Originally Posted by
ArnoldBradleyJ
In case you are curious of my game plan... Find out how to earn miles and start earning as much as I can. Pick a destination and start planning a trip. Research the different ways to use my miles to minimize hotel and other fees (aka become a flyertalk junkie). Go on the trip and repeat!
Brad,
Welcome to FlyerTalk - that's exactly what I do!
My main source of miles is via credit card sign up bonuses. To start, I'd recommend signing up for Credit Karma and Credit Sesame (both are free) to get your proxy credit score.
Then consider applying for a few credit cards making sure that you pick banks which use different credit bureaus. I've written on post on that in my blog.
I would suggest applying for the most lucrative bonuses first. Here are a few which come to mind.
1) 2 Citi AA 75K miles cards - apply for both at the same time and you'll likely get approved for both. That's 150K miles for you (It's the most popular post on my blog!)
2) Apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Not only will you get a 50K point bonus, but you'll also be able to transfer the Ultimate Reward points from your Freedom card to hotel and air partners (you get more bang for your buck that way).
3) 65+ days from when you are approved for the Citi AA personal cards, apply for the Citi AA Business card for another 75K miles.
That should get you traveling pretty quick!