As a true travel junkie, you can even find me looking at travel even on Saturday TV. Recently on HGTV there was a special on living in the mountain area of Cuenca, Ecuador.

At a monthly rental of $350 a month for a modern looking 3 bedroom apartment. A homey video on Cuenca confirms that relative price value.

Besides visiting for relaxation purposes, it’s also a great place to retire inexpensively.

If you are visiting, there are about 50 hotels in a 10 mile radius which range from hostals at $12 a night to a Boutique  hotels from $214 per night. For the country, you can also move around a lot and choose from at least 550 places to sleep including Quito, Guayaquil, Banos, Otavalo, Manta, Salinas, Riobamba, Loja, Tena, Atacames, Ambato, Portoviejo, Machala, Ibarra, Bahia de Caraquez, Nueva Loja as well as many other towns and villages.

You can also search for lodging in tourist areas of the Galapagos Islands, Floreana, Galapagos National Park, Machalilla National Park, Cotopaxi National Park and the Mindo Forest Reserve.

This is also a lot of online tour information that can help to familiarise yourself with the variety of experiences available there.

Frequent flyers points earned from travel rewards credit cards have paid for my vacation airfare to The US Virgin Islands for me and my spouse as well as a return trip from Africa for my daughter.  The value of those tickets far exceeded the cash value I would have received had I instead chosen the 1% rebate from other cards.

But depending upon your travel plans, you may be further off going straight for the cash rebates instead.

For the international traveler Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines may be your most booked airline while for domestic travelers, Southwest Airlines may be your typical carrier.

1. For example, Delta Air Lines partner airlines including Korean Air, Air France and Aeromexico give you added options for getting miles into your United account. The Membership Rewards Card from American Express and the Club Rewards Card from Diners Club International also gives you 30,000 for free if you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months as well as 1 point for every dollar spent.
   • Their hotel partners including Hilton, InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Starwood, Wyndham, Hyatt, Carlson, Melia, Choice Hotels, Shangri-La, Langham, Taj, Almond Resorts, Best Western, Concorde, Delta Chelsea and many other hotels will give you extra bonus miles like double points or an extra 250 or 500 miles per night or per stay.
2. At United, the United MileagePlus Explorer card will also give you 30,000 free miles if you charge $1,000 during the first months plus another 5,000 free miles to add another authorized user. When traveling, you can also check your first bag for free. Other variations will give you double points and added free extras.
3. The American Airlines AAdvantage card similarly gives you 30,000 free miles with $1,000 in purchases as well as 1 free checked bag.
4. The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Card from Chase comes with a $99 annual fee that is not waived unless you receive a special offer. You get 25,000 for spending $1,000 in the first 30 days which may be enough for a free ticket. But the flight rewards are generally based upon the ticket price at a $1 to 1 ratio. So after the initial free points, you might just might as well use a non-airline card that will also give you an unrestricted 1% cash rebate.

But if you live where those airlines do not have many options for you, or some other airline always seems to have better deals, then keep checking for a better option for you.

Most cards like American Express, United and American Airlines will waive the first years $95 fee. If you call to cancel the credit card to avoid the second year fee, you will probably be offered a low earning card with no annual fee.

In addition to earning extra points when buying tickets with airline credit cards, you also get those added free services like one free bag as well as free travel insurance that can really add up to real savings.

Other cards may carry no fee at all. Discover cards are free, but like American Express there more limited options for using them. However, you can usually depend upon the gasoline station to accept all cards.

After you have gotten as much as you need from those airline cards, other free rewards cards can still generate points and cash rebates.

$100 Free With A New Credit Card

Sometimes you will also see some incredible free offers when you apply for a new credit card. These can come from established card program. But you can also get real great offers from new programs.

One such new program is connected to the NFL. All you need to do is apply and get approved. Everyone with average credit should have no problem. You get a credit card with your favorite team on the card as well as extra points for spending at the the games and as much as 20% off at the official NFL Pro shops.

The best part of this NFL Extra Points card is the Free $100 which can be applied to your credit card balance. The free money comes to you in the form of 10,000 free points which you will get after your first purchase. And with No Annual Fee, this is a totally simple, fast and effective way to start getting free money to use for anything you want – like free travel!

Another good point for people that use a credit card regularly is there is also a  ’0% introductory APR for the first twelve billing cycles after the account is opened’ offer for those that want free use of their money for a year. And since there is ‘no caps on earning points’ you can use this instead of any other card you may have.

I love this offer!

Free world travel opportunities still exist! From airfare, cruises, lodging, vacations and more, there are many ways that everyone can travel for free. With a little or a lot of preparation you can go just about anywhere you want to go, for free.

Thousands have done it and so can you!

Part time and full time travel opportunities are as diverse as there are types of people and interests. Just pick the ones that appeal to you.

Airline and Cruise Ship Employment – Flight attendants do travel from city to city, but baggage handlers, customer service agents and other employees also get free travel perks. Cruise shop workers range from casino dealers, human resources, marketing, sales, nurses, food, child care, bar tenders, performers, lecturers and everthing else.

Auto Driveaway – Drive someone else’s car to your destination. Call an AutoDriveaway location near you and inquire about driver needs to other states.

