Hi, I’m Maricela Soto
A middle school teacher who wants to also teach YOU how you can travel nearly for FREE using credit card points and miles
Like many of you, I would find myself daydreaming about traveling the world. Then I would come back to my reality, which involves having a full time teaching job that doesn’t pay enough to allow my family of six to travel around the United States, let alone the world. Then one day during my Summer Break from school I found the solution to my problem: Traveling with credit card points and miles. It sounded too good to be true, but after much research I found it was a legitimate way people travel nearly for FREE. I dove in and here I am today, over 1 million points earned within my first year and 10 trips booked, including my first international trip. I’m not stopping there, I have more points to earn and more places to cross off my travel wish list. Join me in my journey as I share everything I learn so that you too can make your travel wishes come true.
I will share everything I learn on how to earn points with the money you already spend every month so you and your family can say yes to more adventures, whether close to home or far away.
Get to know me
Hi, I’m glad you’re here and I hope you can see through my background why traveling means so much to me. I’m the daughter of Mexican immigrants. They came to America because they wanted more for their children than their homeland could offer. Through their hard work there was enough money so that my siblings and I had everything we could need growing up; we had loving parents, enough food on the table, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads. That’s more than many other kids get and I look back on my childhood with fondness. But I did always want to travel like all of my other friends. So it became a goal of mine to travel in the future and give my kids more experiences than I had growing up.
Life rarely follows the path you set out for yourself. During my first year of college I became pregnant with my first daughter. My goals of traveling took a back seat to providing for her and finishing college. Soon my second daughter came along and very soon after that my divorce. At that moment traveling became the last thing on my mind. I was a single parent trying to finish my teaching credential and saving up all my money I could to buy a home in sunny Southern California. I am happy to say that I was able to reach that goal. With a new home and two daughters to provide for on a single income there was still no money to travel. Fast forward a few years and I met my husband and added twin girls.
Eventually the dust settled in my life but there was still the issue of having a family of 6 to take on vacation on a teacher’s salary! Not an easy task. So even though I had the will to show my kids the world, I just couldn’t afford it. This is why I am so passionate about the points and miles world and want to spread the word about it as much as I can. It is allowing me to continue the mission my parents set out when they came to this country; give your kids more than you had. Just as they found a way to give their children everything they needed despite not having more than an elementary education and not knowing the language, I am finding a way to show my kids the world despite not having the money. Any small trip I can now take them on means the world to me because without points and miles I would not have been able to show them that. Each point earned toward a vacation for my girls is an homage to my parent’s sacrifice. Los amo. Gracias por su sacrificio para darnos una vida mejor. Todo se hace para el bien de nuestros hijos, eso aprendí de ustedes.
