Route notes
Why this routing works
This 21-week round-the-world ticket moves west from San Francisco across the Pacific to Auckland and Tokyo, then continues through Bali and Colombo before shifting into East Africa at Dar es Salaam and Lamu. From there, the route turns north to Istanbul and continues through Copenhagen, Oslo, and Reykjavik before closing the loop back to San Francisco.
The pacing is built around longer stays rather than rapid connections. Auckland and Tokyo each get close to four weeks, while the remaining stops range from one to two weeks, keeping the number of flight days relatively low across a long itinerary. That structure helps spread the intercontinental sectors across the trip instead of stacking multiple long-haul flights together.
Ticketing-wise, this is a clean continuous RTW routing with no surface sectors or open jaws. Every city on the itinerary is linked by a flown segment, which keeps the sequencing straightforward from check-in through the final transatlantic return to the United States.
In business class, the route is set up for travelers prioritizing comfort over a long duration and multiple continents. The order also avoids backtracking, carrying the trip steadily westward from Oceania to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the North Atlantic before the final homebound leg.