Contests – While contests and sweepstakes are hardly a sure thing, they are easy and free to find and enter online.

Credit Card Rewards – Anyone with credit good enough to get a credit card can earn free cash or points with regular purchases. Some credit cards like Discover offer a cash rebate of about 1%+ of purchases. Others like Chase, VISA, MasterCard and American Express offer points which can be redeemed for cash merchandise or travel. So go ahead and pay all your bills with credit cards – just remember to pay them off every month. Otherwise, you could just get a free trip to bankruptcy court.

Farm Volunteers - If you love gardening, check out services that list organic farms, farmstays, ranches, lodges and Kibbutz where you exchange work for food and lodging.

Freeloader – People all over the world love to experience foreigners.  Global freeloader, couch surfers and cultural exchange groups offer free or minimally priced lodging donations.

Hiking Trail Volunteers - If you love the outdoors and do not mind some hard work, there conservancy associations, alliances and groups that can offer food and rustic lodging in return for your volunteer efforts. USA locations include the Pacific Northwest, Appalachia and everywhere in between. Australia and New Zealand are also prime areas for volunteers.

Home Exchange – Whether you have a modest home, apartment, condo or stylish residence you can join an organization that can help match you up to someone willing to switch houses with you. You will find sites that also specialize in specific occupations like teachers and people over 50.

House Sitting - From basic house sitting to more extensive caretaker responsibilities there are all kinds of housing possibilities all over the world.

Military Service – This can be a life long or short term commitment with lasting benefits.

Peace Corps – Volunteers assist with education, health, business, information technology, agriculture and environment issues all over the world. It is also open to people of all ages 18 and over. There is even a 50+ program. The United Nations also has a UNV volunteer program with 6 to 12 month assignments that attract more mature and educated volunteers.

RV Camping - At workamper, RV owners can exchange their services for RV hookups and services as well as obtain part-time employment at seasonal events.

Sailing – For experienced or novice sailors, some yacht owners accept crew members in return for transportation, lodging and food. ‘Crew seekers’ has an interesting ‘short notice board’ with ’shared contribution’ and ‘no contribution required’ assignments that give a real glimpse of what you can expect.

Teach English Abroad – As long as you are a native English speaker, you qualify. Plus, the higher your education and teaching credentials are, the higher your wages and options will be. Search for acronyms like ESL, TEFEL, TESOL and TOEFL to begin your journey into this exciting and vast area of free travel assignments that cover the globe on every continent with travel to Abu Dhabi, Asia, Bangkok, Chili, China, Europe, Istanbul, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Colombia and more.

Test Medication - Look for medication testing sites and you can be a paid lab rat as a clinical volunteer for pharmaceutical companies around the country and world.

Travel Agent – Become a travel agent and go on free FAM trips. Legitimate travel agents that earn $5,000 a year in commissions qualify for the ‘gold standard’ in accreditation, an IATA travel agent ID. That is your ticket to a world of possibilities.

Cautions

Beware of diploma mills that promise travel agent ID’s in return for online training. Also be wary of any website that promises free travel and require you to pay up front or excessive fees.

If you do accept assignments in foreign countries, be sure you know whom you are dealing with, where you are going and what you are expected to do. If you do decide to test medicines or act without common sense, don’t blame us if you grow a third ear, disappear or die.

Many websites are legitimate but many are mere fronts and frauds. And while the Japanese Tourism Agency did not budget any money for the
‘Fly to Japan Project’ with ’10,000 free tickets to foreigners’, there is always hope for next year!

More

Check out some other suggestions for free travel and remember to also enjoy your free ‘virtual traveling’ too.

As a travel specialist, you would expect that I would always get top notch customer services. Not So!

Sure, I have been on Fam Trips to Puerto Rico, Spain & Portugal, Thailand and the Philippines. Those trips were organized by the national tourism offices and were of the highest caliber. I thoroughly loved each trip and had no mishaps whatsoever. They continue to be some of the best highlights of my travels.

In addition to spot visits to the top attractions, these familiarization events  always include Fam Tour hotel site visits. The absolute worst customer service experience happened in Cocoa Beach Florida when I tried to arrange hotel site visits.

When I contacted the Cocoa Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau they told me I had to buy a membership before I get on their next hotel site tour. Buy a membership – how arrogant. Those clowns are supported by room taxes on hotel rooms.

I has just moved to the area and wanted to get all the nitty gritty details on the hotels in the area. It was my intent to specialize on the area, starting with the hotels and then get more in depth knowledge of all of the Port Canaveral cruises.

I just wanted to ‘tag along’ on the next hotel site visits. They would incur absolutely no cost in doing so. I lived right the road! But that first contact ‘turned me off’ so much I never bothered with them.

Coincidentally, the best customer service experience I had was in nearby Orlando at Universal Studios. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was a mere month old and my daughter visiting from New York wanted to see it.

The last time we had been there together was at least 15 years ago when I bought multi-day passes for our family. These passes were never supposed to expire. So now it was my time to ‘cash in’ on that investment – but would they really work yet?

Since this was my best experience, you should have guessed that those passes did work. It took a few extra minutes for the guest services personnel to check with here supervisor, but I had no problem using them!

PS – We all loved Harry Potter World!