If you had the chance to take a bucket list round the world trip, would you take it? What if you only had about a week and a half to get it done – would you still go? Luckily, I did it so you don’t have to (though you definitely still should)! Call it post-pandemic madness, but I (kind of) did a gap year using only a quarter of my annual leave. Let’s talk.
Why?
When I think of my bucket list – and I definitely have one – it is not just about the places I want to go, it’s about the experiences I want to have. As a travel freak and a plane geek, one experience I’ve been obsessed about trying is the longest flight in the world: 18 hours on Skytrax #1 airline Singapore Air from Singapore all the way to NY. A feat of endurance, a feat of madness, ever since the all-premium (94 premium economy seats, 67 business class seats – no standard economy) flight on the A350-900ULR launched in 2018, I’ve been checking deals and prices. I’d visited both cities already, I just wanted to fly the flight.
Then, scouting my usual flight geek forums, I found the deal I’d been looking for, and my around the world adventure was born.
How?
Normal (read: sensible) people aim for as short and direct a flight as possible. Others don’t mind a bit of inconvenience for a deal. The cheapest way to fly, especially in premium seats (I’m sorry, premium economy or no premium economy, did you think I was going to fly 18 hours in THE BACK???!!!), is to work for them and reposition. Forum chatter told me that the flight could be had at a heavy discount if you originated OUTSIDE of Singapore. Jakarta was offered as the best example where, even though I would be booking an additional leg, flying a further 2+ hours in business, the entire journey could be purchased for less than half the price of the single leg ex-Singapore.
After falling down a Flyer Talk-Reddit-YouTube-Google Flight rabbit hole for about a fortnight, I found that you could also originate in places like Bangkok and Phuket for similar prices – and it also didn’t hurt that I wanted to fly in October, which is outside of high season when prices skyrocket. I eventually settled on Manila because, simply, I’ve never been to The Philippines, and snagged a business class flight for not much more than what the premium economy ticket would have cost out of Singapore. Result!
If you have the flexibility, it definitely pays to do this level of research to see what you can find. And be prepared to move quickly: when the Jakarta fare originally came up, it was about £200 cheaper. Would’ve been a very, very sweet deal if I’d been in a position to jump on it immediately.
Building an around the world trip
But I still had to get to Manila. And back from New York.
Now, hardcore aviation geeks would have found a way to do it all in a weekend while optimising the entire trip for maximum miles and points. I, however am a simple girl who actually likes to leave the airport and explore new places. With a busy job (where the work stacks up if you turn your back for five minutes) and a fairly limited budget, I couldn’t afford to go too crazy, but I definitely wanted to make the most of the opportunity.
Out to Manila, I lucked out on flight sale season giving me good value options via Abu Dhabi, Brunei and Oman.
Abu Dhabi is pretty much custom built for layovers. I could definitely see myself making a
day of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, The Louvre, Emirates Palace, Yas island. There’s even a Premier Inn near the airport for a cheeky nap. But would it be too like Dubai, where I’ve already been, to excite me? Brunei intrigued me – once I’d found it on the map (it’s on the island of Borneo, if you’re interested). However the flights to the capital Bandar Seri Begawan were awkward – layover was too short to do any kind of sightseeing and making it a proper stopover really bumped up the cost. And then there’s the ethical concerns – but I even have those with my own home country, so…
Oman, though, totally had me. I never want to just tick countries off a list. I have to feel something and WANT to go somewhere. Researching gave me the impression that I’d want to maybe dip my toe into Muscat then maybe come back another time to explore further afield as it just looked like such a beautiful place that nobody had anything bad to say about. I ended up squeezing some extra time on the front of my trip so I could take two full days for a stopover (no extra cost) and, to make additional savings, I actually started my flight in Paris CDG. Even adding in a positioning in flight on BA (leaving a decent cushion of time – missing my first flight would be a disaster!), avoiding those pesky LHR taxes still left me with change in my pocket.
Manila looked interesting, but what really caught my eye were the Philippine Islands. All white sand beaches, clear blue seas and drinks with straws. Cebu looked (and in hindsight probably was) the smartest choice as the flights were all direct, frequent and relatively short – ideal when you only have a limited amount of time. However my head was turned by El Nido and Siargao. El Nido had the buzz and the beauty, but the flights were way too pricey (proper backpackers fly to Puerto Princesa then minibus it for 5-7 hours. Pass) and October didn’t look the best weather-wise. So Surfy Siargao it was (spoiler alert: it still rained a little and cheap flights are meaningless when you have to re-buy them…but that’s a story for another day!)
