Thanks a lot. Good luck with your research on your very own RTW trip! Let's definitely keep in touch as we'll be heading towards Asia eventually! Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks, we agree!

We hear Laos is very cool and I've actually read some good reviews on the Gibbon Experience as a matter of fact. We're hoping to learn to dive in Ko Tao, Thailand. But again, we're taking things day by day so you never know where we'll end up getting certified.

Yeah, it's definitely a relief, although I still tend to worry about the whole onward travel issue. We'll see what happens. Best of luck on your trip! Let us know how it works out!

I'd definitely recommend Laos. The Gibbon Experience near the Thai border is amazing- ziplining through unspoilt jungle and sleeping in treehouses. The Perhentian Islands are a great place to chill and cheap for scuba diving too (we did our advanced course there).

It's great to hear that Jessica didn't have problems without onward travel proof. We have a one way ticket to Rio booked for next Monday (!) and had heard the airline may not even let you board. I don't remember being asked on our last RTW trip though, so hopefully it'll be fine!

We have yet (knock on wood) to have been asked for proof of onward travel. More tellingly, we haven't met any fellow travelers who've had it happened yet either. Now in theory it's totally possible, most definitely. (And I wonder if there are some countries – like say China, North Korea, or Iran – where the chances of it happening are pretty much 100%.) It's just so far – to us and to all the folks we've met on the road – it hasn't happened yet.

I do think if it's going to happen it's much more likely to be at airport border crossings. So since most backpackers travel overland with only a few international flights thrown in every few months, the likelihood of an already unlikely situation happening is diminished even further.

I'll admit, though, that we were freaked about it before our trip! When we bought our one-way tickets from the States to Buenos Aires, we also bought fully-refundable tickets from Buenos Aires back to the States. We were fully prepared to show them to customs control, and we were both relieved and puzzled when he didn't ask about our travel plans. (And a week or so later we headed to the airline's office in BA and got our full refund.) So after that first non-experience, we didn't bother with worrying about it anymore. But that's just us, and it may always come back and bite us on the ass at some point. :)