I first got the travel bug when I was about 10. I was an avid public library patron and had read through all the fictional titles in our local branch (those available to 10 yr olds). It would be a while til I got an adult card & I found out there were no such restrictions on numbered books. I found the travel section and the book on which the movie "Anna and the King of Siam" was based.

I was transported by the descriptions of the people and the places. At that time I lived in a one bedroom apartment with 4 other members of my family. The apartment was on a busy city street; places to play were far away. Imagination was the vehicle to wider horizons.

Our family vacations were few and only long car trips. Once we went to Miami Beach for a few days and twice to the Catskill Mountains for a week. As a young adult, I still didn't have much disposable income and tried to use every angle available to me. There was a phone booth at college which never required the 2nd coin, I paid my tolls one coin at a time--what a delight when I needed one less.

I got to see people off at boats and planes until I was 25 and my husband and I took our first flight a $99 midnight special JFK-San Juan on Eastern Airlines, complete with crying babies, fragrant food products and guitars. I loved it.

My husband traveled some for work and got to Gold Status on Delta for one year. We took a trip a year to the Caribbean on AA and signed up for their FFP and a Citibank Credit Card. I bought the cheapest fares I could find and joined the FFP of the new airline. I was a Freddie Laker flyer to London and there I found BA.

Years later I retired and now my dream of long distance travel (Siam, anyone) was a possibility & I started to seriously collect miles. The Jaquar test drive 10k promotion from BA gave me a jump start. The Hair Club for Men promotion was just missed. I found MileMaven and then joined e-rewards and e-miles. Then I found Starwood. Travel and my "angle" side were joined.

Awards were redeemed for flights to Australia, Thailand, and Europe. On the long distance flights business suddenly looked awfully good to my posterior. Free flights but the hotel costs were daunting. First we found hostels were not just for young backpackers and then the true budget saver was the discovery of Hospitality Exchange sites. There are many, my favorites are Hospitalityclub, globalfreeloaders, couchsurfers. It's like having cousins all over the world. Bring a house gift, get to meet great people & have them visit you & get to be inside the local culture.

Right at this time I found frugaltravelguy and started to really follow flyertalk. Lots of credit card churning and the usmint as well as charging everything (.50 is not too low for me) has left me with 1.5 million miles with 200k pending. This is in spite of four Economy flights to London for our daughter's wedding, 2 more London flights en route to Cairo-Mumbai-Calcutta.

So now I've experienced business class on long distance flights and thanks to miles I never have to go back to coach.

Now the hard part where do we go this Winter? So many choices.