So many great posts here, and welcome to the round the world gang! I’ve just finished Leg 52, over 56,000Nm so far and 215 flying hours. I’ve capturing it all on a thread and taking a LOT of pictures as I go - over 3,000 so far.
I didn’t start out very well planned - just headed off in the TBM to see where I would end up. I picked the TBM because it has good range and reasonable speed, seems easy enough to fly and I can bob along at a couple of thousand feet if I want but also make it over the highest mountains. My route has been very circuitous:
So I’m probably barely half way - still got all of Africa and Europe to do as well as the Middle East and a fair part of Western Aisa/Eastern Europe.
I thinkt the key thing is to make sure it doesn’t become a chore. So I fly when I have time, not to a schedule. I’m also not too strict on the realism front. I don’t start cold and dark, and I don’t always park at the gate. I’ve often picked small airports to land at - only to find there is no fuel facilities…
For me the flying and sight seeing is the fun part - but you’re experienced in the flying bit, so other aspects may appeal.
I agree with everything @EddieSimes says in his post too and echo a lot of his thinking.
Personally I plan my flights in a number of different ways, depending on how I feel. I sometimes use Little Nav Map for planning (I always use it as a moving map, as it is great for tracking exactly where you are and being able to find/recognise areas you are flying over or identify rivers, cities etc as you are flying). Sometimes I use the MSFS world map - especially if I want to tour around some of the POIs - I then import the flight plan into LNM to follow along. I sometimes use VFR, sometimes low altitude IFR and (especially long hauls over water) high altitude IFR. I often use the world map as a starting point, then look for interesting airports or POIs to divert over.
Half the fun is not really knowing where you will go next. I took a detour to Antartica from the Falklands…and nearly didn’t make it back!
On whim I decided to follow the Amazon from its source to the Atlantic - it was really interesting finding and researching the source, then actually figuring out how to get there.
I’ve been planning my next RTW tour for a while actually. The next one will be to visit all 227 capital cities (or at least their airports) in as efficient a way as possible. I’m very interested in @DrinkingGuide84 's post where he links to a tool that can optimise the route. I’ve been programming an optimiser in Excel (something to do in the cruise!) and have managed to get my planned tour down to about 110,000Nm. This trip will need something like the Longitude because one of the legs is from Mexico City to Papeet in French Polynesia - 4,277Nm. However DrinkingGuide84 may have already done this for me! I’m off to check that out now.
In the meantime - above all - have fun and enjoy it. Don’t make it feel like work - oh, and remember to keep a log!