"Travelling is so expensive! How on earth can you afford to travel so many times in a year Glen?"

With a bewildered look on my face I reply, "What do you mean it's expensive. I fly for free. Don't you?"

I have had this conversation so many times with friends and colleagues that I decided it was about time that I share with rest of world what I thought was obvious. ...That pretty much anyone can fly for free.

Let me explain something you probably already know, but chances are don't fully capitalize on.

Flying is FREE!

How? With Air Miles of course.

What are Air Miles you ask? Those are 'points' that most major credit card companies will GIVE you when you make purchases with your credit card.

I can hear you already. "Whoop dee doo Glen, tell me something I didn't know!"

Well, although you may have known that you can get free air miles using your credit card to redeem towards free flights, did you know most people (maybe even you) don't capitalize on this?

Did you fly for free 6 times last year? I did!

Yes, that's 6 as in 'six' times - free. And I could have flown even more but I didn't need or want to.

Now if you flew that many times or more last year you probably need not read any further. But if you didn't you need to learn how to maximize number of air miles you can squeeze out of your credit card company.

Here's how I did it.

Obtain and use a 'Gold' Credit Card

All major credit card companies offer a 'Gold' or equivalent credit card to their customers which includes several benefits including, free insurances, loss and theft protection of purchased items, and of course free air miles!

Yes, I know, they charge you a yearly fee to have a Gold card. Yup, I paid $120 last year for my Gold card and I flew six times. That means I paid a whopping $20 for each flight I took. Okay, you got me, I don't fly for free but rather at a 99.9999% discount!

More Air Mile Points, Equals More Free Travel

Maximize number of Air Mile Points you receive by using your credit card for everything! And I do mean everything.

Here are a few ways I use my card. See if you can't think of some more.

Personal Use:

- groceries

- clothes

- diapers

- gas

The Dominican Republic is not quite a tropical paradise - but we’d say that in a lot of ways it comes pretty close. Predictions are that DR (as it is often referred to) will go from strength to strength over next few years as visitors find out just what a wonderful wealth of exciting activities and landscapes it has to offer. Often called Caribbean’s ‘best kept secret’, this soubriquet will become less appropriate as visitors increasingly recognize that nowhere else amongst neighbouring holiday island hot-spots can beat DR for value!

From - whale watching to bird watching; exhilarating sea fishing (for ‘big game’ like marlin) to gentler pastimes such as world-class snorkelling; terrific terrain for hiking and cycling; adrenalin pumping sea-sports like windsurfing and kiteboarding to just as much excitement inland, from whitewater rafting, canyoning, caving, jungle trekking, mountain climbing...and so on!!!! The DR offers all this and so much more. But let’s not forget what many people visit DR for - sun, sea and sand! With well over 300 soft, white, typically tropical beaches (many virtually deserted much of time) DR is probably best place in Caribbean for these too. Amongst them you will also find Cayo Levantado, original setting for ‘taste of paradise’ beach, familiar to many as home of a certain well known ‘coconut’ filled chocolate bar!