While many of us may have had the dream to travel the world and make a living writing about our journey, one woman has made that dream a reality. RewardExpert recently had the pleasure of speaking with Lyn Mettler about her incredible blog, GoToTravelGal.com, dedicated to helping people travel as close to free as possible.
Living the Dream With Southwest
Mettler has been a travel writer for various organizations for the better part of two decades. She has been featured on the TODAY Show Online, FoxNews.com and many other nationally recognized news sources. Her passion for traveling and sharing tips with readers around the world became the source for her own blog four years ago.
“I was finding interesting content that I wasn’t able to include in my travel articles for national outlets, but that I wanted to share with the world,” Mettler explained. “Once I learned about the ability to use miles and points to travel free nearly anywhere, I shifted my focus to showing my readers how to accomplish what I believe is the most efficient way for a family to travel free: the Southwest Companion Pass.”
Mettler has been a huge advocate for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Program for several years now. She started by writing a free guide that walks you through exactly how to earn the pass.
“The Southwest Companion Pass is absolutely the easiest way to travel free, because it allows one person to fly free with you for up to two years,” she explained. “I also love that Southwest has flexible points pricing, and regular sales where you can score deals as low as 1,000 points
per way between some destinations.”
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card is perfect for anyone who frequently travels on Southwest or wants to start cashing in on this great opportunity. They offer a big sign-up bonus, double points earned on Southwest purchases, as well as all-around great travel benefits.
Start Your Journey to Free Travel
Are you interested in starting your journey towards free travel? It’s easy to get started, but you need to remember to be patient. “Don’t do too much too fast. Start slow. Set a goal,” she advised. Mettler recommends newbies to start with a goal of earning the Southwest Companion Pass, which can be done by signing up for two credit cards and meeting the minimum spend requirement.
Of course, like all things that are worth pursuing, there may be struggles along the way while trying to earn enough points to qualify for free travel. “I think the continual need to amass more points is the most difficult part. When you’re trying to fly four people on miles and points, the points deplete fast,” she added.
In a recent article, Mettler described all the unique ways she was able to earn enough points to get her Southwest Companion Pass for a third year without signing up for any new Southwest credit cards. She earned a total of 119,998 points by doing things like referring friends, booking hotels and rental cars through Southwest’s site, Tweeting and sharing her opinion online.
As always, it’s never a good idea to incur debt by carrying a balance. The benefits of the rewards will be far overshadowed by interest costs.
Frugal Flyer Online Course
In July of 2017, Mettler launched her online Frugal Flyer course, designed to help people find ways to fly nearly free on all the major US airlines. She also has a free email course that gives people a step-by-step guide to fly up to four people to Hawaii for free using travel credit cards.
With all these great benefits and potential free travel, it seems odd that some people would be hesitant to take advantage of these opportunities. “Many people are afraid it will damage their credit or that they can’t be responsible with a credit card. If you keep your balance paid, carrying more cards can actually increase your credit, as the credit bureaus like that more credit has been extended to you and that you have not used it. Plus, it demonstrates that you can pay off a balance regularly and on time.”
To learn more great tips on how to travel for free, visit GoToTravelGal.com.