These are my temporary locations/plans for my trip I am planning for the summer of 2007. Any suggestions/comments are appreciated. Also if anyone has purchased a ticket like this before and has any advice (am I trying to fit too many places into too short a time?), that would be greatly appreciated.

Have been to Beijing & Shanghai several times. My first thought for you is that these two cities alone are like New York in the sense that there are so many one-of-a-kind things in each that you could easily spend several weeks there. Try not to let each day there become a blur of temples & markets. Pick no more than two big things in each city to see, and give yourself the luxury of TIME. If you are going to the great wall, make sure you have at least 4 to 5 hours AT THE WALL. Don't bother with shopping in either city, take some time to get away from the tourist stuff and simply walk down the streets without any particular destination. Just my 2 cents! Oh, and take a Mandarin phrasebook. A phrasebook, not just a dictionary. Enjoy!

Wow! I am going on an around the world trip this summer too (care of my delta skymiles) I'll be visiting Seoul, Sydney, Bangkok, Cairo, Rome, Venice, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Sao Paulo and Rio in 30 days!

I hope no one tells you that you're visiting too many places in too short a time - b/c that means I'm going to be in some trouble.

We leave early June and return early July - I'm more than happy to give you some pointers along the way :-)