If your travels take you to the vintage English capital, save a day for a pleasant stroll. Book an escorted one, and you may be led by a talented young actor/actress who blends historic facts with dramatic flourish.

There are walking tours for all ages and interests. They may include historic buildings, Trafalgar Square, Jack the Ripper sites, Tower of London ghosts, soapbox speakers at Hyde Park, River Thames boat tours and many others. Check the internet for the many current listings of tours, and choose one that interests your senior soul.

Consider: www.walks.com, www.visitlondon.com, www.freetoursbyfoot.com, www.walklondon.com, timeout.com/london/walks

Q: Both late 60s, we’re sailing on our first cruise next month. We have concerns about health and safety on the ship and when we visit ports. Can you give us a couple of basic rules? Jean P., Oxnard CA

A: Cruising continues to be one of the most popular senior travel preferences. A concern many people voice when considering their first is safety. Cruises are generally quite safe, but there are always things that beginners and cruise veterans can do to keep themselves safe:

1. Pay close attention to your safety briefing. Most cruise lines give a mandatory safety orientation on the first day. Don’t view this as an inconvenience, but rather as an important introduction. You’ll be instructed what to do in case of an emergency. Become familiar with how to get from cabin to emergency station.

We senior roamers are all too familiar with the rip-off practice. The ads tout hotel room rates at $99.99. Then, when you check out, the out-of-pocket price is actually up to $159.99. Of course, says the sneering-at-your-stupidity desk clerk, there’s the resort fee, wi-fi fee, turn-down fee, honor bar fee, state/city tax and several other add-ons you shoulda expected.

Maybe there will be some relief, or at least exposure to the rip-off tactics if Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill succeeds in getting a national bill passed. The proposed law is that all charges are stated up front when customers reserve rooms.

It may not lower the actual out-of-pocket cost, but at least you’ll know exactly what the room price is when booking. Now, if the good Senator can apply the law to airline add-ons and gas station signs, we senior travelers may benefit from something rare in the travel business: truth in advertising.

Many seniors retiring today have the option of choosing to move out of their home town, away from their native land and settle in a city on the other side of the world. Not only can it be less costly, safer and free of excessive taxes, but the culture more traditionally senior-friendly.

The 18th annual Mercer Quality of Life survey listed 230 cities, with the top five rankings going to Vienna, Austria, Zurich, Switzerland, Auckland, New Zealand, Munich, Germany and Vancouver, Canada. The top U.S. cities on the list, at #28 is San Francisco, #34 Boston, #35 Honolulu and #43 Chicago.

If you’re wondering, the bottom five on the list are Khartoum, Sudan, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sana’a, Yemen, and (Operation Desert Storm vets are not surprised to know) Baghdad, Iraq.