Wayne, I think most here realize it's difficult to pin down all your eventual future criteria from the git-go...
Smitty's post seems like a useful example of ways to pare down the problem into smaller bits. You might not be able to answer those kinds of "routes" questions at first, and then as you research you might later be able to gravitate toward a more granular version of the concept...
And then when you actually get your boat -- with your best guess of the right features and the most logical compromises -- you probably adapt yourself and your plans to what it can do.
One avenue of thought you might pursue for a while is what it might cost to do an ocean passage. Not just the (likely additional) cost of the capable boat, but also the cost in terms of additional systems (stabilizers?), fuel, pre-maintenance, etc etc etc. Hypothetically, if you begin to work out the cost might be an extra $300K (just made that up, for example) over a really good ocean-capable coastal cruiser, maybe that'll give you some useful pocketbook-level insight into how your long-distance plans can evolve.
We decided an occasional airline flight is about as much ocean passage as we could stand.
-Chris