These days seniors find typical hotel bills in Miami, London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles to be $400 a night and up. Avoid the tourist traps by checking with online travel experts. For example, Rick Steves knows where to find economic digs. He offers continuously updated lists of inexpensive hotels and bed and breakfasts. www.ricksteves.com

Consider mom and pop hotels and b&bs, and pay $75 a night or less, which often includes a full breakfast. We never eat much breakfast at home, so while traveling we have rolls and coffee, then make sandwiches from breakfast fare. That gives us free picnic lunches, saving from $20 daily.

If traveling in Europe, learn some conversational French, Spanish, German and/or Italian. It helps find where the locals eat, at half of what the same meal  costs in a tourist trap restaurant. Even better, they serve basic, much healthier meals.

In London, as in New York, we line up daily at the two-fer booth and see excellent plays and musicals for half price, sometimes even free on certain days and times. Everywhere you wander, expect to be exposed to tourist traps, whether traveling in Manhattan, Madrid, Manila or Majorca. Escape overpaying by intelligent pre-trip planning and smart shopping around for the most at the least prices.