This is the first post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

Frequent flyer miles are your ticket to travel more, better, and cheaper.

Mastering frequent flyer miles, hotel points, and credit card programs truly is life changing.

This offer is expired.

Update: New codes at 3:11 PM ET

Enjoy one of these 75 free upgrade codes to six months of Award Wallet Plus. Award Wallet is the free way I track my 35 miles and points balances and store my login information for those programs.

Read more about Award Wallet.
Sign up for Award Wallet.

Here are the extra features of Award Wallet Plus:

These Award Wallet code giveaways get a lot of complaints. Unfortunately I don’t think there is any way to improve them. The simple reality is that I have a lot more than 75 readers.

When I get to a new city, I always google "Best Place to Go Out [city] [day of week]." When you're new, it's hard to know where to go. In my three months in Buenos Aires, I found favorites for every night of the week. Also check out the end of the post for my monthly and yearly favorites and other resources for recommendations that differ from mine.

Buenos Aires has the best nightlife of anywhere I've ever visited.

I got a US Airways MasterCard just before the program disappeared, merged into the American Airlines AAdvantage program. Today, I activated the card--a card which theoretically earns miles in a defunct program.

I've gotten a lot of tweets, emails, and messages from others who opened the card just recently and haven't yet earned their 50,000 mile bonus.

What's so special about Etihad's route from London to Abu Dhabi?

When United greatly devalued its award chart in February 2014, it started charging more to fly Business and First Class on its partners than on its own planes.

Here's how to cancel an American Airlines award without paying the $150 fee to reinstate your miles and cancel the award.

Be an Executive Platinum canceling an award booked with miles from your account.

Frontier is having a one-day sale today with fares that start at $19 one way!

The sale is valid for bookings made by 11:59 PM ET on April 7 for domestic, nonstop travel on certain dates until May 13. The exact dates on sale vary by city pair.

Here is the sale page and restrictions. Here are cities with at least one route on sale for $19 to $49 one way:

Atlanta
Philadelphia
Miami
Indianapolis
New Orleans
Orlando
Cincinnati
Austin
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Raleigh/Durham
Seattle
Salt Lake City
Las Vegas
Dallas/Ft.

Through April 20, 2015, United is offering up to a 30% discount on purchased miles. The size of the discount depends on the number of miles you buy, with the largest 30% discount kicking in at 30,000 miles purchased.

United miles normally cost 3.5 cents per mile plus a 7.5% tax, bringing the full price to 3.76 cents each.