To everyone who says they hate mortgage debt, I always ask if that means they also hate creating wealth. After the blank stare, I explain the time value of money. The more you invest and the sooner you do it, the fewer actual dollars you will have to save to retire early with a Big Ball o' Money (BBoM). Then I mention the concept that a fixed mortgage, at nearly lifetime lows, will never go up, but rents surely will, so inflation escalates rents, but not fixed rate mortgages. Long, fixed-rate mortgage=great inflation hedge. Finally, I remind them that interest is tax-deductible, so a 3% loan actually costs less than that after taxes, assuming you itemize, because you do, right?
If they express a wish to travel, I remind them that it costs money to buy plane tickets, hotels, gas, etc. You can't pay for it with home equity, no matter how paid off your house is. Sure, you can borrow against your paid-off house, but rates tend to be variable and higher than a first mortgage and the deductibility is very limited.
You are free to do what you want, but there are hard ways to do things and there are smarter, more efficient ways too, which is why you're here and asking these great questions, right?
Disclaimer: Should you live in a cheap COLA, where your mortgage is so small that itemizing the mortgage interest does not exceed the standard deduction, you have my blessing to ignore this advice. But then, that's not most people. "Kill the Mortgage" is an easy concept to understand. The wiser route is more nuanced. Be smart. Taking the road less traveled has big rewards in the wealth creation game.
One more thing: There a lot of people who eschew EF's and taxable accounts. If your goal is to FIRE, remember that you'll need something to live in until you reach "retirement" age. Sure, there are backdoor Roths and substantially equal withdrawals and the like, but you don't want to be pulling money out of the market should it happen to be down when you need it. Like now.