For students and gap-year travelers
Gap Year and Student Round-the-World Trips
Gap years and semester breaks run on fixed dates and tight budgets. Overland segments between stops bring the fare down, and a multi-stop ticket usually costs less than booking each leg separately.
Plan My TripSample routes
Routes our specialists tag for students / gap year travelers
Budget Three-Stop RTW: LA → Paris → Bangkok → LA
Lowest-cost RTW shape: two intermediate stops, three segments, full circumnavigation. LA → Paris → Bangkok → LA. Stable year-round pricing and a long Bangkok base for travelers who want to side-trip on local-budget tickets. Best for first-timers prioritising cost over coverage.
Estimated
$1,080–$1,648
Hong Kong to Shanghai, Beijing, Osaka, Tokyo & Copenhagen Multi-Stop
This east-to-west routing links two China stops with two Japan stops before finishing in Copenhagen, using shorter intra-Asia flights first and a final long-haul sector to Europe across a 4-week trip.
Estimated
$1,490–$2,274
Planning reading
Flagship guides every traveler should read
How Much Does an RTW Trip Cost?
What round-the-world flights actually cost: alliance RTW fares, custom multi-stop builds, business class options, and the pricing factors most travelers overlook.
Sean Keener · Customer Service and Managing Director
How to Plan a Round-the-World Trip
The logistics of planning an RTW trip: choosing destinations, picking ticket types, understanding hub routing, and booking in the right window. Not a destination guide; a how-to for the flight strategy.
Sean Keener · Customer Service and Managing Director
When to Buy RTW Tickets
The booking window that consistently produces the best RTW fares: when to lock in, when to wait, how to stage complex itineraries, and seasonal pricing patterns.
Sean Keener · Customer Service and Managing Director
Common questions
What students / gap year travelers actually ask
Do I need travel insurance for a round-the-world trip?
Yes. A multi-month, multi-country trip has too many variables to go without coverage. Look for a policy that covers trip interruption, medical evacuation, and missed connections. World Nomads and SafetyWing both offer plans built for long-term multi-country travel.
Is a round-the-world trip a good option for a gap year or post-grad travel?
An RTW ticket is one of the most cost-effective ways to structure gap year travel. Buying flights as you go costs more and limits your options. A planned route with open-jaw segments lets you fly between regions cheaply and travel overland in between.
How much does AirTreks charge?
AirTreks charges a service fee on top of the airfare, scaled to how complex the itinerary is, and you see the total price upfront before committing. On a 6-stop multi-continent trip the fare construction difference alone can save $1,000 to $3,000. On a simple 3-stop trip it probably will not.
Is jet lag worse flying east or west?
Eastward is harder. Sleep research puts adjustment at roughly one day per time zone crossed going east, versus about two-thirds of a day going west. Flying west asks your body to stay up later; flying east asks it to fall asleep earlier, which most people find much harder.
Who is AirTreks?
AirTreks is a travel company based in White Salmon, WA that has been building custom round-the-world and multi-stop itineraries since 1987. Our staff is global. Each trip is routed by a human consultant using fare construction techniques that online booking tools can't book.
Are there airlines that do not work on round-the-world tickets?
Yes. Some alliance members look fine on paper but have almost no inventory in the fare classes RTW tickets require. Air India is a Star Alliance member with essentially no RTW fare class availability, and South African Airways is much the same. We route around them automatically.
Can AI book a round the world ticket?
AI can draft a round the world route. It cannot reliably check that the route can be ticketed, and a human or custom built system like AirTreks still issues the ticket. The workflow that works is: AI drafts the route, AirTreks checks that there is availability in the desired classes, rules are followed, and then ticketed and issued.
Can I mix business and economy class on a round-the-world trip?
Not on an alliance RTW ticket, which prices the whole itinerary in one cabin. A custom multi-stop build lets you choose cabin leg by leg, so you can buy business on the overnight ultra-long-hauls and economy on the short daytime hops. For many travelers that is what makes business class affordable.