World beckons for those with ‘wanderlust’
Print Edition
ASTRONAUTS do it in 90 minutes. For the rest of us earth-bound humans, flying around the planet is a matter of how much time, effort, and money we are able, or willing, to invest.
Some people will fly around the world in two weeks, making four stops along the way, while others will find air travel packages in which they can spread it out for a year or more, with upwards of a dozen stops. Some will travel light, with just a backpack, while others will find it necessary to have two suitcases.
Everyone shares perhaps one thing, what the Germans call “wanderlust” or the travel itch. Europeans will go seeking the sun in Asian paradise spots in India, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia. Asian travelers may find the lure of such cities as Paris, Rome, Berlin or London, or the chance to go hiking and skiing in the Swiss Alps too great to resist.
World flying tours have become a niche market, statistics on which are sparse. “Above all it is the younger traveler who wants to fly the globe, hopefully on a small budget,” said Sibylle Zeuch, spokeswoman for the German Travel Industry Association DRV.
“Many combine such travel abroad with getting their first jobs or trainee-ships.” Others may have enough money for major travel, but only scarce time. Those whose professions permit it may take a sabbatical year off to travel. Others patiently save up their money year after year until they go into retirement.
Amid the trends, a number of travel agents have started to specialize in student fares, starting at around 1,500 euros (US$1,850 dollars).
Most of the round-the-world tickets are usually based on offerings by the three major airline alliances: One World (LAN, American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific), Star Alliance (Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Air New Zealand), and Sky Team (Air France, KLM, Delta).
Given all these airlines and the destinations they serve, the combinations are numerous and much of it can be booked online.
Given such a prospect, the temptation for many is to try to do too much — something experienced traveler and travel agent, Henning Manninga, advises against. The head of the Reiss Aus agency — a clever pun in German that can mean both “to travel” and “to break out” — thinks it’s better to book fewer destinations, leaving time to explore them more intensively. “Usually, less means more,” he said.
If money is not an issue the options are plentiful. For 33,000 euros, an agency called Windrose will organize a 28-day tour covering nine destinations, including the Iguazu waterfalls, Easter Island, Tahiti and Bali. The price includes flying business class, and a chauffeur and private travel guide at each stop.
Further offerings in the upper market segment provide for so-called a la carte trips, with the customer starting in some luxury seaside hotel suite in Hawaii or the Seychelles, and then jetting off to Namibia for a dinner under the stars.
With the right quantity of pocket money, the customer is king in choosing where, when and how to fly around our planet.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
