This trip was the culmination of several years of planning.  First, we had to save enough Delta Frequent Flyer Miles:  180,000 to make it affordable.  Reservations can be made 331 days ahead on Delta.  Destinations were limited to six.   Using our skymiles, the total airfare cost was only $454 each for airport taxes.  Dealing with only Delta Airlines or its Skymiles Partners to achieve our itinerary was a real challenge. But the biggest challenge came when Air France canceled their flights from Cairo to India just two weeks before our scheduled departure. With a reservation for an eight-day train ride to catch out of New Delhi,  we were desperate.  After two hours on the phone with a friendly and persistent Delta Representative, he came up with the weird but not impossible flights by way of Kenya and Uganda and Amsterdam (partner KLM).   Considering we had 13 flights on 8 different airlines, 4 train rides,  and  a river cruise with no lost  luggage should be a Guinness World Record!