rtw tickets/great escapades

Hi there,

This is my first post and I am just wondering if anybody can give me any information on the above (or point me in the right direction). Also if I became a frequent flyer using the GE RTW ticket, how would this provide benefit on the frequent flyer program?

Many thanks in advance for any responses.

[HighFlyer]

Hi

Welcome to the forum

What sort of thing did you want to know? As you can see from my countdown clock, im going on a Great Escapade myself very shortly!!

The actual site is: http://www.thegreatescapade.com/ but i believe it is down for redevelopment. You should still be able to buy the tickets elsewhere

Try: http://www.travel-nation.co.uk/great-es ... ickets.htm or http://www.bridgetheworld.com/global/roundtheworld.asp

I booked mine with Travelbag, they have a store in the Strand so it was nice to be able to talk to someone about it all.

Definately join the Virgin Flying Club, you will earn miles and tier point on all your flights (if flying with Virgin, Singapore or Air New Zealand) and you might reach Gold tier dependant on how many flights you are taking. Flying Club has lots of benefits for frequent Virgin Flyers, listed on: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com under the 'Frequent Flyer' section.

Have you got a rough idea on where you want to go? You can choose a pre-chosen itinerary or make your own up, i chose the latter.

This URL: http://www.bridgetheworld.com/global/ro ... orldrp.asp has a great planner to help choose a RTW ticket that is right for you - check it out!

If you let us know what exactly you are looking for we will try and help you.

Hiya,

Here's another vote for the GE fare. We're scooting off in November, but we're so impressed with the value (£3300 for upper/business, although I think it's gone up to £3500 now) that we'll be using one next year as well wen we move to New Zealand. Any excuse for a couple of nights in Vegas on route! Belagio, here we come

Highflyer, hurry up on your trip....the excitment is killing me! Goodness knows what I'll be like when it comes to our wee jolly

Milliemoo

[HighFlyer]

Highflyer, hurry up on your trip....the excitment is killing me!

Haha ... we are SO excited!! Started making all those 'lists' of things we need to do, like organising all the currency we need to get, excursions we need to book etc, then we have to figure out how to get a months worth of clothing into the suitcases we usually take for a weeks trip!! Aaaargh!!

The next few weeks will fly by im sure, then when i get back its only a couple of months till you go!!

OMG I just love the excitment....the whole run up to the trip is nearly the best bit I must pack and re-pack 100 times [8D]

The best thing about going in November is that I can take advantage of all the summer sales, and go with loadsa new goodies.

Remember to take heaps of pics

Milliemoo

p.s I only get worse, so I apologise in advance as to what will be my endless posts coming up over the next 5 months.

Hi, ummm, Homer and welcome to V-Flyer

In addition to the info above, if you do a search for the exact phrase great escapade, I'm sure you'll get lots of very useful threads returned from people's thoughts on here

Cheers

Michael

[HighFlyer]

p.s I only get worse, so I apologise in advance as to what will be my endless posts coming up over the next 5 months.

Hahaha ... oh i know how you feel. Feel free to post anything on the board (or PM or email me) if theres anythig you want to know, ask or have a rant about. Its nice to be able to share a conversation with someone about it, everyone i know is so sick of hearing me talk about this trip LOL

I will do trip reports for all the flights and some of the hotels when i return, and i will be taking absolutely loads of pictures - dont you worry!!! Im investing in another memory card for my camera before we go!!

HI ST GET THERE EARLY AND ENJOY THERE IS A LOT TO DO NOW THE NEW PHASE 1 OF THE CLUBHOSE IS OPEN

[preiffer]

Originally posted by genius1811
HI ST GET THERE EARLY AND ENJOY THERE IS A LOT TO DO NOW THE NEW PHASE 1 OF THE CLUBHOSE IS OPEN

When did that happen??? I must have missed it by days, as it was still a work in progress last weekend. Hmm... [:(]

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by preiffer

Originally posted by genius1811
HI ST GET THERE EARLY AND ENJOY THERE IS A LOT TO DO NOW THE NEW PHASE 1 OF THE CLUBHOSE IS OPEN

When did that happen??? I must have missed it by days, as it was still a work in progress last weekend. Hmm... [:(]

IFAIK this is the first mention on V-Flyer of Phase 1 being open... has anyone seen it yet? The first review is eagerly awaited [8D]:D

Nick

[preiffer]

Well... According to newby (his trip report here), it wasn't open yesterday, so genius1811's post may still be a little premature...