Finally I had built in a chunky layover in Singapore as part of my ‘big flight’ – almost 25 hours was the best option. I’d spent two days in Singapore on the way back from Australia and also a 5 layover in The Jewel when my flight was re-routed on the way back from Bali so this would be my third trip – but every time you revisit a city you can always find something new to see. And since I’m a cocktail head and Singapore is well known for its bar scene…
As is New York, my final stop for, including work trips, my fourth visit I think? A great city to spend a couple of days then burn some Virgin miles I’d been hoarding for the journey home.
The final details
With the bulk of my budget blown on my very first self-funded business class flight, the rest of my round the world expenses had to be pretty thrifty.Where to stay
As I’m pretty comfortable with hostels, particularly the ones that are more upscale and boutiquey (not an oxymoron), I knew I could cut costs on accommodation.
No hostels in Muscat, but I got a room at a modern mid range chain hotel (Ramada Encore) pretty cheaply – and my room was huge. I had booked a capsule at Manila airport for about 10GBP, but I never got to sleep in it (the aforementioned story for another day…) with another decent chain hotel at the budget of the scale for the return trip. A really handy 5 min walk from the airport via a covered walkway (perfect for an early flight), The Belmont was right on the Newport World Resorts complex for shops and restaurants. Both on Siargao and in Singapore I had slick, modern hostel stays at Happiness and Kinn respectively. – highly recommend. My only misstep was New York . Damn that city is overpriced! I had booked a pod at Nap, but it wasn’t really in my favoured location – a bit too far uptown. I ended up at The Jane which was perfect location-wise: I love Chelsea/Soho/Meatpacking/Village-adjacent and it was walking distance from some of the bars I wanted to try. However it was undergoing a major refurb and was a bit of a dump. It was at the cheaper end of overpriced and I was barely there, so not a total disaster. Just never again.
What to do
I did three organised tours – city and desert tours in Muscat – nearly didn’t make it to the desert after a ‘well known tour aggregator’ cancelled my trip at midnight the night before, but the hotel helped me find an alternative – and then island hopping on Siargao. Made my own way on public transport in Singapore and NYC and blew the rest of my budget on cocktails. Nobody got souvenirs – I was travelling hand luggage only – but I did manage to buy a bag of Reece’s for the office on the way to the airport.
Not in the original plan: the cost of rebooking one of my flights after an unscheduled delay (a risk when you are using multiple carriers across multiple bookings). Also I was offered the chance to bid for an upgrade on my Muscat – Manila leg. Yes I know these opportunities can turn out to be a bad deal, but I bid just over the minimum on what was SUPPOSED to be a day flight, and I ended up in luxury with a fully flat bed on an overnight for pretty much a bargain. Going back to economy is going to be a nightmare..
My final round the world itinerary
My final itinerary was as follows:
11 October LHR – CDG British Airways economy
CDG – MCT Oman Air economy
14 October MCT – MNL Oman Air economy (upgraded to Business)
15 October MNL – IAO. Cebgo economy (LCC)
17 October IAO – MNL Cebgo economy (LCC)
18 October MNL – SIN Singapore Air business
19 October SIN – JFK Singapore Air business
21 October JFK – LHR Virgin Atlantic economy
Conclusion
23,198 miles or 37,334 Km (according to my calculator) and a full spin of the globe is a long way to travel in a week (and a bit), but with some research and careful planning, I think I was able build an epic journey and overall fantastic experience. Would I have liked to slow it down a little and spend more time? Probably. There’s so much more for me to see in Oman and I could have done with a week in Siargao, let alone the rest of The Philippines. But like I’ve done with Singapore and New York, all I can do is hope that one day I am lucky enough to get the opportunity to go back. I’d rather have a taste of a place than nothing at all. I got to go around the world, make one of my top bucket list journeys and have some amazing experiences along the way. I took an opportunity and made the best of the time and budget I had, I let neither be a barrier, I have zero regrets. To those who might criticise and think that this is no way to travel, you do you, I’ll keep doing me. All. Over. The. World.
Look out for more posts and pics from the round the world trip. Until the next one…
