RTW Trip Details

[plutocherry]

For dcrunnergirl52 , meganew : This is a thread about the upcoming RTW trip we are about to go on!

We're about to leave on 6 months around the world with (mom, dad, two kids). Our itinerary is:

• US - 52 days
• Europe - 44 days 
• US again for 10 days  
• SEA/Australia - 75 days 

A total of 181 days. 

We've been planning it for about 2.5 years. Our total budget is $96k, but we also have been churning credit cards for about 2 years, and will burn about 3.6 million miles for a total redemption value of about $35k, so our net OOP is about $60k. (The real redemption value is much higher, about $92k, but we'd never spend cash on business seats, so I consider our actual value about $35k). The 3.6 million points gets us 14 flights (6 long haul business class, 8 economy) x 4 people, as well as 37 hotel nights, and another ~$6k in points to erase charges (and counting). We followed 10xtravel.com's best cards list and continue to churn cards now. Hoping to have more points to erase charges as the trip goes on. 

The price could have also been a LOT lower if we moved around less. We were originally going to go for a year but cut it to 6 months because the kids had strong opinions about missing school and activities. It gets much cheaper for long stays. 

Kids will be homeschooling - we have worked with their schools on this. We are primarily learning through doing versus book work! 

We are leaving our jobs at least temporarily. DH will go back, I am either going to consult & come back, or take a leave and come back. Or, I may leave all together... tbd right now. 

Everything is going in storage, and we rented our house!

LMK what other questions you have!

[dcrunnergirl52]

This is so amazing and makes me want to immediately quit everything and do the same. Please keep posting about it if you have time or if you're instagramming your travels.

We did 30 days across the US in 2021, and it was one of the most incredible things for our family.

Do you already have your hotels/airbnbs booked at each location? Do you have an intinerary for what you'll do in each place of are you just winging it?

[plutocherry]

dcrunnergirl52, we do have them booked, but they're all refundable if we change our minds. The overall itinerary is pretty well planned out because we are moving so frequently. Also, we're chasing summer, so it's high season. I wanted to ensure we weren't ripped off by booking too late.

[wise_rita]

What is with the 10 days back in the USA between Europe and SEA/Australia?! Do you have an event you need to be back for?

Not sure how possible it is to book literal RTW flights with points, but I thought you meant RTW in one direction only.

[wanderingback]

This sounds great.
Did you consider any countries in S America or Africa?

[erbear]

I’m so down with this.

Are you planning to stay in places for a chunk of time or moving from place to place regularly?

[gardengal]

I need MOAR deets. Like:

Day 1-5 NYC
Day 6-10 Miami
or whatever!

Sounds super cool. I'm not down with homeschooling my kids (the pandemic taught me it's not good for our relationship, lol!) but I'd totally be down for this when we empty nest!

[plutocherry]

Jun 17, 2023 6:28:26 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

What is with the 10 days back in the USA between Europe and SEA/Australia?! Do you have an event you need to be back for?

Not sure how possible it is to book literal RTW flights with points, but I thought you meant RTW in one direction only.

Kind of a long story... We were originally going to drive across the US along the northern route, go to Europe, then return along the southern route. But, work + kids activity schedules meant we needed to compress our northern trip time to start in the midwest, instead of the west coast. Plus, we decided to cut out the Southern route in favor of more time in SEA. At that point, it didn't make sense for us to drive our car, so we decided to rent a car, but we had already bought plane tickets in and out of the east coast with the assumption we'd drive back. 

It is definitely possible to book literal RTW tickets but not for the length of time we wanted while still trying to get 4x business class seats. Bc we needed 4, it meant we booked tickets the day the booking windows open. So that meant we couldn't get all the legs of the RTW ticket booked at once. It would have been a LOT cheaper in terms of the points required, though. Unfortunately, that means we're doing a little backtracking because we changed our plans. Oh well, it will be a nice break back home for a little while. We're not doing a strict RTW trip... sorry, that's just what we call it in our house  

[plutocherry]

Jun 17, 2023 8:36:49 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

This sounds great.
Did you consider any countries in S America or Africa?

