Passengers riding along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor enjoy ritzier dining and beverage choices while aboard the trains. The new service is called Corridor Café Menu, with average price for a ham sandwich with a Coke at $10. As reported by USA Today, the meals are more healthy and varied then those previously served.

Your elderly travel4seniors.com editor has train memories that go back to the 1940s and the food available on Amtrak’s predecessor, the Pennsylvania Railroad. For example, the basic ham sandwich with a Coke then cost 25¢. The sandwich consisted of two lean pieces of soggy white bread with a single slice of ham inside that was so thin it was almost transparent. Let’s hope today’s menu is a bit more appealing and generous.

Q: I’m familiar with hotel rooms and cruise ship cabins, but recent travel promotions confuse me. I know these two are the cheapest places, but what’s the difference between a hostel and Airbnb stay? Lucile P., Greeley CO

A: With names, prices and places changing all the time, traveling seniors can get befuddled about where to spend the night and their money. Airbnb is a relatively new and growing market in the travel industry. Private home owners offer rooms or the entire house for one night or more. It can be much cheaper than hotels, especially if your travel group includes four or more people.

Hostels have been around for a long while, mostly appealing to younger travelers. They’re usually basic dorms with bunk beds, four or more people to a room and shared bathrooms.  To get more familiar with Airbnb and hostels, before your next trip alone or with a group, do some internet searching and price comparisons.

If travels take you to the beautiful city’s Kattenkabinet Museum, in the Centrum canal area, enjoy a unique experience. The four-story building and surrounding gardens are devoted to domestic felines in history, art and culture.

It’s an elegant former private home filled with paintings, posters, sculpture and other creative materials that glorify the species Felis cattus.
Visitors can expect to be surrounded by the many friendly live cats that roam freely throughout the museum. www.kattencabinet.nl

All too frequent street crime headlines: bike thieves swoop up tourist cell phones. When walking, especially in a big city, it can happen to you. Top targets of the thieves are distracted senior tourists wandering the streets cluelessly pointing and shooting selfies and other scenes.

You can prevent it happening to you by keeping your phone secure in a fitted case with a strap wrapped around your wrist. When not pointing and shooting, don’t walk around with it loose in your hand. Keep it in a buttoned pocket.