Flights

I called Trailfinders, although not over a beer.

It seems you can get tickets which are flexible on dates but not on location. So I can get a ticket which says I will fly from A to B to C to A and change the dates on which I fly, but I can't change to fly from A to C to D to A. (You can get round the world tickets which allow that kind of thing, but the guy didn't think they would be appropriate for my trip.)

They said it's a good idea to have a flight out of a country booked when entering the country. This includes the case where, for example, I have a return ticket from the UK to Chile and have bought an additional single ticket to go from Chile to Argentina. The fact that I have a return from Chile to the UK won't necessarily convince Argentinian immigration that I intend to return to the UK - I 'need' a ticket out of Argentina to show them. (I picked those countries arbitrarily. I have no idea how strict they really are in Argentina.)

They said the next step would be to go into one of their shops with a rough itinerary in mind and have a chat with them. I am inclined to get a circular ticket with flexible dates for just a few key stops and then buy additional flights while I'm away if I have the time or inclination to visit anywhere else. I definitely need to put in some time with the guidebooks and brush up on my geography this weekend.