It's the right time to take advantage of this year’s lower hotel rates by checking into PRICELINE.COM's latest bid offers from its list of 50 favorite U.S. destinations. A few examples include: $50 Orlando --- $40 New Orleans --- $46 San Diego --- $50 Albequerque --- $40 Atlantic City ---

“O, to be in England now that April's there.” Poet Robert Browning wrote it a century or more ago, and it’s still a great idea for the springtime senior traveler. Since our retirement, we’ve made many pilgrimages to the British Isles. We've done in different ways: joined tour groups, roamed alone and spent two weeks doing bed and breakfast and sightseeing treks in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Even though we were already in our 70s, our best springtime adventure in Great Britain was when we went everywhere with just backpacks and no schedule.

If you want to experience the fun and excitement of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, you’d better be making plans to be there now. The event this year blasts off on Fat Tuesday, February 24, and promises to be the very best in the two-century history of masks, music and mayhem of the always wild event.

If you believe you’re never too old to learn something new, we have a great education/vacation idea for you. And you can do it this springtime in sunny Italy. We haven't done it yet, but drool in anticipation of following a young close family member who recently returned from a cooking vacation in Tuscany. She said she loved every minute of the experience, but felt a bit isolated because all the other students were women (and one man) in their 60s and 70s. That fact alone gave her elderly relatives even more encouragement to sign up for an upcoming session later this year.