Fly to 6 Continents in Style • Hacker News Board

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#41

Post by todsul » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:40 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #37

In October of 2000 I took a 5 month sebattical trip to backpack through SE Asia. The ticket was called a pan pacific ticket, it allowed for up to (I think 7) stops. You just called and scheduled the flight you wanted when you wanted it. It had no set itinerary, and the ticket cost $2,300. I went from SFO to HK, and then hopped all around Tom Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and was planned to go to Sydney for the last…

Hi Sam, we met a few couples traveling the world with young children. One of our friends even gave birth in Thailand and after a short break, just kept traveling. When you speak to their children, even though they're young, you sense a real difference. Anyway, just wanted to say that people do still do this. Here's a blog of the aforementioned friend: http://almostfearless.com/ (update: she's expecting a second and is currently in Lebanon).

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#42

Post by drgath » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:41 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #27

patdennis wrote: post #4

Six continents for what I spend per month on rent? Pretty amazing. Even at three grand it would be a great deal... This seems like a useful service. I wonder how often it produces results this good.

I drove from Alaska to Argentina in 22 months, and my expenses on the road were identical to what they had been for the previous two years going to work every day. It's very common to go traveling the world for basically the same amount of money you spend just going to work. http://theroadchoseme.com/the-price-of-adventure

Damn, that really has me thinking about doing something similar. One advantage of being in Web development is I (and many others here) can work from anywhere as long as there is an an occasional Internet connection. Certainly nothing full-time (defeats the purpose of traveling), but a few hundred dollars here and there probably goes a long ways.

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#43

Post by b_emery » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:42 PM UTC

But what about that elusive 7th continent? Here's one possible way to check that off your list. Find a research lab that is doing Antarctic Research and apply to join them as a volunteer. There are often positions for volunteers. As you can imagine, these are quite popular so it may be a difficult route, but it seems like there is always a need for people with electronics and computer skills. There are also job openings, eg http://www.usap.gov/jobsAndOpportunities/.

It may cost you your time, but possibly not much else. I went to Palmer Station as a volunteer on an oceanographic research cruise and was able to use my travel stipend to stay in Chile for a few weeks afterward. For all my hard work I also received the Antarctic Service Medal [1]. (Not exactly sure why since I was not affiliated with the Military!). Definitely one of the best deals of my life.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica_Service_Medal

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#44

Post by paulgb » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:48 PM UTC

todsul wrote: post #3

rjsamson wrote: post #2

So this is pretty cool and everything, but the frustrating thing for me is I would love to see the itineraries that won, but I keep getting greeted with a "only the contest owner can view flight details." I'd love to see this opened up - I think it would build a lot more trust in their platform.

Hi rj, Here are the details for the economy itinerary, which was $1730 for 6 Continents. We're working with the expert of the business class itinerary to see what details he's happy for us to post. JFK 18-Oct-2012 GEO 18-Oct-2012 Delta (New York, US to Georgetown, Guyana) GEO 25-Oct-2012 JFK 25-Oct-2012 Delta (Georgetown, Guyana to New York, US) JFK 14-Nov-2012 TXL 15-Nov-2012 Air Berlin (New York, US to Berlin, Germ…

I was curious to see how the prices broke down and made a spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArqFVqywuf39dEZ...

My total was $2617. I know flight prices change over time, but I'm guessing that whoever found this took advantage of some promotions or booking methods other than buying directly from the airline?

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#45

Post by zheng » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:55 PM UTC

b_emery wrote: post #43

But what about that elusive 7th continent? Here's one possible way to check that off your list. Find a research lab that is doing Antarctic Research and apply to join them as a volunteer. There are often positions for volunteers. As you can imagine, these are quite popular so it may be a difficult route, but it seems like there is always a need for people with electronics and computer skills. There are also job openi…

Would love to read a bit more about your experiences, that sounds like a ton of fun! Consider this a request for a blog post.

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#46

Post by tayl0r » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:58 PM UTC

todsul wrote: post #35

tayl0r wrote: post #8

I really want to submit my upcoming trip to FlightFox but I'm not sure of the best time to do it and there also isn't a date range that is wide enough for what I want. I want to travel anytime in late October or November (5 week window vs the 6 day window the site allows). I have 2 adults and 1 lap infant. I am going one-way from Berlin, Germany to Orlando, Florida. When would be the best time to submit this trip? Is…

Hi tayl0r, yes, you can mention your extra flexibility in the description section of your contest. We're working on better handling flexibility, such as in your case around dates/times. The best time to submit is sooner rather than later since, for the most part, fares go up, not down. 1200E is a fairly good price. However, if you want absolute rock bottom prices, make sure you say that in your contest and our expert…

Awesome, just submitted the contest.

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#47

Post by peterhajas » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 8:59 PM UTC

zheng wrote: post #45

b_emery wrote: post #43

But what about that elusive 7th continent? Here's one possible way to check that off your list. Find a research lab that is doing Antarctic Research and apply to join them as a volunteer. There are often positions for volunteers. As you can imagine, these are quite popular so it may be a difficult route, but it seems like there is always a need for people with electronics and computer skills. There are also job openi…

Would love to read a bit more about your experiences, that sounds like a ton of fun! Consider this a request for a blog post.

Seconded, this sounds like a fascinating read.

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#48

Post by objclxt » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 9:20 PM UTC

jlarocco wrote: post #36

brk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it is for almost anyone with a halfway decent/steady job. What I'm saying is that it's kind of impractical for a lot people. I would expect a "contest" like this to have a winning result that was a little more practical from a total travel time perspective, or at the very least have 2 winning options, one for "Total trip time of 2 weeks or less" (granted this might have to be 3 or even 4 weeks if you're going t…

Yeah, I was interested until I found that part. I think for most people, if they could afford 4 months off work then they wouldn't be too concerned about finding the cheapest possible flights. It's still interesting in a theoretical way, but far less useful than the headline makes it sound.

At least here in the UK (I know slightly less so in the US, so your mileage may vary) it's extremely common for students who are either between high school / university or just graduated to take a 'gap year', or some other period of time to travel. For them price is clearly a very important factor, and the four months isn't a huge problem!

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#49

Post by rdl » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 9:22 PM UTC

Wow, this makes me want to book a flight in the near future just to get flightfox to find me an awesome routing.

What I'd really like is if they could take into account FF status, and also hotel pricing (at the particular chain I like, Starwood).

Book me a 3-8 week trip visiting as many places as possible from a set of N cities (plus transits anywhere) staying at Starwood properties (as nice as possible), using CX preferentially, with at least 20k miles on Star Alliance carriers, and avoiding UAE transit or stops, and willing to pay certain multiples for business class flights or upgraded hotels (St. Regis vs. Aloft).

Combining hotel and airfare bookings would make the whole thing a lot more valuable for multi-stop itineraries. E.g. spending $500 more for a BKK transit (and 3-5 day stop) vs. a SIN transit, since BKK has 5 star hotels for $120/night vs. $300/night.

Re: Fly to 6 Continents in Style

#50

Post by rdl » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 9:23 PM UTC

b_emery wrote: post #43

But what about that elusive 7th continent? Here's one possible way to check that off your list. Find a research lab that is doing Antarctic Research and apply to join them as a volunteer. There are often positions for volunteers. As you can imagine, these are quite popular so it may be a difficult route, but it seems like there is always a need for people with electronics and computer skills. There are also job openi…

I was looking at the winterover Raytheon satellite engineer job for a while, too, at McMurdo. Unfortunately I can't justify taking a year off of my life now, but it would be really fun to do someday. (winterover would be more attractive than being part of a huge manned outpost in the austral summer, to me).