Route notes
Why this routing works
This 9-week round-the-world route moves westbound from New York City through a dense sequence of Southeast Asia stops before continuing into Australia and finishing in New Zealand. The ordering keeps the early part of the ticket focused on relatively short regional hops between Bangkok, Phuket, Luang Prabang, Hanoi, Da Nang, Siem Reap, Singapore, and Denpasar Bali, then shifts into the longer transoceanic sectors across to Cairns and home from Queenstown to New York City.
Timing is distributed unevenly by design, with shorter stays of 3 to 5 nights across most of Southeast Asia and a longer 14-night stop in Denpasar Bali. That pacing creates a clear midpoint in the itinerary before the Australia and New Zealand section. Queenstown closes the trip with a 6-night stay before the final return to New York City.
The Australia section includes a planned surface break, shown by the Cairns to Maroochydore overland segment. In ticketing terms, that means the route flies into Cairns, resumes from Brisbane, and continues onward to Ayers Rock, Sydney, and Queenstown. Building the overland gap into the sequence can help preserve flexibility on the ground while keeping the long-haul structure intact.
In economy, this is a price-conscious RTW framework with a published range of USD 2,037 to USD 2,667 for the flights listed. With 14 cities including the return, the route is best understood as a high-stop itinerary that balances many short regional flights with a small number of longer intercontinental sectors, making sequencing and stop order the key planning elements.