Perhaps a spouse can’t travel any more and you have no one with similar interests to travel with? Or perhaps you’re concerned about safety and health or problems with unfamiliar languages and cultures?

If it’s too scary to think of heading off alone, try joining a tour group the first time, one where you’re likely to meet people with similar interests. Find a group that allows for free time to explore on your own and follow your interests. Being alone in a group combines the best elements of solo and accompanied travel. You always have people in the group to talk with and eat with, but you can also explore on your own, close your door, and savor your privacy.

Solo travel arrangements usually require paying some penalties in the form of financial supplements. If this is a deterrent or you don’t like the idea of going with a group, look for an organization that will supply you with a companion of your age and gender (see Solo Travel Resources box on next page). The risk is that you may not “click” with that person. But think of it as a short-term commitment: you’ve at least got to where you want to go and you may even have found a longer-term friend.

Real solo travels—where you decide the destination, read up on it, get your own tickets, and head off alone—is another matter. This is where you weigh concerns for personal safety and where women feel especially vulnerable (nearly all the solo travel advice is directed at women). While it might not be wise to strike out on your own to, say, Burundi, a shake-down visit to a more familiar culture like Mexico will get you started.

Perhaps the most important goal to keep in mind is to learn as much as possible about the people and places you’ll be visiting before you leave home and go out of your way to meet the locals when you’re there. You can do this in small ways: by admiring a gardener’s work, offering to take someone’s picture, asking for information about local landmarks, accepting an invitation into a family home for a meal, etc.

People everywhere, travelers and locals alike, are more willing to take up with singles than with pairs. So leave your shyness at home, pack your bag (preferably a rolling carry-on), and go for it!

Air travel is generally the biggest money outlay—and therefore the biggest deterrent to going anywhere. Consider some key ways around it. One is the extraordinarily low winter airfare to get to Europe that happens every year, usually between mid-October and March or April. Airlines offer transatlantic roundtrip fares of $400 or even less to London, Paris, Rome, etc.

Why would you want to go abroad in the winter? To see and do the same things as in peak seasons and without the crowds and high costs for museums, concerts, theater, language courses. Hotels and all-inclusive packages are generally cheaper at that time too. Book at least six months in advance and pay early to get low-priced promotional airfare, or, if your time is flexible, see what you can get at the last minute for a low price. Most major airlines have discontinued the senior discount fare, making the off-season rates especially attractive. Once in Europe, you’ll find more new airlines to provide cheap travel from nearly all the major hubs to wherever you want to go (see below).

Rail Passes

Once you’re there, even more opportunities to save are available for the over-60 crowd. Most senior rail passes are for single countries or contiguous countries such as Scandinavia or the Balkans.

Eurailpass, good for unlimited travel in about 17 European countries, offers no senior discounts, making individual country passes a better deal. Here are the best ones:

Eurostar, the Channel Tunnel train, and the Thalys train give seniors 25-30 percent off, but you may have to order them ahead.  In many major cities local transportation—subways, buses, and lake steamers—is grouped together in a one-purchase card.

For discounts in general, other than transportation, different countries offer different deals, and the practice is often unpredictable. Some bargains are available to anyone over 60; others are limited to citizens of the EU nations. In Greece, for instance, a few museums and archeological sites are discounted. In Austria discounts vary from one museum or site to another; there is no general rule. You often have to be a member of an association or hold a British pension book in England to get a discount. And so it goes—no hard and fast specifics. Before you go, see what discount cards are available for free or reduced rates to attractions in the areas you’ll visiting.

The point is that discounts are out there. They’re very often available for movies, theaters, museums, tours, local sightseeing, historic buildings, hotels, restaurants, and car rentals. The main rule to keep in mind is that if you think you may qualify for a discount on anything ask. They’re not apt to volunteer the offer—any more than they do in your home town. In the case of hotels and car rentals, ask when you make the reservation, not when you check out. And ask too for weekend or midweek packages at hotels or, better yet, look for lower-priced B and Bs where you’ll often feel like one of the family.

