i am looking for suggestions for an aonex-dfw. i have the month of july open to travel. i am a single female. no particular destinations in mind. my goal is not to accumulate miles. my goal is to see great places and sites. any suggestions?

Just to clarify, since I didn't to a good job of educating my good friend kristyek on the lingo, she wants to do an AONEX (3, 4 or 5), ex-DFW, this July. Her slate is entirely clean. Let's see what itineraries FTers can come up with. Remember, the goal is not mileage accumulation, but rather seeing some awesome places during her one-month sabatical.

Well I guess some obvious things could be mentioned to start.

Summer in north, winter in south. In some places in the south, though, winter = dry, so some safari areas in southern Africa are best around then. Dallas pretty well defines summer heat, so aside from hot/wet places or the Middle East, climate may or may not be a consideration.

Probably best to load the OW timetable and go down the list of cities to see what hits her fancy. Easter Island? Skiing in New Zealand? Midnight sun in Scandinavia? Great Barrier Reef? Scottish Highlands? Barcelona? Victoria Falls? Hong Kong? Yikes... where to start.

Have her browse some of the trip reports on that forum, or visit some of the other travel websites like fodors.com - so she can start narrowing down the humongous list of possibilities that are out there.

Ediited to add - I can't believe I kept using "she" and "her" - as if I was replying to Blumie instead of you, kristyek. Very, very sorry.

How comfortable are you traveling alone as a single woman?

And is this a budget, moderate, or luxury level trip?

kristyek welcome to the wonders of RTW planning! It's incredibly fun yet requires great attention to detail. It's much like assembling a complex jigsaw puzzle.

One of the things i do when planning a trip is to take the route maps published in the AA magazine and the BA magazine. Basically, you want to pick out about 2 or 3 destinations per continent. As others have suggested, make out a wish list.

Are you well traveled already? Have you done the basics - Paris, Rome, London, Hong Kong, Thailand? Or is that where your focus will be?

I travel for the pleasure of the destination - and the pleasure of the process of getting there. I'm always trying to figure out the most comfortable route to the most interesting places I either want to revisit or have yet to visit. I like BA first and CX first, and try to maximize my time in their first class cabins. I also try to get to destinations that are very expensive to reach otherwise, such as Easter Island.

This year, on my RTW, I'm stopping in:

Europe:
- London
- Malta

US
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador

Asia:
- Bali
- Sri Lanka

Australia
- Sydney
- Cairns
- Melbourne
- Auckland

So help us out here. Do a bit of research, come back, and we'll happily help you with your trip.

Since it appears that you have only 1 month to travel, select 3 or 4 destinations where you can spend time to get to know the place. You don't want to spend a lot of time on airplanes if that is not your idea of fun.

headinclouds makes an excellent point. I bought my first RTW for my husband and me before discovering the insanity of FT RTWs. I used it for a 3 1/2 week vacation so that we could travel comfortably to some far flung places. Now I shudder at the miles I left on the table - but you know, we had a great time and it was perfect for us then.

We visited:

- India - Rajasthan area

- Bali

- Vietnam - bought a ticket locally to travel between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

This was a Star RTW, as flew that alliance solely at the time.

This will be a luxury level trip. Generally she will be staying only at the top level hotels at each destination (the Harper Collection and FT will be her guide).

If youre staying at the top then you can probably avoid many of the problems that come with visiting certain countries.

I think that the advice that headinclouds gave and SD1K seconded is spot on. Choose three or four places and call it a trip. Otherwise it will quickly turn into, if it's Tuesday then it must be Bangkok. Assume that you will have a day of travel with each destination and that leaves six days. Depending on where you go, there are other places close that you can do day or a couple of day trips to. For instance, if you go to Paris then you can spend a few days in Brussels for minimal effort.

I would choose places that #1 are expensive to get to otherwise and #2 that you find interesting. What are your interests? Are you interested in nature or culture or architecture? Are you interested in food or drink? Do you like to shop or hike or sail? Are you interested in safe places or edgy places? Do you want to lounge around a lot, do you like spas, do you like massages? Do you have any prejudices, preconceptions, or hangups about certain things or places? For instance, I have a friend that will absolutely not go to Cairo alone and who will not under almost any circumstances go to Germany. They are simply not options.

These are all questions that cannot be answered by this group, unfortunately. What you have in front of you is a Vegas buffet. You can have an omelete or pizza or spaghetti. None is wrong (except maybe the Sizzlean) because it just depends on your individual tastes.

That being said, here are my suggestions. The order is not deliberate. I would tend to just do a three continent.

Bali - Beautiful place, beautiful people, very interesting culture, you *must* get out of the touristy areas.

Tokyo and Kyoto - The heart of Japan. Enough said. Very expensive, though. Interesting place.

Hong Kong - My favorite city in the world besides maybe Paris. Worth three days just to relax and do a bit of shopping.

Beijing / Shanghai - See China's transformation before the govt here decides to reconstruct all of its history and culture. I am in Beijing right now and I have to say that it is a very, very interesting trip. It can be difficult at times, however, for a number of reasons.

North Africa - I tend to enjoy the Arabic culture but it's not for everyone. You will be largely isolated from the touts and whatnot if you are traveling in style or have a guide with you. Morocco and Egypt are an experience. I haven't been to Tunisia and Libya is somewhat next on my list.

Europe - Just choose somewhere that interests you. Europe is too diverse to pin down. Greece is 100% different from Helsinki which is 100% different from Dublin which is 100% different from Portugal. And they are all 100% different from Prague and Budapest.

