Welcome to FT NC_Girl!

I would like to provide my own experience in this whole FT cult(ure).

When I first found this site back in '05, I was not aware of anything. Not that I'm saying I didn't travel (I flew transpac at least once a year since I was a 5 yo). However, I never really understood the concepts and practices that are now near and dear to my heart. I don't travel for work, all the money spent is out of my own pocket, and I go on MR's to earn miles to be spent later on.

I started with a scattering of miles on AA, UA, and some points on WN. All told, I had around 70,000 miles between AA and UA. That was then. Fast forward to now... in the past 4+ years, I went from that to close to 1,000,000 miles on UA, AA, DL, and NW. I've dropped WN entirely (as they don't earn any high value trips internationally). I went from zero status to at least mid-tier status on 2 different airlines, flying anywhere between 100K to 150K miles a year (with help from 2x EQM promos). With those miles, I've redeemed about 700,000 miles for the following:
2 Biz class tickets LAX to Australia (worth $16K)
1 Biz class ticket LAX to India and Russia (worth $10K)
2 Econ class ticket LAX to Taiwan (worth $1.3K)
2 Biz class tickets LAX to Tokyo, Vietnam, Hong Kong (worth $16K)
and some other domestic flights. In addition, I've redeemed several thousand dollars worth of hotel rooms (some worth $500 a night) using hotel points.

The point I'm making is that it can be a lucrative hobby, if you know how to maximize your money and miles. My annual travel budget is under $3,000 and I can attain the elite status that gives the 100% bonus miles, which is what allows me to earn miles to redeem for those big trips. I mainly fly on tickets that cost around 3 cents per elite qualifying mile, or 1.5 cents per redeemable mile from my elite bonus (I also learned to earn miles on credit cards, with about 200,000 miles earned via credit card promos.

At any rate, personal story aside, if you dedicate yourself to learning the tricks of the trade discussed here (mistake airfares, cheap airfares, trick airfares, credit card promos, etc.) you'll be richly rewarded with frequent travel around the country on the cheap, and the payoff from that will be luxury travel that you normally wouldn't be able to afford.