As for evening meals, which abroad are frequently served when American seniors are ready to turn in, look for early-bird menus, often served before 7 p.m.

Another tip: always keep some form of identification like a passport or a driver’s license with you that show your date of birth. You never know when and where a bargain is waiting for you. Finally, verify all published rates and schedules before you assume they’re valid.

People remain more vulnerable if they still operate on the premise of the days when they left the key under the mat or the house unlocked. Recently, I was visiting relatives in the US Midwest and was alarmed at their crime prevention attitudes. They routinely left their 3000 square foot home unlocked with patio doors open. Their opinion is that if someone wants to break in, they will. So why make it difficult; they will only damage locks and/or break windows. This is very foolish thinking. Criminals are basically lazy. If there are two houses side-by-side and one is locked and alarmed, even if they are high on drugs and looking for an adrenalin rush, they are more likely to choose the easy target!

Arm yourself with the latest information from the local police department, and try to think from inside a criminal’s mind-set – don’t make yourself a target. Start by removing all keys hidden outside your home. Let’s face it – there are only a few good hiding spots outside a house and if you think it is a good hiding spot, you are probably wrong. It is likely to be the same spot as most people use: under a mat, in a flower pot, in the mailbox, on the top of the door jamb, under a bush—how predictable is that? Install secure dead-bolts, and proper locks on windows. Place screws in the top window tracks on sliding windows, so windows cannot be easily lifted up-and-out from outside.

Get a monitored alarm system. It is affordable and can minimize damage if thieves do enter. Most people who have never experienced a burglary fail to fathom the damage and vandalism that occurs in the process. Install light timers and use them. Ensure that mail, junk mail and newspapers do not accumulate, leaving tell-tale signs of your absence. Arrange to have the lawn mowed and watered and make arrangements to secure the safety and care of your pets.

Next, build a “what-if” plan. Leave your travel itinerary with a trusted neighbor or friend. There are many reasons for staying in touch. Not only does it protect your home. It enables family/friends to reach you in case of a family emergency. It also secures your safety. Recently a retired couple was buried alive in a mud slide in BC and it was nearly a week before they were even announced missing. They were in the habit of not staying in touch, so the family simply didn’t think anything was wrong – until it was too late.

Given the circumstances of the slide it is unlikely that earlier notice would have saved their lives, however it would be a relief to a family to never have to question that. Set up a travel about to keep your family and friends involved with your trip. It will create a great diary and memory of your trip and gives a meaningful way to maintain contact.

Keep personal records, both with you and at home of your credit cards and travelers’ cheque numbers. Keep a back-up credit card and/or travelers cheques secure but separate. Keeping everything together could leave you stranded. Notify your credit company that you will be making more expenditure and that billings will come from your travel destination.

One week into my daughter’s trip around the world her bank phoned me and asked for her. When I said she was unavailable, they asked when they would be able to reach her. I stated she was on a lengthy trip and would not be accessible for some time. They asked me where she went and when I expected to have contact with her.

It was at that point that I became aware that the call had been triggered by the flurry of charges coming from Tokyo, Hong Kong, and China. If she had not been living with me, or had my response to the bank been different, they would have frozen her cards assuming she was being victimized by fraud.

Most travel by air has been affected by the World Trade Center attacks, and security criteria is constantly changing and becoming stricter.

Many of the things you could carry even a year ago are now prohibited. Simple things we could carry such as a bottle of water, now can only be carried on if it has been purchased beyond the check-in gates. Keep your luggage in sight at all times. You become liable if someone plants anything in your luggage. Remove all previous destination tags to prevent your luggage from going on its own vacation – alone. Place tags that list your name, address and telephone at the next destination point – making it easier for the airline to reunite you with your luggage if it becomes lost. It is wise for these tags to be somewhat private, so they cannot be easily read by the wrong people. Keep a list of the contents of your luggage and carry-on items so you will be able to tell the airline what you are missing if it goes astray and is never found.

Use a unique method of tagging your luggage for quick, easy identification when it comes off a carrousel. The more times your luggage goes around the circle without you grabbing it, the more likely it is to be lifted willfully or accidentally by someone else.