We were originally going to spend the other 6 months in Central/South America, more of Asia, and Africa, but because we shortened the trip, we decided to save that for another time. We also wanted the kids to be a little older to do Africa. They'll be 6 & 10 on this trip. 

[plutocherry]

Jun 17, 2023 17:42:47 GMT -5 gardengal said:

I need MOAR deets. Like:

Day 1-5 NYC
Day 6-10 Miami
or whatever!

Sounds super cool. I'm not down with homeschooling my kids (the pandemic taught me it's not good for our relationship, lol!) but I'd totally be down for this when we empty nest!

erbear ,gardengal ,

here you go. We are seeing and/or staying with family on a bunch of the legs, and then I put down some highlights of things we're going to do apart from the typical tourist / historical sites. I think we will probably do some overnights or long day trips within the region away from our home bases also.  

LAX - 1 night
St Paul - 4 nights -- family 
Dubuque - 1 night -- Field of Dreams
Madison - 4 nights  -- Family
Chicago - 4 nights -- Cubs game  
Niagara Falls - 2 nights
Family Camp in the Berkshires - 3 nights
Hudson, NY - 3 nights  -- family
Cape Cod - 7 nights 
Boston - 8 nights -- Red Sox game 
NYC - 3 nights -- US Open, Mets game 
Philly - 2 nights -- family
DC - 9 nights -- Williamsburg overnight 
Flying - 1 night
Rome - 7 nights 
Greek Islands/Turkey cruise - 10 nights
Florence - 8 nights 
Galway, IR - 6 nights
Kenmare - 6 nights
Dublin - 6 nights
Home - 10 nights
Flying - 2 nights
Phuket - 6 nights
Chiang Mai - 6 nights
Vietnam (unplanned) - 2 weeks 
Singapore - 1 night
Perth / Western Aus (unplanned) - 10 nights -- family 
Port Douglas - 7 nights -- Great Barrier Reef 
Whitsunday Islands - 7 nights
Sydney - 10 nights -- family 
Melbourne - 10 nights -- family, Australian Open 
Flying - 2 nights 

[plutocherry]

Jun 17, 2023 17:07:46 GMT -5 erbear said:

I’m so down with this.

Are you planning to stay in places for a chunk of time or moving from place to place regularly?

Some of both. We definitely go faster at the beginning and slow down as the trip goes on. 

[wise_rita]

This is all so fascinating to me. My kids are 1 and 3 and I can't even imagine a time when this would be survivable, much less desirable. 😅

Very cool!

[plutocherry]

Jun 18, 2023 4:22:02 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

This is all so fascinating to me. My kids are 1 and 3 and I can't even imagine a time when this would be survivable, much less desirable. 😅

Very cool!

it does get better!!! but... sometimes I question my sanity  

[mrsGreeko]

That sounds incredible. It sounds like a lot of packing up and unpacking since you are moving so frequently. What’s going to be the luggage situation?

We just did two weeks of vacation in Thailand with our three kids (16, 14, and 11) and I was so over it by the end of the two weeks. That’s partially because teenagers and partially because 2 of my kids have ADHD and are A LOT to be with 24/7 especially since one is very very loud and one is a sensory avoider who can’t stand it to be very very loud. I don’t think I could do longer than 2 weeks and think 10 days is probably more my upper limit with the kids. Do your kids get along very well? Are they both neurotypical?

ETA: couple more questions: have you done long trips before? And have your kids done long haul flights previously?

[plutocherry]

Jun 19, 2023 9:03:12 GMT -5 mrsGreeko said:

That sounds incredible. It sounds like a lot of packing up and unpacking since you are moving so frequently. What’s going to be the luggage situation?

We just did two weeks of vacation in Thailand with our three kids (16, 14, and 11) and I was so over it by the end of the two weeks. That’s partially because teenagers and partially because 2 of my kids have ADHD and are A LOT to be with 24/7 especially since one is very very loud and one is a sensory avoider who can’t stand it to be very very loud. I don’t think I could do longer than 2 weeks and think 10 days is probably more my upper limit with the kids. Do your kids get along very well? Are they both neurotypical?

ETA: couple more questions: have you done long trips before? And have your kids done long haul flights previously?

