The penny drops... and the dollars

I have been trying to organise myself for this trip, getting quotes for golf, trying to sort out itineraries with different airlines as well as confirming work times and details.

In the end the work timetable has been confirmed, meaning I do have 4 days available for golf between Dubrovnik and Houston.

My original plan was 4 days at the Doral resort in Miami. However, it turns out that the high season starts about 8 days before I get there. On their website a single room plus golf goes from $169 to over $300 per day on the 8th Oct. Most other Miami and indeed Florida special packages were only available till 30th Sept.  However my friends at Golf Zoo came up with an acceptable package in Orlando, staying at a regular hotel  and playing  Disney, Ritz-Carlton, Walforff-Astoria and Grand Cypress.

The problem then became one of how to get there. I basically need to go Perth - Dubrovnik - Orlando - Houston - Adelaide - Perth

The 3 airfares that I would be able to claim for the 3 separate trips were almost enough to cover a Business class round the world ticket. However nothing is simple.

Flying One World makes Dubrovnik a challenge. It either requires an airport change in London with an overnight stop on the way to the US or flying via Frankfurt and going to Dubrovnik on Croatian. They are part of the Star Alliance and hence there will be extra cost. Going to Orlando requires transiting through Dallas or Chicago. Likewise flying to Houston is via Dallas. On the other hand, it is great for the flight home with the stop over in Adelaide.

Star Alliance on the other hand includes the Dubrovnik leg, has better connections to Orlando and Houston but fails on the return trip. Because they have no domestic Partner in Australia, it means a separate ticket either from Sydney to Adelaide to Perth (if flying United) or just from Adelaide (if flying Air NZ).  If you try to book those internal flights on Star Alliance, you have to go via Singapore, which is basically ridiculous, slow and adds a couple of grand to the cost.

All these options would need at least an extra $500 to $1000 over the amount I can claim.

It finally dawned on me this morning that if I drop Adelaide from the RTW ticket and just take a separate cheap return ticket there, then the RTW works very well with Star Alliance. I can ditch my golf clubs, computer etc when I get home and fly out the next day with just enough luggage for the 5 days I'll be in Adelaide. The RTW cost pretty well matches the allowable cost for the Dubrivnik and Houston trips and the Adelaide one is already covered.

I expect the travel agent will also not be able to find a solution that covers all 4 stops that's any better than this without being more expensive, so by the end of the day I should have things finalised.

Then I can forget about it, and just start looking forward to Bali.