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Least Expensive Around the World Airfare

Visiting all continents in the world for at least one week, including the two most populous countries in the world (both in Asia).

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Outline

1. Method
2. Influence of travel dates, places visited
3. By Air
4. By Bus and Air
5. Bus Graphic
6. Airfare graphic
7. An Idiot Abroad

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Method

I used Skyscanner and Momondo to look for low cost airfare.

Influence of Travel Dates, Places Visited

I started looking in May because I found a cheap flight to Quito, Ecuador from Fort Lauderdale (around $220), but flying from Quito to other destinations was not cheap and I would have to back track a bit to marginally save on cost. So, I started looking in October because I figured it would be on the cusp of shoulder season and had a strong possibility of being cheaper. My hunch was right, and I was able to find very reasonably priced airfare to multiple places.

I initially looked at Beijing and Hong Kong, but found a cheaper flight to Guangzhou, which also had cheap flights to Sydney, but I did look at Brisbane and Melbourne as well. From there I looked at Mumbai and New Delhi to see which would be cheaper to fly to. I then looked at both Cairo and Addis Ababa for flights from New Delhi and found that Cairo was cheaper. Cairo had cost effective flights to Milan, Vienna, Paris, and Madrid; I chose Madrid. From Madrid I looked at Bogota, Cali, Quito, Lima, and Santiago. Santiago ended up being the cheapest price out of the five. To get back to Omaha I looked at flights with it as the destination, but I then checked Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, and Mexico City as destinations first and flying from there to Omaha. It was cheapest to fly to Mexico City and then from Mexico City to Omaha.

I found that prices were the cheapest on Thursdays and sometimes Saturdays, so I stuck with booking travel on those days. Prices were also more expensive during the summer months and during December, so October and November were cheaper.

By Air

Date	Origin - Destination	Departure - Arrival Time	Flight cost $	Visa cost	Comment
10/15/19	Omaha – Los Angeles	4:00 PM – 5:36 PM	$129		No visa needed
10/16/19	Los Angeles – Guangzhou	12:45 AM – 11:35 AM (+1)	$327.15	$140	Single entry visa cost
10/24/19	Guangzhou – Sydney	10:20 AM – 10:50 AM (+1)	$228.11	140 AUD/$99.22 USD	Processing time can take 48 hours to 20+ days
11/1/19	Sydney – New Delhi	11:55 AM – 10:00 PM	$203.61	$22.90	Includes consular fee and CKGS service fee
11/8/19	New Delhi – Cairo	6:15 AM – 11:30 AM	$251.61	$15	Single visitor cost
11/15/19	Cairo – Madrid	10:30 AM – 3:50 PM	$195.80		No visa needed for Spain
11/21/19	Madrid – Santiago	9:45 PM – 8:15 PM (+1)	$300.13		No visa needed for Chile
11/28/19	Santiago – Mexico City	5:55 AM – 11:45 PM	$339.47		No visa needed for Mexico
11/29/19	Mexico City – Omaha	5:40 AM – 9:19 AM	$221.54		No visa needed to re-enter US
			Sum $2,196.42	Sum $277.12

The total cost to fly around the world, including visa costs, is $2,473.54

ChineseVisa Cost

Indian Visa Cost

Egyptian Visa Cost

Your text here

By Air and Bus

Taking a bus from Omaha to Los Angeles and then from Mexico City to Omaha on the return cost $458. The total cost to fly from Omaha to Los Angeles and then Mexico City to Omaha is $350.54. The difference in cost is an increase of $107.46 to take the bus. The total trip cost, not including visas, with taking buses is $2,303.88; the cost including visas is $2,581. It also adds on approximately 97 additional hours of travel.

Bus Graphic

Airfare Graphic

An Idiot Abroad

Comment on two episodes of this series: 1) In the Great Wall episode, the main character talks about a toad in a well. What is the point of this story? 2) Comment on some of the lodging presented to the main character in his trip to India.

The point of the toad in the well anecdote is that if we stay where we are, we will only see one perspective of the world. While Karl does not want to travel or leave his well, he does acknowledge that you cannot know what is out there if you never leave your comfort zone.

Obviously, Ricky and Stephen enjoy making Karl uncomfortable and push him to his limits, which is not particularly hard to do. In India the accommodations were less than desirable for the most part. In one place Karl had to share a bare bone, cramped room with other men. This was to show what accommodations for low income individuals is like. Karl did get an upgraded room with a place to void waste, but not a toilet, directly in the room and without roommates.

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Submitted by Kate Lade on 3/28/19.