A generation ago, round-the-world travel was mostly the domain of penny-pinching backpackers on spiritual journeys. Today the Birkenstock crowd is joined by those who prefer Chanel and Prada as a growing number of upscale outfitters and cruise lines allow travelers to trek to the far reaches of the globe without leaving the lap of luxury. Which trip is for you? Read on to find out.
BY SEA: CRUISING BETWEEN CONTINENTS
Best For Those who want a stress-free voyage.
Traveling on the water affords passengers a relaxed old-world journey, albeit with amenities that Marco Polo could scarcely have imagzined. In 2009, on Holland America Line's 131-day Grand World Voyage (from $23,857 a person; 206-281-3535; hollandamerica.com), the 1,316-passenger Rotterdam will stop in Mexico, Polynesia, Australia, China, Southeast Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula, South Africa and England before sailing back to New York via the Caribbean. Cunard's 105-day Explorations of Distant Horizons (from $22,251 a person; 800-728-6273; cunard.com), on the new 2,014-passenger Queen Victoria, offers similar destinations, with more time in Europe. On both these trips, though, more than half the journey is spent on open water (an average of nearly seventy days).
If you want longer stints on terra firma, Crystal Cruises' 106-day 2009 Full World Cruise: Pacific Circle Celebration (from $54,135 a person; 888-799-4625; crystalcruises.com) provides an intimate cultural experience as its luxury liner Serenity crosses the Pacific. You'll miss Africa and Europe, but the shorter route — sixty-five days in port and forty-one at sea, in inverse proportion to many cruise lines — lets you spend long stretches exploring such places as Mexico, Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, East and Southeast Asia, Russia, Alaska and the west coast of the United States before docking in Los Angeles. And the Serenity carries fewer passengers (1,080) on a ship about the size of those of the larger cruise lines; the extra space and privacy are welcome on a lengthy journey. When you're not in port, take advantage of Crystal's series of classes with renowned experts. Last year's speakers included Jane Bryant Quinn, talking about money management, and Bill Bryson, expounding on, well, everything. There's also a wide range of overland excursions; last year travelers could disembark and trek through the jungles of Borneo or visit Tahiti's Society Islands, reconnecting with their floating home a port or two later.
For less time at sea — with a lot less company — choose Silversea's 382-passenger Silver Shadow, which departs for a ninety-two-day Elegant Explorations Pacific circuit (from $58,850 a person; 800-722-9955; silversea.com), stopping at forty-five ports in fifteen countries, including Japan (just in time for the cherry blossoms), Singapore and Vietnam. With a near 1:1 staff-to-passenger ratio, enrichment classes (like a cooking school) and amazing food (the three restaurants serve dishes created in partnership with Relais & Châteaux), this cruise may be the ultimate in living it up.
BY AIR: EXPLORING BY PRIVATE JET
Best For Those crunched for time and flush with cash.
There's no better way to earn I've-seen-the-world-in-under-eighty-days bragging rights than on a private jet. TCS Expeditions' twenty-three-day Around the World Classic journey (from $59,950 a person, double, all inclusive; 800-727-7477; tcs-expeditions.com) calls at, among other places, Machu Picchu, Papua New Guinea, the Great Barrier Reef, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal and the Serengeti Plain. If you'd rather be far from the madding crowds, take Starquest Expeditions' twenty-two-day Vanishing Cultures journey (from $55,950 a person, double, all inclusive; 800-454-4149; starquest expeditions.com) and glimpse remote communities (Sami reindeer farmers in Norway, nomads in Mongolia) and little-seen sites (Bhutan's Himalayan temples, Ethiopia's rock churches). Looking for a mix of the greatest hits and the far-flung? The twenty-four-day Cultural Treasures trip from Abercrombie & Kent ($98,900 a person, double, all inclusive; 800-554-7016; abercrombiekent.com) takes in fire dancers in Tahiti, the Sydney Opera House, the ruins of ancient civilizations (such as Petra, in Jordan) and grand European cities, like Prague. The three companies offer similarly pampering experiences. You'll traverse the globe on specially outfitted 757s (the TCS jet can carry up to seventy-four passengers; Starquest's, eighty-eight; A&K's, fifty-two) with dedicated flight crews, guides (noted historians, writers and naturalists), personal chefs and luggage handlers. Of course, the accommodations — such as the St. Regis Bora Bora on A&K trips and the Grand Hotel d'Angkor on TCS and Starquest excursions — are top-of-the-line.
BY AIR: CHARTING YOUR OWN TRIP
Best For Those who relish a bit of spontaneity.
If you eschew guided tours or prefer a more leisurely routine, a round-the-globe airline ticket is an excellent option. You must purchase this kind of multistop fare, generally valid for one year, before your trip, but the dates and destinations are flexible (with a small fee to change the latter), so you're free to amend your itinerary based on your whims — and on an extended journey, you will fiddle with your plans. Both Star Alliance (fly up to 39,000 miles; fee depends on class and locations; staralliance.com), encompassing twenty airlines, among them United, Air New Zealand and Lufthansa, and Oneworld Alliance (six-continent trip, business class, from $11,100; oneworld.com), which includes American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Lan, sell round-the-world tickets. Travel must be in one direction, east or west, with no backtracking, and there's a maximum number of flights allowed (fifteen stops for Star Alliance; sixteen flights, with no more than four per continent, for Oneworld). You can go only where the member airlines fly, however, so if your dream itinerary leads you way off the beaten path, you may be better off booking through a specialized broker, like Air Brokers International (800-883-3273; airbrokers.com), which can customize a multistop ticket to any destinations.
GOING IT ALONE
Whether you have specific ideas about the trip you want or you need suggestions, a specialized agent can custom-build your dream journey. Lisa Lindblad Travel Design (fee starts at $2,500; 212-876-2554; lisalindblad.com) plans personalized voyages of days, weeks or months at a time. Abercrombie & Kent's Tailor Made Trips (fee starts at $300; 800-554-7016; abercrombiekent.com) will create a round-the-world vacation for you from the ground up.
One of the unavoidable hassles of an extended trip is dealing with bureaucracy. An agent can help in this regard, as can a company like Travisa (800-222-2589; travisa.com) or Travel Document Systems (800-874-5100; traveldocs.com), which provides country-by-country visa requirements and can obtain visas on your behalf, though you still have to fill out the paperwork.
Even without an agent, you can prebook most, if not all, of your hotels for a relatively short trip. For a longer sojourn, however, you may find yourself reserving rooms as you go. It's helpful to know which upscale chains operate in a given region: Serena Hotels (serenahotels.com) in Africa; Oberoi Hotels & Resorts (800-562-3764; oberoihotels.com) and Taj (866-969-1825; tajhotels.com) in South Asia; Aman Resorts (800-477-9180; amanresorts.com) and Mandarin Oriental (866-526-6567; mandarinoriental.com) in Asia; InterContinental (800-424-6835; intercontinental.com) in Europe and the Middle East. Also familiarize yourself with reliable worldwide brands, like Accor Hotels (accorhotels.com), which has more than 4,000 properties in ninety countries. For on-line hotel searches, try bookingwiz.com; it canvasses such sites as Travelocity and Orbitz to pull in an array of luxury offerings in even the remotest spots.
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