When there are 500 black suitcases going around and around, unless yours has some quick identifying feature it becomes unrecognizable. Beautiful expensive luggage is often targeted more than ‘tacky tourist’ suitcases with large pink daisy designs. The assumption on the part of the thief is “if that is how bad their taste is in luggage, what is inside is probably equally as unappealing”. Exercise your sense of humor – they will never know.

At your destination, do not leave cash or valuables in your hotel room. In fact, it is a good idea to leave all expensive jewelry home. Wearing expensive jewelry is like hanging out a sign – “I have expensive taste and my luggage may be worth going after”.

Lock your suitcases when leaving them in your room. It makes them more secure from unscrupulous housekeeping staff and also prevents the possibility of the suitcase being used to carry things out of the room.

Never open your door to an unexpected person or stranger. Look through the door viewer and use the security measures provided by the hotel for your protection while in your room. It is also possible to purchase an inexpensive motion sensitive alarm to hang on the inside of your room door. If an intruder enters, it will alert you. It is a terrible experience to wake up to a stranger in the room with you. We were once victims of a home invasion, and although we were unaware of the burglar’s arrival and departure – it took a very long time before we could sleep without feeling we were being watched. Protect your calling card numbers or pin numbers from people who may easily watch you, or snap your picture with a camera phone.

What kind of beach vacations sound ideal to you? Are you all into the east coast scene, or are you more of a California sands kind of guy? Or better yet, maybe you’re anxious to head off to the Bahamas or Hawaii. These are certainly ideal hot spots when it comes to summer beach vacations. All I have to say is you’d better plan in advance. But that’s what the World-Wide-Web is for right? You can pop open your nifty Google search engine and find out what deals are cooking. This summer my family and I are headed to the east coast for a couple of weeks in the healing Carolina sun. Yeah, I can already feel that gentle breeze whipping at my hair as I lounge in total serenity. Okay, does that sound perfect or what? It all began with surf through net-land. With the aid of my trusty laptop, I was sorting through a variety of deals on beach vacations and summer getaways. They just make it so simple now days. I love the all-inclusive package deals.

This way I can purchase my plane tickets and lodging far in advance. Why would I want to do this you ask? Well, for one, the package deals are typically cheaper and it’s nice to have everything taken care of before you actually get there. Furthermore, if you plan your exciting beach vacations in advance, you’ll be certain to get that perfect lodging. Believe me; you definitely do not want to get stuck with some seedy motel room. It always pays to plan ahead and get exactly what you desire. So, are you ready to plan your big summer getaway? Jump into cyberspace and start browsing through beach vacations now.

Advertorial info: авто газ

If you are interested in bus travel, you can find a variety of routes depending on where you are going, and when you want to go. Some routes will have a lot of stops along the way, but they may not offer you a lot of time to explore the area. There are tour groups that use bus travel to host specialty tours. These tours may go through a certain part of the country to view the countryside, or may go to a specific destination like the Grand Canyon, or Niagara Falls.

If you are planning a trip to a large city nearby, and you want to make a family event out of it, you can use bus travel to get everyone there quickly and relatively hassle free. Bus travel for groups can be arranged through almost any bus company, and the price may vary depending on how many people are going, and where you wish to go. Call around for the best deal on bus travel, and save yourself some driving.

Bands, and other entertainment types, also often use bus travel. They find this the cheapest and easiest way to get from city to city. These aren’t your average buses, however, and they offer many of the comforts of home. Many come with complete bathrooms, great sleeping spaces, living areas, and loads of electronic diversions. If you can afford this type of bus travel, know you will be traveling in style.

No matter why you choose bus travel, when you do, you are choosing a classic American form of group travel. Bus and train travel used to be the main ways Americans moved across the country. Due to major events like the terrorist attacks in New York City, many people are choosing bus travel over air travel for their vacations. Many college students are learning that this is also the cheapest and easiest way to get home when they want to see their families.

So book that fantastic bus trip today!