If it were my trip, I would do the following (I count by nights, not days):

Bali - 5 nights
Tokyo/Kyoto - 6 nights
Hong Kong - 2 nights
Beijing (with a sidetrip maybe to Xian or Shanghai. I haven't been but was told theyre absolutely worth the trip) - 7 nights
Casablanca - 4 nights
Somewhere in Europe - 4 nights

It overshoots your month by a day or two because of travel time. If you start in a place other than where you live then you can include a couple of sidetrips in the US. I think it gives a good glimpse into several interesting cultures without spending more time in the air than on the ground. In any event, just my two cents.

Is it worth the price to travel first opposed to business?

Also, is anyone aware of a BA flight map available on line?

Would you consider including a photo safari in your plans? These can be amazing trips where you'll hang out with lions and leopards and giraffes in their own houses, not in zoos. Johannesburg is the stepping off point for some of the best safaris, and I'm told that Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. (I'll have 1st-hand info later this year.)

If that seems interesting, it's fairly simple to make a 4-continent trip instead of 3.

(And if you haven't noticed, planning a RTW is one of the most seductive things you can do with the intention of keeping your clothes on. As soon as you're certain of what your plans should be, some even better pops into your head and you're back somewhere between Square 1 and The Wing.)

We are using a 4-continent RTW in July-Aug to visit the Great Barrier Reef and Red Center(re) of Australia, followed by visits to nature reserves other wonders in southern Africa (Victoria Falls and national parks/game reserves in Botswana and So. Africa.)

July/Aug happens to be favorable times to visit both, since N. Queensland is more comfortable then, and no stingers apparently, and in southern Africa winter is the dry season (in these areas) so in addition to the temperature being more comfortable, the game viewing is best because the animals come to the water and are not obscured by the tall brush. Game lodge/"safari" accommodation runs from basic to highly luxurious and all-inclusive (from <US$100 to well over US$1000 per person per day); in fact a number of Conde Nast's top hotels in the world last year were safari-type accommodations in Africa.

A 4-continent DONE or AONE comprising NA-Asia-Africa-Europe-NA or NA-SWP-Africa-Europe-NA would seem to fill the bill, but of course preferences enter into it. For example, DFW - YVR (enjoy a couple of days in beautiful Vancouver) - HKG - JNB - VFA (Victoria Falls) - JNB (then a few days around Kruger NP or the Sabi Sands reserves on the border) - CPT (midwinter so not the best weather probably but still okay) - London - Home allows for a lot of quality time in CX and BA F or J; or DFW - LAX - SYD - CNS (Cairns for the GBR) - JNB - LHR - Home... either would touch a couple of the world's greatest cities, some of the remaining natural wonders of the world, and could be accomplished in style without taking more than a month. Most of the longhaul flights are overnight anyway, and going west helps (us at least) with time changes, so an efficient way of spending one's time too.

At the risk being named a heretic, though, and in thinking about your aims, I'd also have a look at the SQ/NZ/VS Escapade RTW product in business class, which is considerably cheaper for ex-USA departures and throws in SQ J and Virgin Upper Class into the mix, as well as NZ's new VS-style suites in their new 2-class configuration rolling out this summer.

DFW - LAX - AKL (NZ) -SYD (NZ) - SIN (SQ) - JNB (SQ) - LHR (VS) -LAX (VS or NZ) is a pretty attractive trip, and while not much use to OW mileage addicts would probably get you to Star Silver, i.e., automatically eligible for UA Economy+ seats rather than LRTC once you return to reality. Likewise you could go LAX - HKG - SIN - CPT - JNB - LHR - LAX (no Oz/NZ) or, with no Africa, LAX - PPT or NAN (Tahiti or Fiji) - AKL - HKG - SIN - CDG - LHR (BD - small supplement) - LAX... the list is very long indeed, and very price competitive.

There certainly would be no shortage of high-end accommodations in any of these places to make this into a pretty memorable trip.

Happy planning...

For leisure travel F is not worth the price differential over J; that money is more effectively spent on the ground. I fly F when I have to sleep on the plane and have only a day or 2 at my destination (then it is worth its weight in gold). As for planning your trip, the best tool I've found is the CX downloadable timetable which contains all OneWorld flights, available at http://www.cathaypacific.com/intl/pl...le/0,,,00.html

BA route maps are at http://www.britishairways.com/travel...o/public/en_us

I disagree to a point - it depends where you buy your ticket, the premium ex CAI makes it a no brainer, ex USA requires more careful thought.


I do like Darren's, itin, though would question the time in Casablanca - I found it a fly bitten industrial hell hole. Marrakech, on the other hand is a great place to explore for a few days, maybe taking a trip out of town.

Enjoy the trip!

I think it also depends on whetehr the poster is likely to do something like this again. I didn't use the word "possible" for a reason because, in the end, most things are "possible" if looked at in a philosophical sense. If it's likely (such as you want to make it a yearly event), then maybe I agree that F isn't worth the expense at this exact time. But if the person has a good chance that this will be the only trip like this that will be taken, or that it's the only trip for a significant amount of time, then spend the extra couple grand (assuming it's possible as it sounds like from the comments by the OP and Blumie that it is) and enjoy it. It is an interesting experience and makes that amount of flying considerably more tolerable.

I honestly just chose a random city for no apparent reason and meant to suggest Morocco or Egypt in general. Where to go just depends on what someone wants and I actually didn't mean Casablanca in particular. Sleeping on a bed as hard as the floor has begun to affect my brain as well as my back.

Yes, enjoy the trip