A recent www.dailymail.co.uk report told of a hotel guest who set up a hidden camera. After he left the room, it caught a cleaning staff member rifling through his suitcase.

This can happen to any senior traveler, and there are simple ways to fight the unwanted curiosity, or worse, actually having items stolen.

1. Protect valuables, including credit cards, SmartPhones, jewelry and cash. Put them in the lockable room safe. If preferable, ask the front desk clerk to stash your most valuable items in the hotel main safe.

2. Travel with a lockable briefcase or key-lock pocket inside your suitcase. You’ll be able to secure valuables and personal items in your room away from prying eyes or sticky fingers.

There’s an old travelers’ quote: See Rome and die. Today’s phrase could be: See Venice before it sinks. It could disappear into the ocean waters, just as what may have happened eons ago to the mythical city of Atlantis.

Senior visitors who’ve been there recently when heavy rains cause the canals to overflow know the symptoms. Standing on benches is necessary as temporarily floods inundate the most popular tourist area of St. Mark’s Square. At those times, it may seem the disaster is already happening.

A recent report warns of more serious future street, bridge and building damage from the overflowing waters. If Venice is on your bucket list, enjoy it while it’s still afloat and its residents don’t need buckets. Feed the pigeons on the square, ride a gondala, and stroll the Rialto Bridge. Mix in outdoor café sessions with delicious Italian foods and vino.

For weather and other info, go to www.comune.venezia.it

When you enter Reno's Virginia Street, you go under a sign that proclaims it as the "Biggest Little City in the World". That's true enough, because Nevada's original casino and divorce mecca was once the prime destination in the United States for gamblers and people who wanted to end their marriages and empty their bank accounts quickly.

For gamblers, vacationers, families and others who want to relax in luxury, enjoy live entertainment and eat great food, today’s Reno in many ways is just as exciting as Las Vegas. Additionally, it still retains its traditional Old West charm, is less crowded and noisy, and boasts four distinct seasons of the year.

We don’t usually delve into lonely hearts, but widowed and single readers often ask us for advice on that subject. We’ll attempt to comply here.

If you're willing to mingle, you'll have no trouble at all meeting people while traveling single. We hope you'll be overwhelmed by eager characters wanting to meet you. Your problem may then be to determine how to sort the good ones from the not-so-good.

If possible, take another single with you. A couple of guys or gals together are usually more successful. They have much better chances of hooking up at bowling alleys, theaters, cafes, cruises, bars or other places where singles in groups gather to ogle and mix.