A very popular senior tourist destination, they flock to Lancaster to enjoy the wonderful food, rural lifestyles, picturesque landscapes, Amish traditions and other attractions.

How To Get There: Lancaster is 160 miles from New York City, 100 miles from Washington DC and 80 miles from Philadelphia. It can be reached by many major highways, including U.S. Route 30 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Lancaster Attractions: The area is known for its 18th Century Pennsylvania Dutch origins and current tourist attractions, as well as the nearby Amish and Mennonite communities. Visitors enjoy buggy rides, working farm tours, family-style restaurants, handmade gifts, pretzels, homemade candy and dozens of other local delights.

Hostels are primarily for teens and twenties on tight travel budgets. However, those bargain inns also welcome senior sojourners who seek informal, inexpensive places to sleep.

Additionally, many older guests look forward to socializing with the younger ones, for swapping stories and giving sage senior advice. One of the best cities for hostels is the very friendly, hip and tolerant Amsterdam.

Of course, hostel room rates are usually considerably less than those of hotels, averaging about $40 a night in Amsterdam, with some including free breakfast. If  your European wandering plans involve some Dutch roughing it, consider some examples.

Stayokay Amsterdam Vondelpark: Stayokay Vondelpark, Zandpad 5, 1054 Amsterdam, Netherlands, phone +31 (0)20 624 68 32 , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it One of half a dozen Stayokay hostels in and around Amersterdam, this most centrally-located inn offers double and quad rooms and dorms, some with flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi and private baths. In a stately former merchant’s house, the comfortable hostel is steps away from transportation, restaurants, taverns, shops and museums.

The Italians call it Firenze, but by any name it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The capital of the region of Tuscany was where the Renaissance evolved in the 15th and 16th Centuries, due to superb artists Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Donatello and many others. They lived and worked in Florence, nurtured by the picturesque city around them.

Among countless artistic and architectural wonders, consider five must-see sights.

Gallerie dell'Accademia: See the genius of Michelangelo's world-renowned statue of David as he prepared for battle with Goliath. Standing 17 feet tall, the 16th Century marble figure is on display in the Gallerie among other works of Renaissance art and sculpture.

In future travels, you may want to experience places that can bring back fond memories of some of your favorite movies. For instance:

Halona Cove, Oahu, HI: From Here to Eternity (1953): The much-imitated steamy love scene of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kissing while being washed by the surf took place on this white-sand beach in Honolulu. Of course, the star-crossed lovers had to part as the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor erupted around them.

Beverly Hills CA: Pretty Woman (1990): The Julia Roberts hooker character actually lived in a scuzzy Hollywood hotel. However, most of the film took place at the upscale Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills after she met business tycoon Richard Gere. Some scenes were filmed across Wilshire Boulevard as she shopped at exclusive clothing stores on posh Rodeo Drive.

Machu Picchu, Peru: Motorcycle Diaries (2004): This film is based on writings of young medical student Ernesto Guevara, who later joined Cuba’s Fidel Castro and was known as Che. It’s about a 1952 motorcycle trip through South America Che took with a friend.