Breaking a RTW world record
 

Hey FT'ers-
I was perusing the Guinness World Records site, and found the latest RTW itinerary, circumnavigating the Earth, stopping on all 6 continents.
See here: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com...ontinents-team

Looks like they flew SYD-SCL-PTY-MAD-ALG-DXB-SYDin 56h and 56m.
I've spent a few days trying all kinds of routings, including the one they flew, and can't come up with anything below 58h.
Can anyone beat their timing, factoring in schedules and layovers?

A few itineraries I've tried, and failed with:

• IAH-BOG-MAD-CMN-DOH-SYD-IAH
• SYD-SCL-PTY-MAD-CAI (or CMN)-DXB-SYD
• SYD-SCL-PTY-FRA-CAI-DXB-SYD

Looks like the only requirement is that it hits all 6 continents.
Any ideas??

This guy has ideas

https://onemileatatime.com/rtw-record/

Doesn't touch all 6 continents. I got it under 50h without touching Africa.

You can do RTW using antipodals or touching 6 continents. They are not the same.

I’ve done it on a reward booking. Slightly less than 1 year.

What routing did you do? And how many hours did it take?

I'm looking for 6 continents comparably.
Any ideas?

Do it in spring when the clocks move one hour forward and hope no one notices the missing hour. ;)

I think you mean autumn (assuming you are starting in the northern hemisphere) when you gain an extra hour from 1 am to 2 am.

About 8600 hours. :) 2006.

I think I did PHX-LAX-ICN-(SYD)-ICN-(BKK)-AMS-(PRG)-AMS-(JNB)-CDG-MXP-(EZE)-PTY-(SJO)-IAH-PHX. All in Biz class, except for the last leg, which the flight arrived late, and I didn’t want to wait until the next day for a J/F seat. I bought cheap coach returns, mostly, at the stopovers to work. I’d fly/stopover for 3-4 weeks, go work for a month or two, then back to the trip.

Follow the same routing and hope for a very early arrival. I seriously doubt you can improve on that routing.

Prior to opening the thread I had an imagine in my mind of an SR-71 making a couple refueling stops. Or just the time it takes an orbiting spacecraft to fly RTW one time.

But yeah, touching six continents and using commercial airliners is a much more interesting game!

Not worth it.

Better to fly around the world over 10 days and enjoy a few sights.

a true FlyerTalker would just add up all the block times, and ignore the fact that they weren’t necessarily direct connections :D

What is this "all 6 continents" crap??? Last time I checked there are 7 continents. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia (or Oceania), and Antartica.