The stark reality is that every time you book a hotel or flight these days, the price has soared since your last journey. Travel writer Joe Udo of US News lists a bunch of ways to fight back. We especially agree with two of his suggestions we’re giving our own take on the subject.  

1. If you don’t have to, don’t venture out during peak travel season. From June through Labor Day, prices for everything on your trip will be at their highest, especially gasoline, airline tickets, hotel rates and restaurant menus. When your kids were in school, you didn’t have much choice. You had to travel when all those greedy guys played gotcha.

If your kids are now on their own and you’re retired, get smart and do your wandering when everyone else is working or studying. Best times are mid-September through early November, and early January through mid-May.

When you feel the urge to travel and have selected a destination keep the dates flexible, and check regularly with your hometown or online travel agency for bargains. They typically happen during the slow season. For example, if you get real smart, you’ll book all your flights at night and Tuesdays or Wednesdays, when there’s the least traffic and lowest prices.

Additionally, hotel weekend prices are often twice what they charge Monday through Thursday nights. For example, Strip resorts in Las Vegas often charge $50 a night weekdays and $150 for Friday and Saturday nights.

To explain that Freudian headline, check a recent article in psychcentral.com. It insists that travel can actually improve your mental health. As examples, it offers colorful word pictures of various upbeat world spots in Italy, France and New England.

Just arriving at a fun destination and being there, the article continues, gives the traveler a sense of excitement, comfort and self-satisfaction. We heartily agree, because the old saying that travel is (mentally) broadening always rings true.

While on the go, we learn new things, meet new people, see new sights and, maybe the best benefit, we tend to forget our everyday troubles lurking back home. That, in the case of most seniors, includes the always present specter of growing old.

Therefore, there’s no better time than now to get up off that couch and into your car, up in the air, aboard a cruise ship and/or into the surf at the nearest beach!

Stashing all your stuff in your carry-on when you fly because you want to avoid paying for luggage has a hazard. There’s not much anti-thievery protection after you put it in an overhead bin.

Bags are especially vulnerable after landing during the passenger rush to exit. Anyone can grab the wrong carry-on, whether by error or intentional stealing. You can protect your bag in the overhead by keeping your eyes on the section where yours is stashed during the flight. Then be especially on the alert when other passengers are taking theirs out at the end of the flight.

Another solution to take some of the worry of having your carry-on stolen is to keep all your valuables on you. When you fly, wear a jacket with many pockets that can hold your money, jewelry, passports, iPhone and other stuff you don’t want to lose. If you’re traveling with a laptop and other handbag, keep it on your lap or under your seat.

Now even we oldsters wander around with those little hand-held phones. Very convenient, but it means we’ve joined the ranks of those in danger of having them stolen right out of our hands.

Called Apple picking, thieves run up to people distracted when listening or talking their phones, grab the devices and run away. A tragic example happened in Las Vegas just the other day, when two robbers tried to steal an iPhone from a teenager. He held on while they dragged him, eventually killing him with their car.

There are hundreds of other similar incidents every day, where vulnerable and distracted elderly people have their cell phones snatched out of their hands. However, there are many ways to protect yourself when you want to make a call, by first finding a safe spot in a store or restaurant with many people around you. Also, when not using your cell phone, keep it in an inside pocket, preferably one with a buttoned flap.