(Glad I didn't miss anything, anyway! )

[Nottingham Nick]

I am sorry for dragging this thread off topic.

If anyone has any news of the Clubhouse, could they please post it in this thread and we will keep this one for comments about RTW and Great Escapades.

Nick

thanks for your replies so far.. We are also about 1 month away hopefully before starting a 12 month career break and are looking to head towards se asia (singapore, bangkok, hong kong etc.) and then onto Oz, NZ, Cook Islands, Fiji then to LAX with a view to overlanding it ti NYC.

I am so excitied and with the website being down, could only rely on my Loneley Planet Gap Year book to advise that GE was one of the best for this kind of route..

Where u heading Highflyer?

edited to spell correctly...

[HighFlyer]

Sounds like a good trip!! You should be able to fit all of that it in, the only bit im not 100% on isthe Cook islands, but if Air New Zealand fly there then you can do a Great Escapade - which are ideal for lots of stops in Asia and Oz/New Zealand.

Where u heading Highflyer?

Im going for a month, routing as follows London --> Hong Kong --> Singapore --> Bangkok --> Kuala Lumpur --> Sydney --> Los Angeles (overland to) San Francisco --> London

While we are in Australia we are catching Qantas flights to Ayers Rock and Cairns (Great Barrier Reef).

A month is going to be well spent on this trip, but its going to be hectic. We really are doing too much insuch a short space of time but we wanted to make the most of the trip. If it goes well we are thinking of saving and doing another, but possibly only for three weeks as my company has very stingy holiday leave.

I am being brain-washed! I wanna go on one now, you evil people making me spend my money like this [}:)];).

Hi Homer,

The Cooks will be no problem with GE. Air New Zealand fly from Auckland to Rarotonga. We are having 2 nights on Raro then fly (15mins) to Aitutaki for 3 nights. The Aitutaki flight is not part of the GE but you'll find that most tour operaters incorporate this into the first night cost of the hotel you choose.

Sean......... you know you want to [8D]:D

Milliemoo

Sounds good to me so far.. I am so excited about doing this and the fact that I cannot believe that Highflyer is going to attempt a rtw in 30 days but respect for the girl..

Sounds like I have a good employer for allowing me to take a full year out of the rat race to see the world. I will be taking lots of pics and hopefully experiencing many different cultures (aswell as accumalating (sp?) those FF points!!!)

Millie, whats your itenarary for you?

Originally posted by homer_j
Sounds good to me so far.. I am so excited about doing this and the fact that I cannot believe that Highflyer is going to attempt a rtw in 30 days but respect for the girl..

Sounds like I have a good employer for allowing me to take a full year out of the rat race to see the world. I will be taking lots of pics and hopefully experiencing many different cultures (aswell as accumalating (sp?) those FF points!!!)

Millie, whats your itenarary for you?

You'll love this if you think Highflyer is pushing it lol

2 nights Hong Kong
5 nights Sydney
3 nights Christchurch
10 nights Auckland
2 nights Rarotonga
3 nights Aitutaki

This, obviously, is not a RTW in the true sense. It's our honeymoon, so all we plan to do is see some highlights. I should also explain that we are moving to Auckland next year, so that's why we've got 10 nights there. We also planned to spend 5 nights on Aitutaki (I just wanted to get there and relax for 5 days) but Air NZ changed the flights times to raro which ment we missed our connection to Aitutaki. I didn't want to spend just one night on Raro, so booked me the best Villa on the island for 2 nights as compensation! lol

I've done my fair bit of travelling ( a true RTW, well as much as you can squeeze into 18 months) but that was 10 years ago now. You're gonna have a grea time! My brother's taking 6 months off work with his girlfriend to spend some more time in NZ. It's good when you have a company that lets you do that.

