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All my life I had dreams of traveling the world but never did because of the simple fact that I couldn’t afford it. Or at least, I thought I couldn’t afford it. But now it’s been so long since I’ve paid for travel, I’m delusional about how much plane tickets actually cost. Just doing some searches show that simple tickets within the USA can be over $500! And a trip to Bali, Indonesia (I love that place) is like $1,250, assuming you’re flexible!

Believe me when I say, anyone can get a free luxury vacation. I’ll tell you what we’ve done, completely for free, how it’s possible and start you off with one piece of advice.

For example, we just did the following trip:

• Panama for 7 nights

• Colombia for 7 nights

• Costa Rica for 4 nights

• And Guatemala for 7 nights

And guess how much we paid for flights? $0.00. Free. Absolutely zero dollars. Anyone could do this if they could get over a big misconception.

Misconception: “You have to fly to earn frequent flyer miles.”

This is not true and it’s never been true. I can name a dozen ways you can earn frequent flyer miles or hotel points without ever setting foot on a plane or in a hotel. See what happens is that the airlines and hotels sell their miles to other companies and the other companies use them as perks or rewards. It could be as simple as signing up and using a credit card or taking a survey.

This may sound crazy but just from frequent flyer miles alone we’ve been all around the world… multiple times. And now it’s our lifestyle. In the last year we’ve been to 25 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Central America.

We’ve also scored hotel points which we’ve used to stay in a number of hotels on Travel & Leisure’s Top 500 Hotels list. Like the Ritz Carlton Central Park, Park Hyatt Shanghai, InterContinental Hong Kong, Park Hyatt Tokyo, InterContinental Paris Le Grand and so many more.

Honestly, it’s still kind of culture shock to me. I didn’t come from money and the nicest hotel I ever stayed at growing up was the Red Roof Inn on road-trips to see grandparents. Staying in hotels that cost $1,000 a night, where celebrities, and Presidents stay (actually it was the Paris Le Grand where we were in a suite on the same floor as the President of South Korea). And extra honestly, we still don’t have a lot of money, but we get to do this year round, solely because of miles and points.

To me this isn’t about bragging rights of how many countries I’ve been to, or to Instagram pictures of my flight with a bed and first class suite. It’s about one thing: seeing the most amazing places in the world with my wife.

I’ve gotten to go to islands all over the world: Greek islands, Indonesian and Thai islands, Caribbean islands, Polynesian islands like Fiji, Guam, Easter Island and the Cooke Islands. Now it’s pretty cool that I’ve been all those places. But it’s incredible that we have been to so many together.

I digress… sorry, I get long winded at times.

The point is that miles and points come from anywhere.

For example, in the last few years we’ve gotten millions of miles from credit cards alone. That only means something when you know a round trip to Europe is 60,000 miles. So, when a big credit card bonus comes out (over 50,000 miles) with a good airline, we sometimes get it. And then we use that card if it generates miles we like.

To put it really simply, this is about two things: Earning miles, and using miles. That is what this entire site is about. If I can earn 60,000 miles for completely free… that’s incredible. And if I can use 60,000 miles to route a crazy ticket to Stopover in Paris, Rome, and Aruba, that’s even better. Thus, it’s a continual goal to earn more miles (or sometimes earn them more cheaply), and use the miles better.

Earning miles can largely be about the biggest sign up bonus. And using miles is a little confusing at first. Not all miles are created equal. Different airlines have different prices, and there are a few airlines’ miles I completely avoid because they have hidden fees and pass on hidden costs such as “fuel surcharges”.

If I were going to give you advice and you were never to come back to my site (which would be sad), what words would I leave you with?

Earn as many United Miles and American Airline Miles as possible.

Why? Because neither of these airlines pass on fuel surcharges or hit you with fees for booking. And both are in two of the best alliances, which means you can use your miles on any of their partners to fly around the world.

United is part of Star Alliance (which has 27 airlines: including Air New Zealand, Thai Airways, Air Canada and many more). And American Airlines is a part of the OneWorld Alliance (which has 15 members including Air Berlin, Cathay Pacific, Lan, Qantas, Qatar and more).

United miles are my favorite (as they allow a free stopover for as long as you want) and they are super easy to earn.

For example, here are all the credit cards that could earn you United miles:

• United Explorer credit card

• Chase Sapphire Preferred (via transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to United)

• Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Card (via transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to United)

• United Business Card

And here are all the cards that could earn American Airlines miles:

• AAdvantage Platinum Card (Visa, and MasterCard)

• AAdvantage Platinum Business Card (Visa, and MasterCard)

• Amex Starwood SPG card (via transferring SPG points to American Airlines)

• AA Executive card (which has a $450 fee!)

Those are the words I would leave you with. But I hope you choose to learn more, because there are so many ways to earn and use miles, and so many places in the world to see.

If you want to get started, we have a “Compete Guide to Earning Miles from Credit Cards” that you get for free by signing up below. This will give you all the basics for airline miles in a super easy way.