No ticket will last for more than 12 months so if you are planning to stay for longer you will have to buy a one-way ticket out and then purchase a separate ticket home from wherever you get to. (A more expensive option but you don't have many to choose from!). If you do end up doing this you must check your visa and onward ticket requirements directly with the relevant embassies.
On the subject of trying to stay away for longer it can be done all from the UK in one certain way. Travel agents in the UK can only really sell you discounted tickets that start with travel from the UK except for tickets coming back from Australia via the States. This means that you can take up to 1 year travelling out through Asia and working in Australia and then spend another year travelling back through NZ, the Pacific Islands, the USA & Canada. Air New Zealand and United Airlines are the only airlines at present to be able to do this and they keep withdrawing this privilege from time to time so double-check with your travel agent.
If you do not have the time, or indeed the money, to stay away for longer it really depends on 4 factors with regards to how long you stay in each place:
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Your visa situation
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The weather
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How expensive the place is
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What you are interested in
You will have checked your visa requirements before you arrive in each country to see how long you can stay for in order to plan a rough route. This normally determines your movements. For example, in Indonesia, British passport holders are granted a 60 day tourist visa which can restrict your island hopping attempts quite drastically if you have not planned carefully.
The weather is most people's main reason for travelling to somewhere at a certain time but if you do arrive when the guidebooks tell you not to you could find yourself sitting in glorious sunshine on a tropical beach with room to move! For example moving from the west coast of Malaysia to the east coast can take you from monsoon conditions to clear skies.
Developed countries usually mean short stays as they tend to be too expensive for travellers who are not planning to work. Countries like Japan and Hong Kong though are well worth including in your ticket as stopovers if they are easily built into your particular routing.
If you are interested in a particular area - be it for cultural/historic reasons, or just because the beach is nice then you will always find a way of staying longer. Remember that your plans will change a million times when you are on the road so all the pre-trip planning may go straight out of the window as soon as you find your dream beach hut in the middle of nowhere!
Most people aim to stay for about a month in most places they visit on their trip - anything else is just a bonus. Remember not to cram too many destinations into your ticket - you may be getting those stamps in your passport but you are almost certainly missing the real feel of the places you pass through.
Your travel agent will be able to give you a rough idea for each place you go to but it is really not that important at your planning stage as all round the world tickets are fully date changeable to ensure that your trip is as flexible and changeable as your mind!
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- Round the World Itineraries
- Top Tips on Route Planning
- Surface Sectors / Open Jaws
- When to Leave
- How long to travel for?
- RTW myths broken!
- Extra Charges
- Glossary of travel terms
- Summary
