Thanks for the tip on Scwab, another bank I hadn’t heard of but no ATM fees is something that really would come in handy because you’re right, it’s so cash based in Asia and many other countries!

And Shannon, thanks so much for posting about this subject. I’ve been with AirTreks for about 4 years and am surprised every day how many people are interested in the RTW trip. The Europe-and-back-again is just so 90s!

And your right, Jennifer. I think people understand the more complicated the trip, the more professional assistance that’s required to make it come off smoothly. The last thing people want is a problem with their tickets in the middle of China.

I think people feel good having someone on their side when it comes to planning and booking complicated trips. Travel, unlike many other industries, seems to be lagging in the DIY category. Sure once you’re on the road things become very hands-on, but in the booking stages it’s still so hard to know what’s best out there.

I encourage all the readers to take at least one round-the-world trip in their lifetime. It can give you a new perspective on the world you live in, and that, I think, is the best reason to do it.

I actually wrote a piece on the benefits of RTW travel. It can be found here:

http://news.airtreks.com/post/2009/10/Why-travel-around-the-world.aspx

Thanks and happy traveling!

Nico

Regarding credit/debit cards and fees, Schwab offers no ATM fees worldwide. We found so many places outside the US are “cash” based that being able to get cash without fees was great for traveling.

Thanks for the great post.

I loved my CapOne card though the whole trip through – they DID have a lot of authentication steps to go through nearly every time I logged in from a new country though, I’ll admit; that was surely a pain! Off to research ETrade!

I did, however, run into a lot of frustration once I started using it online. I must’ve gotten locked out of it for security concerns 3-4 different times. Which might not be annoying at home, in a familiar environment, but when you’ve just been robbed, and have little cash, and littler desire to pay exorbitant cash advance fees, it’s another story.

Oh, and trying to call from internet cafes with good Skype-worthy headsets while tackling a time difference didn’t help.

Sorry to vent!

Capital One is a good back-up, but I’d rather recommend E*Trade debit cards for daily use (1% ATM fees – worked in every country at 99% of the ATM’s/banks).

As for the tickets, I’ve heard great things about Airtreks so it’s nice to have it confirmed first hand! There is definitely a value to booking RTW tickets booking if you have a specific time schedule and a precise route

There are so many things to consider while planning for a RTW trip, that it makes sense to have a list of “basics” to come back to.

We used Nico @ Airtreks to book our series of one-way tickets; it would have been impossible (both in terms of timing and cost) to do on our own. These types of complex trips are best left to professionals!

The only other “basic” I would recommend is a mosquito net; It came in too handy too often!