When your travel4seniors.com editor first started wandering the world after retirement, one of the first worries was about travel insurance. After a 25-year career of writing ads and sales promo campaigns for a major insurance company, we were well aware of the need for anticipating the expected and unexpected.

As we booked our first post-retirement cruise, while the travel agent was adding up the many expenses involved, she just seemed to mention casually, "And, of course, you'll need our very comprehensive travel health insurance. That'll be another $250. (long pause) Each."

Oh, sure. We could visualize one of us falling off the ship’s gangplank, being hit by a Tijuana taxi or eating some tainted food and being hauled off to the hospital. We told the travel agent not to add the charges until we could check with our insurance agent.

Not many remember way back when commercial flying was a dress-up affair. Can you recall photos of glamorous Hollywood couples, all ready for their close-ups, as they emerged from their 10-hour flights?

For example, arriving in Hollywood from London, Sir Laurence Olivier and wife, Vivien Leigh, ascended the metal stairway as if dressed for a movie premiere. Today's air travelers are much less formal than those long-ago icons of the silver screen.

Remember the opening line of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song, "You'll Never Walk Alone" from "Carousel: When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high, and don't be afraid of the dark..." If planning to travel alone, forgot those lyrics! For single senior travelers, don't ever walk alone, and be afraid of the dark.

The world today is a far more dangerous place than it was decades ago during your student days. Then you could backpack safefly alone just about anywhere. Places in Paris, Manhattan, Golden Gate Park, Acapulco and Marrakesh were open and friendly.

While cruising is usually a fun, trouble-free vacation, many people who book their first sailing are confused or intimidated by the tipping system. It can be simplified by understanding what is expected and what voluntary choices you have.

1. Ask your hometown or online travel agent about current tipping practices and amounts you’ll need on the cruise line you’ll be sailing. Add that amount to your budget, so you’ll know how much tipping will cost beyond other expenses.

2. Tipping begins at the dock. If you arrive in a taxi, tip the driver extra if you get help with bags. For pre-boarding help and when you depart at the end of the cruise, tip helpers $1 or $2 for each bag.