Milliemoo

[HighFlyer]

I know it sounds mad fitting in all those countries in such a a short time, but when you are pushed for holiday leave like i am you have to make the most of it.

Id rather spend two or three nights in a completely different country than not go there at all - even if it is a military exercise to get there!! Thats why i (and probably Milliemoo) have itenerary's for '2 day here' and '3 days there' as its just a way of maximising the time we have.

To look at it in a different way, if you are going to lots of places that you have never seen before, it can be better to spend 2/3/4 days there. That is just enough time to do all the 'top' attractions and if you really love the place you can always come back, but if you find that you dont like it at least you are not stuck there for a week.

Plus there are some places you 'have' to see. Partner and i both decided that we couldnt go all the way to Australia and not go and see Ayers Rock! so we are flying out there for one night - thats all we probably need there anyway.

If you have any more queries feel free to ask, and let us know how you are getting on with organising it.

Definitely... I would rather be able to say that I had been somewhere, even if for a few days, rather than say that I hadn't.. Will keep you all posted - will hopefully be looking to get some quotes on routes this week [8D]

Millie - Wow, movong to Auckland.. thats a big move. You moving to be closer to family or to is it with work??

[HighFlyer]

Definitely... I would rather be able to say that I had been somewhere, even if for a few days, rather than say that I hadn't.. Will keep you all posted - will hopefully be looking to get some quotes on routes this week

Excellent!! Let us know how you get on!!

Originally posted by homer_j
]

Millie - Wow, movong to Auckland.. thats a big move. You moving to be closer to family or to is it with work??

I know, mad eh? What can I say, make life as interesting as possible and you'll never get bored.

It's not with work or anything, just a bit of change of scenery/pace of life. We're getting married at the end of the year and I guess we'll have to start thinking about families and what not in the next couple of years, and NZ is such a great place. Having made a few pennies with our home here in Edinburgh, we should be able to buy a very decent 3/4 bed house not to far from the beach without a mortgage.

I'm keeping an open mind, so if it doesn't work out then so be it. I'd like to give it at least 3 years though, so we can get citizenship and have both UK & NZ passports (which would also get us into OZ, if we ever wanted to).

Of course, just think of all those holidays to the South Pacific islands! [8D]

Milliemoo

Good on you Millie.. My brother has been to Oz and NZ and he said that he would be there like a shot if he could...

Sorry, Im going a little off topic here but how does the citizenship work then. If you own a property there then you can live there or do you just keep applying for working visas?

A bit clueless on this but my partner and I have said that if we like it, we are free enough in terms of capital/no children etc and would look at doing something similar but have never really gone that far into it so far..

Hi Homer,

I'll give you a quick run down, but it can get very complicated, so PM me if you'd like lots more info.

We've just been granted permantent residency in New Zeland. To achieve PR you have to go through points based system. You gain points based on degree, age, job offer etc. Having PR means we can move to NZ and stay as long as we like. After 3 years (this has recently been changed, for newer applications for PR,to 5 years) we can apply to be citizens of NZ which means we'll have both UK & NZ passports. If we ever choose to return to the UK we could do knowing that we'll always have the option of going back to NZ without any hassel (or cost) of visas etc.

Sounds simple, but it rarely is LOL Glad we've got that bit over with though and can concentrate on the move. We started the application for PR on 1st Sep 2004 and won't be moving till Oct 2006. Some people just move to NZ and apply for PR when they get there, but as you can imagine, that has it's risks and complications.

Milliemoo

just to add re: property....

this has no baring on whether you are entitled to stay/live in NZ. You don't have to be a resident to buy property in NZ (provided your not buying 1000 acres or anything) but if you want to live in that property you need to have your visa/permit in check, otherwise the men from NZIS will come and take you away [:(]

Milliemoo