Vicki Mills is an Award Winning Writer, Designer and Educator. She has also worked at several of the US's leading airports. Her background is in Science, with an undergraduate degree in Pre Med and a second major in Architecture. She attributes looking at endless hours of  European Architecture slides in the late Professor Paul Buisson's classroom, with being bitten by the "Travel Bug". Her Masters Degree in Science Education with a major in Genetic Engineering further whetted her appetite for learning. As a Biology Teacher and later a Curriculum Writer, she used her skills of research, writing and aesthetics to design and produce many teaching materials.  Her career changed, when her design, the "Incredible Inside Out Body" T-shirt (r) (c) and accompanying Owner's Manual, was awarded honors at "The Arango International Design Competition". She gained further International recognition when it was chosen for the Child's Play Exhibit, at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. From that exhibit, she received hundreds of  letters from people around the world inquiring about obtaining, that most unique T-shirt and Book. During a one year period, there were over 25,000 sold.

Over 20 years ago she decided to make travel a top priority in her life . She visits Europe every other year, usually traveling to Asia on the years that she is not in Europe. She has traveled through England, Scotland, Wales, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. Lived in Florida, Philippines and Hawaii. She is a student of Japanese and Hungarian language, visited Japan nine times, traveled in China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. She has also traveled extensively on both coasts of the U.S. and Canada, with trips to the Caribbean and Jamaica, as well. She has done most of her flying, for the past ten years, on FREE award tickets,  from Frequent Flyer bonus miles. For the past ten years (since she began to develop and work her strategies) has not paid for any Transatlantic or Transpacific flights, except in 1998 on Cathay Pacific's All Asian Pass, which took her to nine countries (in 27 days) for approximately $45 per flight. She travels on average of once every three months, and has become  a "Travel Expert". She not only works her own strategies, but teaches others how to Fly for Free, Stay Cheap and Travel Smart, with her book, through this Web site, eNewsletters and Travel Workshops. She and her staff are continuously adding value to this Web site, making travel more affordable and accessible for her audience of travelers.

As an Aviation Photographer, she has become Internationally known for her fine photographs of Airliners. She and her husband, Nick Mills, Aviation Photographer and Historian, from Bournemouth, England, travel the world looking for new airline color schemes to shoot. Various Aviation magazines throughout the world regularly publish their photographs, and her photos can also be spotted in specialty hobbiest books in Europe.

Her paintings of French and English country scenes, particularly the ones portraying side-walk cafes and the charm of village life in the legendary Provence Region of France, have been gaining critical acclaim. Her love of Painting has grown from Watercolor, which she has done since she was five years old, to oil painting, which she begun just this past Spring in Aix en Provence, France under the excellent tutelage of Madame Monique Faillard. She is also an avid Gardener, finding it nearly impossible to limit herself to only nurturing  "Exotic Tropicals", such as:  Orchids, Heliconias, Bromeliads and Gingers. 

When travel is a way of life and your passion, you must learn to do it as inexpensively as possible. Quoting from FLY FREE, STAY CHEAP! she says, "It's not the quantity of money spent on a trip, but the quality of the experience during the trip, that brings the most satisfaction." "For me, time taken to discover the real flavor of a country and the spirit of its people, is what makes a trip successful." One of her favorite ways of describing how she is able to do so much traveling (without being independently wealthy) is summed up in these words: "When you can travel for about the same price as staying home, then it's easy to afford lots of  travel."  She helps others afford all the travel they want, so they too..... can experience the joy, enrichment and fulfillment that only travel can bring.

Please enjoy other photos throughout this Web site that were taken by Vicki Mills on her trips, where she flew for FREE or almost FREE!

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