Seeking underground water in 1974, engineers dug down 20 feet into the soft earth. They didn't find water, but discovered an amazing army of sculptured men. There were 8,000 uniformed, armed, life-sized figures, each with individual facial and body features. Now world-famous, they’re called the Terracotta Warriors of Xian.

Archaeologists have determined that the sculptures are at least 2,200 years old. Historians report this display was created during the reign of an early warrior, King Qinshihuang. His figure lies in a tomb among the soldier formations, as they were created to protect him in the afterlife.

Making economic travel plans gets easier all the time. As the internet continues to expand, scan all the attractive fast-breaking, last-minute travel offers advertised by many internet sources. If you’re retired and can go on short notice, so much the better.

Register your name, email address, phone number and preferences with a trusted local travel agent, as well as with four or five last minute-travel websites. When attractive offers occur, be ready to pack, and make quick decisions about time of availability, budget limits, weather, destinations and other important features.

Some were once true and are now obsolete, while others were never true in the first place. Some are like mom’s words: wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident and go to the hospital. Not about how badly you were hurt, but not be wheeled into the ER in dirty skivies.

Similar rumors insist passenger planes continually recirculate the same used cabin air. You get all the germs other passengers have coughed and sneezed into it. Truth is that all cabin air goes through a filtering system every few minutes, and mixed with outside air before being circulated back into the cabin, and is air cleaner than what you breathe in a store, restaurant and home.

The myth persists because some people do catch colds and flu on trips involving flights, but not from cabin air. It’s from sitting close to sneezing and coughing passengers aboard and in the terminal. Being jammed together with sick people in security, restaurants, rest rooms and other locations is where to catch the latest ailment.