Luggage - we are figuring that out right now. Right now we are planning on two large rolling duffles + each of us with a personal backpack. Last year, we did a month in Europe, with 4 rollers +personal backpack each. That was a lot for the kids, so we're trying the two larger duffle approach. We'll see... 

Long trips - yes. We did that trip in Europe last summer, and then two week type trips also. This will be the longest by far! Each has been on several international / long haul flights so they're accustomed to do, but our 17 hours to Singapore will be a lot longer than the 9 hours to Paris. They still talk about last summer, are excited about this trip, really looking forward to alternative school and a long break. 

Relationships - for the most part, yes, but snacks, rest, individual time, breaks, downtime, etc are all super important. We do a lot of 1:1 time during long trips like this. One is 2e and ADHD/Gifted, one is neurotypical, but both really value down time, and not being too over stimulated too much. We definitely try not to do it all on trips... 1 big thing a day is a success! We can always go back. 

[dutchgirl678]

What a great idea! I wish I could do something like this with our family.

When I went to AUS the first time (just out of HS) I visited family in Perth. Even while visiting family there are lots of cool things to do there with them. I would check out the botanical garden, a boat trip to Rottnest Island and a visit to Fremantle to start.

[mich1]

How are you handling the visas for NZ, Aus, Turkey and Vietnam?

[plutocherry]

mich1, no special plans. Just apply online and follow the steps.

[sju]

This sounds amazing! What an incredible learning opportunity for your kids too.

Will you publicly document it on social media? Not sure if you would want to share here but if so please pm me. I would follow! Lol

I would love to do something like this but I we have several limitations.

[plutocherry]

Jul 5, 2023 13:32:33 GMT -5 sju said:

This sounds amazing! What an incredible learning opportunity for your kids too.

Will you publicly document it on social media? Not sure if you would want to share here but if so please pm me. I would follow! Lol

I would love to do something like this but I we have several limitations.

No, just for friends and family but I am happy to answer questions or chat about how we are doing it!

[brooke77]

This sounds amazing! I dream of taking a trip like this with my family. What are you doing for health insurance or medications?

[plutocherry]

Jul 9, 2023 18:06:50 GMT -5 brooke77 said:

This sounds amazing! I dream of taking a trip like this with my family. What are you doing for health insurance or medications?

Ah this has been one of the biggest pains. 
Basically, because we are staying in the US, our insurance cost is WAY higher than if we were just international, and we also have many fewer options. 
We're using GeoBlue (it is blue cross / blue shield) to get us both US & international coverage. It's mostly emergency insurance, and doesn't include things like primary care / well visits, although it does include some visits for pre-existing conditions. It won't cover my son's ADHD med, tho, so we're doing this convoluted thing with vacation overrides and increased dosages. 
F'ing american health care!

[rubytue]

I wonder if you’ve left yet, as I’m late to this thread. But I’m fascinated by 18 days in Ireland, and how you chose the European locations.

[plutocherry]

Aug 12, 2023 21:02:39 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I wonder if you’ve left yet, as I’m late to this thread. But I’m fascinated by 18 days in Ireland, and how you chose the European locations.

Yes, we left about a month ago. 

For the European locations:

1) my MIL & FIL have always wanted to go to Italy but for one reason or another, haven't gone (money, raising kids, health, COVID, etc). They had to cancel a trip last year because of my MIL's back, big bummer. Also, they're watching our cats for us while we're gone.  So when we started planning this trip, we told them that we'd cover their time in Italy for them as a thank you for petsitting the cats.

2) Then, I found a really cheap Greek Islands 10 night cruise, and my parents have always wanted to do that. We lined up a week in Rome, the cruise, then a week in Florence to with the grandparents.

3) Ireland... it's a place we've always wanted to go, and we were able to find a good biz mileage redemption back from Ireland to the US. (We also found one from the US to Italy). We also do much better as a family when we're slow traveling and Ireland seemed like a good place to have a car, take our time, etc.

4) We wanted to go in the fall, and not summer, because of the cost, crowds, and heat. So... we're going there! 

[wise_rita]

plutocherry What has been your favorite part of the trip so far? What has been the biggest challenge?