Starting your trip with a one-way ticket

A reader asks: “Is it possible to buy one-way air tickets in this day and age? I ask because I’ve heard of people being detained or even turned back after an overseas flight that doesn’t have a return. I want to go to Southeast Asia and make my way through Asia and Europe before returning to North America.”

This is actually something I touch on in the pages of Vagabonding — since I think it’s better to buy your first-leg airfare and improvise your travels from there (as opposed to buying a complete, pre-planned RTW ticket in advance). And, indeed, it is possible to buy one-way air tickets — though they aren’t always cheaper than round-trip tickets. To get a sense for the difference in price between round-trip and one-way tickets, go to an online ticketing agency such as Travelocity, Expedia, or Hotwire and test some dates and destinations. If the price difference isn’t all that great, you might just play things safe and buy the round-trip fare.

As for being turned back at customs for not having a return ticket, this rarely happens — but it has been known to occur. The safest option in this case would be to fly into a city (such as Bangkok) where customs officials don’t check for an outgoing ticket. But even destinations that have been known to require an outbound ticket upon arrival (such as Jakarta) are usually not too dogmatic about things. A good tip in any airport situation is to dress nicely and maintain a neat appearance in customs. This may sound funny, but countries are more likely to wave you through customs if you look like a clean-cut joe rather than a ragged hippie who might overstay the visa.