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One thing to note with mini RTWs is that often you'd have to buy intra-continental flights yourself as these fares generally cover you for only the intercontinental segments and very limited regional flights.
However with the reduction in segment allowance of the major alliance RTW products and corresponding rise in costs, that might not be such a concern.
And since this is FF, I'd also advise you to identify a preferred carrier and its partners, and structure your travel accordingly so you can gain some miles for future use and/or status.
For your needs you might want to look at oneworld's Global Explorer product, the mileage-based product oneworld offers which also includes a range of non-oneworld carriers that cover your destinations such as Alaskan. You're well covered by AA and AS for your desired destinations within mainland USA. Then BA across to Scotland via London, and you can generally wing it and find intra-Europe flights cheaply online once you're there. Finally, QF/BA/CX back home via Asia, you can even throw in a stop there to stretch out your 8 months.I am not familiar with the rules of this fare but it seems you're limited to 2 stopovers per region on the cheapest 26k fare as well as 5 (or was it 4??) stops in total - so I'd pay a little more for the 29k version.
Star Alliance mirrors the Global Explorer offerings with its RTW fares, all mileage based but employs a greater range of carriers. Star Alliance does cover Greenland but you will have to backtrack on SAS via one of the Scandinavian cities (CPH i think) to get there.
The continent based oneworld Explorer could also work out for you as it is more flexible segment wise (4 segments per continent, 6 in North America, capped at a total of 16), and the fare level depends on the number of continents covered which in your case is 4 as your itinerary inevitably touches Asia at some stage (the plane only has to land somewhere for a continent to be included in the fare calculation regardless of whether you're stopping over or changing flight numbers or not). But you only have AA to go on in North America which is not v convenient for getting to SEA or ANC unless you plan on spending lots of time getting to know DFW and ORD (not such a bad idea if you're nuts like me).
There's also the very good value LH mini-RTW fare. The cheaper version only covers LH, TG and UA, whereas the more expensive one has a few more carriers such as SQ and AC. I believe in each instance, you have to find your own way around the US, but they do throw in 2 intra Europe segments into the fare via FRA or MUC.
SWISS and SAS also have similar offerings to LH I believe.
These can be much cheaper than the full RTWs but in most instances you'd also be spending a fair bit on intra regional flights.
I hope that helps you get started with the planning. Have a great trip - all sounds v exciting.
Originally Posted by QF009 
) to qualify for the special RTWs that STA Travel offers - but I'd look into them. They're often much cheaper than the ones I described, and you get to travel on some nicer carriers than LCCs at a marginally higher if not same price!
