Travel Bug Strikes Again

Roughly three months ago, I started getting antsy again about needing to travel. It happens from time to time. I'll hop on the computer and just start looking at the cost of flights; not to anywhere in particular. I just want to see what the cost would be to go somewhere that's not in Alabama... or this country. The problem with these yearnings for adventure in far off places is that it doesn't stop until I've gone somewhere new.
Well, it's been three months and the urges haven't subsided. The problem is, however, that the wife and I are in super saver mode for a down-payment on a new home and there's only one exception: buying a car to replace my truck and get rid of my monthly truck payments. So, I thought that if I went to extremes, I could distract myself from not actually traveling.
In my mind, I thought that some advanced planning would do me some good. I purchased a couple travel books, but that didn't work. I then had the brilliant idea of researching the best ways to save money on travel and it hit me. Apart from being Delta skymiles members, we don't take advantage of any travel membership perks. It was right after this that I decided to join every single airline and hotel membership rewards program that I could find and I made a folder to compile all the membership numbers. Feeling like that wasn't enough, I started looking into ways to get points without actually traveling.
Turns out, you can earn a bunch of points by just doing your normal shopping online. Almost all airline and hotel membership programs have an online mall. Not something like it's own storefront, but they're basically just links to websites/companies you already use. You just get points for using their link to get to those websites and making purchases. Anyway. I'm straying from the point of this story.

Not satisfied, I decided that the best way to plan for future trips was by getting a credit card that earned me free hotel stays (and Jillian decided to do the same for flights). After looking around for a bit, I decided to get a Hilton Amex. Mainly because there's no annual fee, and secondly because Jillian usually stays at Hilton locations for her dental conferences. Huge win, because I get tons of free points on hotel rooms that she's reimbursed through work for. Just getting the card and using it for a couple months has already earned me a free room for a night. So far, Jillian has also earned ... about the equivalent of a taxi across the tarmac in Delta Amex skymiles.
Hopefully, after a few years we'll be able to pull off a free trip. We'll see.