFO-LAX on a separate ticket, and also return from LAX-SFO at the end of your RTW (if you do not choose to buy another one to start from LAX). This can be done using $ or miles - obviously cheaper to fly SFO-LAX than SFO-BKK. But the DONEx fares (for example) are considerably cheaper ex-BKK than ex-NA.

Hope the above explains it a little more. Feel free to ask further questions and I am sure others can chime in.

Thank you alect! I am going to keep this email in my "handy tips" folder and will surely use it the next time I want to log some miles....

I still have the same awe. It is incredible how fortunate some people are.

The truth is, we all frequent flyers tend to compare ourselves with the rest of the humanity: people who would not tell a B747 from A319, people who wait in security queue apparently without knowing they will need to remove keys/watch/coins/mobile phone, people who don't remember which airline they flew with last week because it is of no consequence to them.

And this leads us to thinking we're a few chosen ones. Except when you come into contact with really Big Boys of Frequent Travel, it is a very humbling experience. It is like someone who plays moderately good tennis feels pretty big in his holiday resort court. But then he gets to play a pro and is brutally, mercilessly destroyed and then understands that he has only reached the very first step of a long, long ladder leading uphil to Frequent Flying bliss.

An excellent summation... except that the Frequent Flying Bliss is slowly becoming less and less blissfull with security hassles, increased fees, elimination or cutbacks on premium services, etc. I'm sure the people at the top feel it too. Maybe they don't feel it as much as us "moderately good tennis players" but they feel it.

i agree! the after 9/11 flying for me has been a lot more painful. i fly 200k-300k actual miles a year for the last nine years. was top tier status on BA and UA for a few years. first it was mainly work and now it has been lesuire since i've taken 8 months off work. how do i do it? i honestly don't know? i don't think about it as being tiresome. i just do it. for lesuire, most of my friends are in different parts of the world and i enjoy catching up with everyone. so i fly to see them. for work, i just have to do it. used to be an IT consultant so weekly travel was a necessity. now i'm moving to a more regular job, so my flying will be cut down. can't say that i will miss it. prefer to be more grounded now and fly less. now i fly more long haul which i really prefer over short haul U.S. domestic flights. it is true that flying on a 747 looking out of the window feels really peaceful sometimes.