(re-)(re-)BOOKED!!!!!!
Here is the FINAL (temporarily) itinerary. All flights that I have planned to book before departure have been booked and ticketed. The rest of the transportation I will figure out on the way, so those dates are flexible (denoted by *):
Buenos Aires, Argentina 6/29-7/2
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 7/2-7/5
Lisbon, Portugal 7/6-7/9
Johannesburg, South Africa 7/10
Safari through South Africa, Botswana, and Zambi 7/11-7/24
Johannesburg, South Africa 7/25
Singapore 7/26-7/29
Beijing, China 7/29-8/2
Qingdao, China 8/3
Seoul, South Korea 8/4-8/5
Sydney, Australia 8/6-8/9*
Cairns, Australia (and Great Barrier Reef) 8/10-8/15*
Brisbane, Australia 8/16-8/18*
New Zealand (South Island) 8/19-8/23
New Zealand (North Island) 8/23-8/28
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 8/29-9/2*
Trek through Southern Thailand 9/3-9/15*
Bangkok, Thailand 9/16-9/19*
Angkor Wat, Cambodia 9/20-9/26*
Northern Thailand 9/27-10/1*
Nepal (and Himalayan Trek) 10/2-10/12
Bali, Indonesia 10/13-10/19
Perth, Australia 10/20-10/23
Fiji 10/24-11/5
Rarotonga, Cook Islands 11/4-11/10
Tahiti 11/11-11/15
Chicago 11/16
I spent 4 hours at Midway airport yesterday while the ticket agents and rate desk sorted out the ticketing. Our itineraries were too long to fit on one ticket so they had to divide them into two. This process still shouldn’t have taken four hours, but I camped out elsewhere in the airport and worked on my laptop (somehow I saw this coming), taking comfort in the fact that they are paying for the tickets.