I’ve been professing my love for Skyscanner all over my Facebook page these week. Skyscanner conveniently allows you to select “Everywhere” as an option when searching for flights. This makes it super easy to select the cheapest destination from your point of origin or the cheapest origin to your desired destination. This makes it really easy to pick somewhere to travel when budget is your biggest constraint.
I thought I’d put Skyscanner’s “Everywhere” function to the test to create my own, cheap RTW ticket.
Starting in New Zealand, I’ll travel around the world by picking the cheapest destination that the “Everywhere” option provides as my next stop provided I’m:
- Not backtracking to any previous country, region or continent except on connecting flights
- Always moving West
- Stopping no more than three times on one region or continent
Starting in the South Pacific
Auckland – Sydney, Australia on Air New Zealand $106
Leg total – $106
Next Up, Asia
Sydney – Jakarta, Indonesia via Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia $290
Jakarta – Singapore on Air Asia $35
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia $36 on Tiger Airways
Leg total – $361
Moving On to the Indian Sub-Continent
Kuala Lumpur – Kolkata, India $55 on Air Asia
International flights out of Kolkata were very pricey so I switched and searched India to Everywhere assuming that you’d want to spend a little time exploring India overland.
Delhi to Kathmandu, Nepal on IndiGo $92
Leg total – $147
Hitting the Middle East
Kathmandu to Dubai, United Arab Emirates via Delhi on Air India $208
Leg total – $208
Dipping into Africa
Now how’s this for something a little unexpected! Not your usual RTW routing but interesting nonetheless.
Dubai to Khartoum, Sudan on FlyDubai $126
Khartoum to Alexandria on Samara Airlines $169
International flights going West out of Alexandria where few and far between so I switched to Cairo assuming that I’d want to poke around Egypt for a bit.
Leg total – $295
Off To Europe
Cairo to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines for $218
Istanbul to Ercan, Cyprus on Onur Air for $69
Flights of Ercan where expensive so I went for flights from Paphos only two hours drive across the island nation.
Paphos to Thessaloniki, Greece on Ryan Air for $54
Thessaloniki to Rome, Italy on Ryan Air for $33
Leg total – $374
Beeline for North America
Rome to Las Vegas on Condor $631
Las Vegas to Vancouver on Air Canada $152
Leg total – $783
Back Home
Vancouver to Auckland on Air New Zealand $713
Leg total – $713
That’s five continents, 16 countries and a grand total of only $2989 – less than a package RTW ticket from one of the major airline alliance and with great flexibility.
What do you think of my cheap RTW ticket?
Cover image used with permission © Bobby.mn | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
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Just wondering. with those flight prices, especially with Air Asia and other budget carriers, have you included any luggage, say 15kg ? Or are thse carry on only fares?
They’re just for carry on but checked baggage isn’t expensive on Air Asia. It’s about US$12 to check a 15kg bag on Air Asia between Bangkok & Singapore.
Hi Bethaney, thanks so much for posting this! We will be departing on our next RTW adventure soon and are currently looking into flight options (at least for the beginning of our trip) so your post is very timely for us. We have built custom RTW tickets before but via a travel agent. This looks like it might give us more flexibility and would allow us to book as we go so we are not locked into being at certain places on certain days. What a great option “everywhere” is! More airlines/online booking services/comparison sites should offer that! Anyway, just wanted to say thanks so much for sharing. Cheers!
Thanks Jessica! I love the idea of having an open RTW ticket. It’s tempting to cram as much in as possible but this way you can just book the flights you need when you want them.
Where are you going on your RTW trip Jessica?
Wow thats awesome! I cant believe how cheap that itinerary was! I wish I knew about that when we started traveling but Ill definitely look into it now for future flights!
Yup. It is awesome. I’m completely addicted to Skyscanner and the “Everywhere” function.
Some great finds Bethaney! We’re never organized enough to book each leg ahead of time. We tend to spend 6 months to a year in each country however we might do a year of actual backpacking soon so I’ll bookmark this for future reference! Cheers!
That’s the beauty of this… it’s not a fixed RTW ticket. Each segment is booked individually, as and when you’re ready to move on.
Wow, thats brilliant and best of all your get to stray away for the beaten backpackers track. I’m still planning my rtw trip, this function will be handy.
Are those prices in US dollars?
It’s absolutely a way of getting off the standard tourist trail. Where are you planning for your RTW trip so far Helen?
Prices are in USD.
WoW Thats pretty cheap!
I always go to Sky Scanner first, gives me a good idea of who we can fly with and if there are any specials
I can’t believe how cheap this was. Can I just call you next time I want to fly?
Haha. Sure Justin!
I’m finding it so much easier to do one way legs and have a lot of flexibility on the location or timing and shorter hauls tend to get really good prices especially on popular routes