Fly and Explore with a Round-the-World Ticket

More and more people I know are dusting off their bucket lists, actively chasing their dreams and turning them into reality however they can. A reaction to the tumultuous times we are living in, perhaps, but one that gladdens my heart in any case. I started my own life list of “Must-do’s” when I was 15, and the first thing on it was somehow buying a ticket to fly around the world.

Flying Around the World

Back in the day, when traveling by air was wondrous — dare I say even romantic — airlines sold a special kind of ticket to the incurably wanderlust-stricken: the round-the-world fare.

Pan American World Airways created it in 1947, when a Lockheed Constellation nicknamed "Connie" lifted off from San Francisco as Flight 001 and journeyed westward. Honolulu, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Delhi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt, London, New York. One fare got you the whole globe. The price was $2,300, which sounds like a deal until you remember it was 1947, and that bought you, like, a house in some towns.

The catch? You couldn't double back. The plane flew in one direction, and so did you. But you could step off at any stop, linger as long as you liked, and pick up the next Clipper heading your way. You had 180 days to make it home. Those were the days!

Wait -- Round-the-World flight Tix Still Exist?

Believe it or not, the round-the-world ticket still exists. Pan Am is long gone, but the idea survived it: the present-day Star Alliance Round the World fare is a direct heir of the original 1947 concept, with the rules loosened in some places and tightened in others. You still have to keep moving in one direction, east or west.

OK, you still have to start and finish in the same country. But instead of nine fixed stops on a single airline, you now choose your own — anywhere from two to fifteen stopovers across the alliance's two-dozen-plus member airlines. And now you have a full year to complete the loop instead of six months. The price is based on how far you fly, with tiers at 29,000, 34,000, and 39,000 miles, and there's exactly one crossing each of the Atlantic and the Pacific, which is the modern way of saying "don't double back."

There’s an App for It!

And these days, of course, there's an app for it. Star Alliance's Book & Fly trip planner lets you plot your route across a map of the world, tells you when you've broken a rule, and quotes the fare as you go. It’s addictive fun for people like me who love to travel.

But What Does It Cost?

Well, that depends on where you start, how far you fly, and which cabin you choose. Sample U.S.-origin itineraries run roughly $2,600 to $3,500 in economy for a modest loop; a more ambitious eight-stop routing out of Chicago, say,  that swings through New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and France comes out around $6,500 in economy and $11,400 in business. Real money, but for the whole planet on one ticket, it's not a bad deal.

I’m pretty close to finalizing my dream itinerary. Now all I need is for my lotto numbers to come in.

Photos: elements.envato.com

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