Get Your Frequent Travel On: Secrets of a Frequent Flyer Revealed

You know those "elite" flyers who appear from nowhere and get to board before everyone else? And then a half hour later when you board the plane, you see them all smug in there cushy first class seat sipping champagne? Don't you envy them? They must be wealthy or famous ot something because first class seats cost a fortune!

Please don't hate me because I am one of those people. I am an ordinary person, just like you, who used to sit around the gate, waiting for that last call to board. "ZONE 6 can board now." You know the drill. No more space for your carry-on. Squishing your normal sized ass into a half-assed size seat.

How come I get to hang out in the exclusive Club Lounge, using their pristine bathrooms, eating their free food and drinking their cocktails before pre-boarding into a first class seat, all for the lowest fare price?

• TrekSecret #1:  Get Hitched to a Single Airline

Seriously: Marry a single airline, and never cheat.  Every trip you take, pleasure or business, use a single airline. Get your frequent flyer number, get your kids a frequent flyer number, and never travel with any other airline. Your goal is to rack up as many miles as possible. Choose your airline carefully. Review and compare all the benefits of their elite status, and frequent flyer miles trade-in value. Some airlines are more generous than others.

• TrekSecret #2:  Use Your Airline's Credit Card For Every Single Purchase You Make

Every single purchase you make goes on your airline's credit card. Don't get just any "miles" card. You need to get your airline's card - you know, the one you are now married to! Use it when you go grocery shopping, buy gas, pay your taxes, go holiday shopping. EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE. This is the only way to rack up miles for cashing in later on some fabulous trip.

• TrekSecret #3:  Fly Often Enough to Achieve Elite Status

You have to be a frequent flyer in order to earn a certain elite status with your airline. This won't work for you if you take one pleasure trip per year. To reach the upper echelon of travelers, you have to be a frequent flyer, and again, rack up miles "actually flown" or rack up "legs." Your goal is to get elite status, even at the lowest level. To qualify for my airline, I need to either fly 25,000 actual miles, or take 30 legs.  For a plan like this, you need only fly 6-8 trips per year to qualify. Once you have elite status, you are entitled to automatic upgrades to first class for some airlines. I sit in first class often, and have never paid a first class fare. If I am not in first class, I am in a spacious exit row.

• TrekSecret #4:  Once You Achieve Elite Status, Buy a Discounted Club Membership

The best relatively small purchase I ever made was buying a club membership pass. It cost a little over $300 for the year and it has paid for itself ten times over. Inside the club you have free access to the internet, superb bathroom facilities, free food and free non-alcoholic drinks. Plus, you receive premium "gate" service without having to go to the gate. You have access to the monitors inside the club and usually 2 or 3 attendants at your service - to check on your gate and any delays. In addition, if you have a delay or are in need of customer service, you can take care of all your concerns right there. They can print your boarding pass, change your seating or get you on another flight if yours is delayed. Plus they will check often for availability of your free upgrade!

• TrekSecret #5: Utilize All the Benefits Available, to the Max!

Cash in your miles every year, even though it is a pain. Generally, you have to purchase a flight using your miles eight months in advance. But hey, it's free, and you can go anywhere in the contiguous U.S. Why not take a trip to the coast for rest and relaxation! Nothing feels better than taking a "free" trip. Go to Club every chance you get and relax in their luxurious accommodations and refresh yourself before your next flight. Take the free upgrade to first class every time, and leave your traveling partner in coach. After all, you earned it!

Traveling Can Make You Rich

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be sending my high school age daughter to Thailand during a summer. But it happened. Is she that unique in her quest for travel to far away places, I wonder?

After some very diligent research, she decided upon Rustic Pathways, a travel program largely oriented around community service trips in the east. She knew friends with positive past experiences in the program, and I was impressed with the outfit. Overall, Rustic Pathways is very organized and communicates efficiently. They are thorough in trip planning, and have a huge variety of trips in exotic and far away locations. All of the trips sound interesting, and it is difficult to decide which excursion to take! There is an excellent online and print catalog. The only downside is: the trips are not cheap!

• TREKTIP: Allow your child to plan a trip and do the research. Consider having your child save up and pay for most of a trip. This way the value is most appreciated!

J decided to go on the most extreme and difficult trip. (That's my daughter!) She chose Come with Nothing, Go Home Rich. It's a community service trip to northern Thailand where the students can only pack one outfit and toiletries. (When I dropped J at LAX, her bag for a one-month trip only weighed a record breaking 6.5 pounds!) They purchase everything they need locally, live a week at a time in 3 remote villages, in the villagers' homes. They experience cultural immersion, eat authentic food, sleep on the floor, use "squat" toilets, shower with cold water in a bucket, and participate in village activities. The most rewarding aspect is giving the village what it needs in terms of community service. One village required a brick wall built around their school. Another required a 2 kilometer ditch dug and PVC piping laid to bring water to the village. Upon leaving the village, the ceremonious gratitude the villagers show the group is the ultimate gift.

She and her fellow travelers experienced intense bonding, earned friends for a lifetime, and came away with the lessons of life that can't be taught at home or in the classroom. Now that's rich!

Don't Know Whether You're Coming or Going? Cure for Frequent Traveler's Dementia

Do you travel so often that sometimes you forget whether you are coming or going? Literally? This happened to me, and made me take note of the direction my life was going in general.

I frequently travel the same route, back and forth to my business. Out of Santa Barbara (SBA), stopover in Phoenix (PHX), onto Yuma (YUM). Then out of YUM, stopover in PHX, onto SBA. I usually travel roundtrip within 2 days and go monthly. It's a lot of back and forth. But I have my routine down to a science. Well, nearly.

• TREKTIP: Don't worry, frequent travel can cause confusion. Before you catch a connecting flight, make a quick mental note of your final destination.

One early morning, I started from Santa Barbara and landed in Phoenix, and as usual, I checked the monitors for my next gate. I looked on the monitor for the next flight to Santa Barbara, when I should have been going onto Yuma. I had just arrived from Santa Barbara! I did not realize it at the time - I was just following my regular routine. So, I march myself over the gate for the flight from PHX back to SBA, and sat there - for about an hour, reading the paper, relaxing, drinking coffee. It's like the accidental elevator ride - you mean to get on the UP elevator, but instead you go DOWN, and then have to go back UP again.

After about an hour, I look up and realize I am the only one at the gate. The Santa Barbara flight had changed gates. A woman behind the counter called over to me and asked if I was headed to Santa Barbara. I replied, "No, Yuma." And the light bulb went on! Oh....my.....god. I had been waiting at the WRONG GATE for the WRONG DESTINATION for an hour. Did I have dementia? Early onset of Alzheimer's? What was wrong with me???????

As it turned out, I almost missed my connecting flight to Yuma. I ran from gate B22 to B1 and caught it just in time.

I thought about this incident for a long time - contemplating what is wrong with my life, such that I don't know whether I am coming or going? I decided that I just needed to pay more attention, be more zen-like, stay in the present and not mindlessly meander through a "routine." Now, every time I land in PHX, I take note of where I am and where I am going. TREKTHERAPY DOSE: As a matter of fact, no matter what city we are in, let's take note every morning: Where are we today, and where are we headed?