Deciding on where to go and how long to stay at various places was really time-consuming and difficult. And then there are rules to be followed as outlined by the airlines. Fortunately, the oneworld airline alliance has a very handy planning tool that anyone can use. This was also available to us during the RTW classroom training sessions. If anyone is planning a trip of this nature I highly recommend the website and tools provided, they're very smart.
The map above shows the route of travel beginning in Minneapolis/St. Paul. There is a change of planes in Dallas and again in Tokyo with rather lengthy lay-overs before making it to the first stop, Sydney. Five nights in Sydney followed by a flight to Singapore, scheduled to be aboard the Qantas Airbus A380. Four nights in Singapore. Continue on to Hong Kong with another four nights. Then a rather lengthy flight to Johannesburg and a connecting flight to Cape Town with a stay of five nights. Return flight to Johannesburg to catch a flight to London where the stay is relatively brief, two nights. Departing London the next stop is Madrid to connect with the longest flight segment heading to Santiago, Chile. Four nights in Santiago before heading out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Easter Island, a.k.a. Rapa Nui, the navel of the earth for three nights. Back to Santiago to connect with a flight to Miami, a very long layover and the final flight back to Minneapolis/St. Paul.
