Unfortunately it is true that credit card bonuses are the easiest way to accumulate lots of miles quickly these days.

But there are some other things you can do. Most important, you need to figure out which airline(s) serve your nearest airports for when you do start traveling. Then you can focus your attention on building your miles account with the airline you are most likely to fly (or its alliance partners).

Even though you are unemployed, I suppose you still need to do some shopping. If you are able to do so, taking advantage of the online shopping portal of whichever miles program you decide to collect miles in will help you get some free bonus miles. Check the miles program's partners on their website. Most of them have a variety of way to collect miles that involve every day types of transactions.

Once you get a job you can start dipping into credit card world. Just make sure you can pay off your bill every month so you are not paying interest.

Good luck!