Get There Free!!!

Did you know that you can get to where you want to go for nothing? Yes, I'm talking about those credit cards that offer the miles, giving you free tickets or lodging. Now you ask me why I would use a credit card to finance a scheme like this? The answer is simple: use one of these credit cards to purchase those necessities in your life such as food, gasoline, your car payment, etc. Then, with the money you would have used to normal transact these errands, pay the credit card bill. You'd be surprised how fast the miles add up.

In this column, we'll keep you up to date as to which cards are your best bet. I can tell you for sure that my last European vacation came with free airline tickets (oh, you have to pay the taxes).

The Travel Spotlight: SPIRIT

Spirit Airlines has a pretty poor track record with us. Two years ago, during the Christmas travel season, we were stranded in a Florida airport, waiting for a SPIRIT flight that never came. Then we underwent a re-ticketing routing that took about 10 hours. No water, no consideration, not even an apology. We'll keep you current on what occurs this year. I'm betting that it's going to be worse than ever, especially with the heavy fees they're throwing at their customers.

Tips: sometimes it pays to use a travel agent. On our last two trips, we booked one thru the agent and got a real bargain trip to Japan. There was no way we could pass up this 10 day mouth watering voyage. For our most current trip, we took advice for an agent and even booked a couple of tours for our destination. The result was an Italian trip to remember. We'll try to give you those important tips that can take the hustle from your preparation and keep some change in your pocket.

Stay tuned for more.